KIKUSUI mag

No Shortcut to Learning My principal role at the moment involves providing technical support for Kikusui products. In order to be able to handle the range of enquiries I receive, I need a broad knowledge of not only Kikusui’s software and hardware products, but also of industry standards and jargon. Now, I graduated with a…

In this article, I will share a story about a charge/discharge tester that I initially dismissed as an easy project, only to run into problems later.

In a past “Solution Notes” article I covered solutions for breaking capacity tests for automotive fuses. In this article, I will share information on recent developments in the process to reform automotive fuse standards.

Kikusui’s products do not stand alone. Rather, they must work with the client device to which they are connected. My work therefore does not end with the installation of a system. Rather, a project is only complete when the system is tested connected to the object under test, and thereby integrated with the client’s equipment. In this job, having detailed information on the client’s circumstances (the client’s equipment and devices) in advance makes a big difference.

Today’s story is about a problem I encountered in the past when performing value analysis. Stuck in the mindset that VA just meant eliminating excess, I took things too far.

In the world of software processing capability, speed is an “absolute good” – you could describe it as the most important metric. On a machine equipped with a modern CPU and plenty of RAM, a program that accesses simple data types in small quantities will probably run just fine. However, when dealing with programs that handle large amounts of data, the program’s architecture (high level design and design philosophy) has a clear impact on processing speed.

These days I often find myself reflecting on just what a unique task circuit design is.

Work calls for a range of skills, such as planning, decision-making, negotiation, conceptualization, communication, problem-solving, consideration, the ability to learn from your mistakes, the ability to ask questions, imagination, creativity, judgement, logical thinking… the list goes on. Today I will be discussing concentration.

When you have worked with bespoke orders and modifications for as long as I have, you are bound to have encountered a few unusual requests that leave you scratching your head. At Kikusui, we accept any special order that is technically feasible, provided we can agree on budget, although we sometimes find ourselves building devices based on technical specifications alone without knowing what they will actually be used for. In this series I will discuss some unusual bespoke projects I have encountered at Kikusui, while maintaining our clients’ confidentiality, of course. Today’s instalment concerns a silicone-free power supply I worked on 20 years ago.

For professional people, having confidence in ones work is very important. However, confidence may also be described as a type of presumption. When you are overly confident, you tend to assume that your work (or your part of a project) contains no problems, and therefore that any issues must have been caused by others. It is all too common to well-meaningly involve all related parties when a problem arises, only to realize that you were in fact at fault and be forced to apologize. Therefore, while confidence is a necessary quality for professional people, this is a double-edged sword, as confidence can also be the cause of problems too.

I’ll be discussing the art of building wire harnesses.

Today’s article concerns rotary switches, also known as rotary selector switches─those old-fashioned dials that you turn with your fingers. While increasingly uncommon in today’s digital age, rotary switches one featured in a wide range of electrical appliances.