What kind of engineer is Mr. Ishibashi?
Oniyama：Ishibashi is our top wire-spring engineer. He has incredible concentration, and when he says he'll do something he does it. But he doesn't just create springs. He has a strong determination to respond to customer demands and the tenacity to see the job through. He's one of the people that help make “pursuit of excellence in production,” a key theme of our president, Tsuneo Shibano, a reality.

Mr. Ishibashi, how did you come to be an employee of Advanex?
Ishibashi： I've always liked making things but nothing I'd made so far satisfied me. At times I thought maybe I wasn't very good at it. But somebody told me about Advanex and they hired me. I decided I would make myself indispensable to the company. But I had to learn from my mistakes along the way.

What kind of an engineer do you strive to be?
Ishibashi：I used to lack concentration. All my life I've been trying to make a complete switchover.
I'm not much of a multitasker, so I decided to work on my concentration. The people around me may not understand, but if I don't do that I can't do the work to my own satisfaction.

How do you approach manufacturing today?
Ishibashi：My approach is based on my own desire to create products that I think are outstanding. That means I can't just do what everybody else is doing. Our habitual practices in everyday life inevitably show up in our work, so I make a habit of paying attention to detail in everything I do. I believe this practice shines through in my work, giving it an edge in quality. Sometimes it feels like a burden to be so scrupulous in my everyday routine, but whenever I decide to do something I make sure I do it thoroughly.

You had a troublesome episode when you produced springs for intravenous (IV) cannulas for a medical-equipment manufacturer.
Ishibashi：IV cannulas are medical devices used for collecting blood and in IV drips. They're meant to be inserted intravenously and left there. A tube with a needle is inserted into the artery and then only the needle is removed; the tube that remains is used for blood collection and IV drips. We produce the springs used in the mechanism to ensure safe removal of the IV cannulas. Advanex's share of this market in Japan is around 60%. When I first saw the design drawings, I thought it couldn't work because it exceeded the mechanical tolerance for springs. However, I'd already told the sales rep that I could do it, so I threw myself into making the prototype, barely pausing to eat and sleep. At last I succeeded, then I continued with incremental improvements until it was completely ready. I spent about six months on that project.

Finally, in your mind what kind of person is the “engineer as artisan”?
Ishibashi：A person who keeps his word.
Once he has said he can do something, the artisan plugs away at it until he succeeds, determined to see it through. A person of indomitable will.