|
|
By Keith Hanna, Fluent News View the pdf of this Supplement With the second largest economy in the world, Japan is home to some of the biggest global companies in sectors as diverse as automotive, electronics, and general machinery. Japan consists of a set of islands with about twice the area of the UK and has one of the most impressive and reliable transport networks in the world, including the famous bullet trains that can travel from one end of Japan to the other in a matter of hours. Japanese industry is dominated by the automotive and electronics sectors, but it also has strong chemical, steel, and general machinery manufacturers as well. Because Japan has virtually no indigenous natural resources, it has to bring in its raw materials for these industries from across the Pacific Rim. Japan's industrial strength lies, therefore, in its ability to produce high quality, reliable, and innovative products efficiently and cost effectively. In addition to its commitment to quality, the Japanese business culture is built on dependable companies, loyal employees, informed customers, and strong human relationships between customers and suppliers. Many of today's quality assurance processes were first pioneered by Japanese companies two decades ago, when they contributed heavily to Japan's economic growth. As well as developing new products, Japanese companies are continually improving and modifying existing designs and processes. Words like “kaizen" (improvement) have become part of today's international business language.
Unfortunately, little or negative growth for almost a decade has meant that the economic miracle that began in the 1960s has been replaced by a recessionary grip that now has a hold on this leading Asian economy. To combat the gloomy economic situation, Japanese industry continues to invest heavily in research and development activities. Japan is second only to the U.S. in its level of R&D spending, with 2.65% of its Gross Domestic Product invested in this area.  While Japan was slow in the early days to adopt CFD in comparison with the U.S. and Europe, in the last ten years it has embraced CFD wholeheartedly. Today, despite the fact that there are few CFD companies that originated in Japan, it has one of the most advanced CFD (and CAE) usage cultures in the world. Indeed, CFD use has penetrated deeply into the design processes in many industries, such as automotive, chemicals, heavy industry, HVAC, and electronics. CFD is also heavily used in the power generation sector where Japan has a strong commitment to the development and commercialization of alternative power sources, such as fuel cells. Fluent products are used for much of the industrial application and R&D work going on in Japan. In addition to CFD software, Fluent Asia Pacific also distributes a number of complementary design tools like Qfin from Qfinsoft for heat sink design and Virtual Engines from Optimum Power Technology for engine simulation. With more and more engineers in Japan realizing the benefits of these technologies, the future promises only increased use of them as time goes on. |
FluentNEWS |
||
 |
|
|
|
