KIKUSUI mag

What does it really mean when someone tells you to “use your head”? In Japan, a TV show broadcast by the national broadcaster called Chikochanni Shikarareru is enjoying popularity. In the show, a five years old girl who named Chiko puts questions to the show’s grownup guests for testing on their knowledge of trivia in…

My story involves a heatsink selection that didn’t go exactly to plan.

In this article, I will share an episode that attests to the on-site problem solving abilities of Kikusui’s bespoke solutions team, of which I am a member. It all started with a phone call we received just before delivering a sophisticated and high-value system to one of our clients.

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.