Upon hearing the word “standardization,” many Japanese would probably be reminded of the Japanese Industrial Standards, commonly known as JIS.

The JIS mark is found on industrial products used at manufacturing sites. People also see certified JIS marks on common items such as batteries and notebooks. However, what standardization means, as characterized by JIS, has changed over time, and the meaning is still evolving.

Japanese pictogram designs such as those for baggage claim, first aid and nursing rooms typically found at airports, stations and commercial facilities were overhauled in July 2017.

The pictogram revisions, in anticipation of the Olympics and Paralympics next year, were made so that the signs would be easier for inbound travelers to understand. Fifteen new pictograms were added, representing wireless LAN, mobile phone charging stations and ATMs for overseas cards, among others.

Those with children attending nursery school might have received instructions from child care providers, such as, “Please don’t dress your children in hooded clothing.” This is because drawstrings typically found on such clothing pose a potential strangulation hazard if accidentally hooked on play equipment.

It is surprisingly difficult, however, to find outerwear free of these drawstrings. The newly implemented JIS standard for children’s clothing therefore requires manufacturers to be aware of safety; for example, the clothes won’t have drawstrings around the head or neck.

A standard is a voluntary rule based on agreement from various stakeholders. But once it is regulated or is introduced to a system, the standard becomes mandatory, prompting wider societal usage. It goes without saying that consumers have better options to choose from, once the development of products compatible with such standards proceeds.

Services, data now covered

The Industrial Standardization Act was established to prompt improvement in the quality of industrial products and a streamlining of production in the reconstruction period after World War II. After an ongoing transitional period coping with environmental issues and economic globalization, the act’s role and purpose are now at major turning points.

JIS used to apply only to Japanese manufacturing, but various factors have necessitated a transformation of its full potential. Such factors include the arrival of a fast and evolving “connected society” centered around digital technology, social requirements for corporate activity in the environmental area and increased interests in the standard as a method of assessment.

One of the most important themes of CI is maximizing harmonized fields. Japanese companies have improved their skills and know-how through fierce competition with other corporations. Seko, however, is stressing the need for companies to be open.

“The time has come to proactively cooperate with one another outside their fields of competition,” he said.

If collaboration among companies moves forward, not only will the supply chain and management of individual companies become more effective, it will become easier to trigger discontinuous innovation (technological innovation). The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is aiming to dramatically strengthen industrial competitiveness through these efforts.

In February, the Diet enacted the supplementary budget for fiscal 2017. The METI-related budget includes measures to expand harmonized fields, one of which is the allocation of ¥1.8 billion to promote industrial data-sharing businesses.

It is a framework to provide financial support for a consortium (joint business) that aims to share data through adopting a standard format and API (application programming interface). By prioritizing support for measures to collaborating with other data-sharing bases, the ministry hopes to expand the circle of cooperation.

Another area to focus on in the supplementary budget is promoting joint businesses between major and midsized corporations and AI startups. The aim is to create an innovative AI system by merging the rich real data possessed by major and midsized companies and the advanced technology of startups. A budget of ¥2.4 billion has been allocated to integrally support from proof of concept to full-scale introduction. The ministry’s support is expected to cover CI’s five priority fields such as automated driving, manufacturing, and infrastructure safety.

Injection of policy resources

To promote CI, Seko said, “We will concentrate on injecting all policy resources, including the budget, taxes and regulation.” Based on this idea, the government launched a new tax system from fiscal 2018.

In June, the Diet approved a bill for the Act on Special Measures for Productivity Improvement as a major drawcard for its economic policy. The law includes a “CI tax system” to provide support for intercompany collaboration and data utilization by reducing the tax burden.

Based on the law, the government approves measures taken by corporations to share and collaborate on data, and prioritize tax breaks for measures accompanied by capital investment such as the internet of things, machines and robots. The strategy encourages acceleration of intercompany collaboration and digitalization of industries by promoting industrial data-utilization businesses at the same time.

Moreover, it will become easier for approved companies to acquire and use public data. The ministry has created a system that will enable such companies to request data from related ministries and agencies and other public organizations through the relevant minister, expecting the utilization of public data in such fields as transportation, medical care and weather.

Toward the next steps

“With the enactment of the supplementary budget and a new bill, we have driven cross-sector measures further,” explained Takashi Kono, deputy director of the Information Economy Division in charge of promoting CI-related policies. “Now, the key is to take measures for individual sectors.”

CI prioritizes the five fields of automated driving and mobility service; manufacturing and robotics; plant and infrastructure safety management; smart life; and biotechnologies and materials.

The next steps have been discussed intermittently at subcommittees with the participation of parties concerned, including major corporations of various fields. The issues have been discussed at the Roundtable Conference on Connected Industries headed by Seko. The ministry plans to announce the results in the near future.

The concept of CI lies under a strong sense of crisis toward the rapidly changing world. Data digitalization is showing no signs of stopping and U.S. IT-related companies are increasing their influence. Furthermore, government-led digitalization strategies including Germany’s Industry 4.0 (I4.0) and China’s Made in China 2025 are also accelerating.

There is a serious concern that “Japan will become a follower if this situation continues.” In order for Japan to take the lead in a rapidly changing world, both public and private sectors need to adopt flexible measures.

Seko: CI is the industry’s concept that aims to generate added value and solve various social problems by enabling connections between a variety of machinery, technology and people across organizations or borders through data.

I announced this concept at last year’s CeBIT and held roundtable conferences where we organized the direction the public-private collaboration should proceed in.

We then announced the CI Tokyo Initiative 2017 at CEATEC (Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies) held in October and I believe the concept has spread widely.

The five fields to prioritize are “automated driving and mobility service,” “manufacturing and robotics,” “biotechnologies and materials,” “plant/infrastructure safety management” and “smart life.” We have been holding subcommittees to accelerate discussions on expanding harmonized fields of data.

In the automated driving field, we have been engaging in cross-ministry initiatives, including working with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to promote strategic collaboration between companies.

Also, the main theme of the manufacturing and robotics subcommittee is data sharing. They are looking into standardization of data structures and distribution in order to promote data sharing of harmonized fields of data platforms as proposed by companies that include Fanuc Corp., Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and DMG Mori Co.

Furthermore, the CI initiatives outside the five main fields will improve productivity of small and mid-sized companies and strengthen quality guarantees for manufacturers.

I believe that the essence of CI is to change the Japanese corporate culture to lead change in a new era. The problem that Japan faces is that companies are too exhausted from excessive domestic competition to compete globally.

I want to create a new Japanese industry by reorganizing harmonized and competitive fields.

Role of the public sector

Question: What kind of role should the public sector play in order to expand harmonized fields between companies?

Seko: The public sector needs to develop information technology-related human resources and improve the environment for data utilization with security.

In terms of developing human resources, we need to promote working people to go back to school to learn about the IT and data fields. Last July, we established the Certification Program for Fourth Industrial Revolution Skills Courses.

The government also plans to certify data-sharing businesses and introduce tax-break programs and provide government-held data, based on the bill submitted to the current Diet session to improve the environment for data sharing and data utilization.

We will also revise the Contract Guidelines on Data Utilization Rights to clarify the rights and responsibility related to data utilization and make it more practical based on the characteristics of each industry.

By promoting these policies, I want to expand the harmonized data fields and actualize a CI that will make Japan the winner of the “real data” global competition.

Introduction of IT essential

Question: What do you think about the need to introduce IT to small and mid-sized companies for CI to become prevalent?

Seko: Small and mid-sized companies are facing a pressing need to resolve a shortage of workers and improve productivity, and I believe that CI is an effective method to do so. Also, promoting IT introduction is essential. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has adopted measures to secure a ¥50 billion budget to support an estimated 130,000 companies, including small and mid-sized service industries, to promote IT introduction in the 2017 supplementary budget.

We have also labeled the next three years as a period of intensive investment in improving productivity. We will promote the improvement of productivity, mainly introducing IT, to small and mid-sized service industry businesses on a scale of 1 million organizations.

In February, METI launched the Productivity Strategy Platform for SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) Services and Other Businesses, serving as its secretariat and gathering the support of various ministries and organizations.

Currently, six related ministries and agencies, as well as 99 organizations, such as economic organizations, small and mid-sized company support groups, and industry groups have expressed their intentions to participate in the platform and we plan to make a vigorous push to roll out information, know-how and success stories.

Change ‘once in 100 years’

Question: With electrification and automated driving, the automotive industry is seeing a major wave of change. How do you view the role of CI helping the Japanese car industry winning in a time of fierce global competitiveness?

Seko: With electrification getting into full swing in the global market in addition to the arrival of the era of automated driving, the automotive industry is said to be experiencing a major change that comes “once in 100 years.”

In regards to electrification, there have been global movements that include China’s introduction of NEV (new energy vehicle) regulation to mandate the production of new energy vehicles to a certain degree and the U.K. and France’s goal to ban the sales of gasoline-fueled cars. I believe next-generation vehicles such as electric vehicles (EV) and fuel cell vehicles (FCV) will continue to spread around the world.

In Japan, new EV models have been introduced and some manufacturers have begun to engage in joint development through business capital tie-ups. However, it is also true that EV faces various problems including the need to secure battery resources and the length of time to recharge the batteries. It is important to keep an open eye not only on EV, but also FCV to create a structure so the automotive industry can deal with various situations in the future.

Based on the concept of CI, social implementation of automated driving is essential for Japan’s automotive industry to maintain and strengthen its competitiveness and continue leading the global market.

I would like to identify issues related to infrastructure, the system and technical issues and provide measures to resolve them through means such as a demonstration test of unmanned automated driving on public roads that began last December and a demonstration test of truck platooning on an expressway that was held in January this year.

Car sharing has also emerged as a new mobility service. The automotive industry is facing a great challenge globally, but I would like to turn this into an opportunity to take aggressive steps to create innovation while all the while utilizing the technical capabilities and industrial competitiveness that we have cultivated so far.

Based on this awareness, I hosted the Strategic Commission for the New Automotive Era this April together with experts and leaders of car manufacturers. We have been discussing Japan’s strategy, and plan to proactively deliver messages to the international community as well.

Quality assurance

Question: The manufacturing industry has been hit with a series of quality-related scandals, such as the falsification of data. In what ways is CI effective in strengthening the quality assurance system?

Seko: I believe that the series of incidents could have been prevented, had there been a system in place with such measures as the introduction of robots and the sharing of quality data to ensure that no one could falsify data. Some manufacturers have already introduced such advanced technology and there are companies that have reliable quality assurance systems.

Last December, METI announced measures to utilize data at production sites to push the industry’s actions forward in a multifaceted and positive way. We will develop and introduce a centralized traceability system and offer support through budgets and tax breaks for measures to establish a reliable quality assurance system.

Most of all, it is important for corporate leaders to tackle the issue of strengthening quality assurance systems and METI will also continue urging them to do so.