The 2016 MMA general meeting was held at UDX Conference in Akihabara, Tokyo on June 3 (Fri), 2016.

Following the expiration of the term of the Chairman of the MMA at the end of FY2015, Akira Kumagae, General Manager of the Motion Control Div. and Corporate Vice President of Yaskawa Electric Corporation, was newly appointed as Chairman. In the opening speech for the general meeting, he talked about the MMA’s future direction of promotion activities that take into account the current market environment related to manufacturing technology that will be reshaped by the adoption of IoT, such as the German initiative of Industrie 4.0, the IIC (Industrial Internet Consortium) established by major American companies, and the Made in China 2025 plan.

After Chairman Kumagae’s speech, Takuya Miwa, General Secretary, delivered a report on activities in FY2015 and plans for FY2016. This was followed by the financial report for FY2015 and a proposed budget for FY2016 by the secretariat. After these reports, the sub committee (marketing sub committee and the PC tech sub committee) gave reports on their group activities in FY2015 and plans for FY2016.

Two special lectures followed the general meeting. The first lecture, “Innovations Driven by Internet of Things in Industry,” was given by Intel Corporation. The lecture was very interesting and included explanations about the latest business and technology trends of IoT that influence various industrial fields.

AIDA ENGINEERING, LTD. delivered the second lecture on the “Latest Trends in Requirements of Control Devices for Industrial Machines.” The lecture was easy to understand with the use of a video on press machine operations and explained about the effects of servo control on press machines.

After the lectures, five MMA member companies introduced their new MECHATROLINK products, and the meeting ended successfully.

This year, 138 people from 73 companies participated in the meeting. Many people spent time until the meeting started to check out the displays of new products, and actively exchanged information during breaks. Each participant delivered a short speech in the same way as the previous year at the reception, and the 2016 General Meeting concluded successfully in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere.

The MMA, together with eight board committee companies, will continue to conduct activities to globally promote MECHATROLINK in collaboration with the MMA member companies.