History of Sodick Co., Ltd.

One of the first electric discharge machines created by Sodick Co., Ltd. (1979).

Toshihiko Furukawa, founder of Sodick Co., Ltd..
Photo courtesy of Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun.

Furukawa-san’s Motto:

“We make it because it does not exist anywhere else!”

Sodick Co., Ltd. was founded in August 1976. Its predecessor was the company called MEP, which later became the principal shareholder of Sodick. Nearly all of the founders of Sodick were former leading engineers and specialists of Japax Inc., the first manufacturer of EDM machines in Japan.

Why Sodick Became Different

Since 1976, Sodick has become one of the world’s most influential EDM manufacturers by introducing a series of technologies that did not exist before:

the worlds’s first non-wear electrode circuit
the world’s first NC EDM
the first EDMs with a thermally stable ceramic work zone
the first EDMs driven by flat linear motors

Today more than 60,000 Sodick flat linear motor machine tools operate worldwide, while Sodick machines remain known for exceptional accuracy, stability, and long-term precision.

The founder of Sodick Mr. Toshihiko Furukawa by the time he founded the new company had a portfolio of profound developments:
*1 “Non-Wearable Electrode Circuits”: An electrical discharge machining circuit in which the electrode is not consumed.
*2 “Loran machining method”: An electrical discharge machining method in which the workpiece surface is finished by moving the downward-pointing electrode back and forth and from side to side very precisely to achieve concurrent surface finishing along both axes.
Visit this page for more details of this technology.
The revolutionary creation of the new company was the development of the world’s first NC EDM, that became a game-changer in the sinker EDMing.

Sodick Co., Ltd. rapidly became one of the world’s leading manufacturers of EDM equipment. The company’s success was built on a combination of original engineering ideas, partly inherited from its predecessor Japax Inc., together with decades of accumulated experience, advanced electronics and CNC expertise, and a determination to create technologies that did not yet exist anywhere else.

By the end of the 1980s, Sodick had firmly established itself as one of the world leaders in the production and sales of EDM equipment. Sodick literally revolutionised the EDM market, surpassing a number of well-known and long-established manufacturers in a remarkably short time.

By the mid-1990s, Sodick was producing more than 2,000 CNC EDM machines per year. At that time, this represented approximately one quarter of the world market for CNC EDM machines. In 1996, Sodick sold 2,284 CNC EDM systems worldwide.

The founders of Sodick Co., Ltd. gave the company a name that reflected the engineering and manufacturing philosophy behind the rapid and lasting success of its EDM machines.

The name “Sodick” is an acronym formed from the first syllables and letters of several Japanese words written in Roman characters. The meaning embodied in the name is closely related to the ancient motto “Per aspera ad astra” — “through hardships to the stars.”

Toshihiko Furukawa, the founder of Sodick Co., Ltd., during his years at JAPAX INC. in the mid-1960s.

souzou

creation

dikko

implement

kurou

hardships, obstacles

kokufuku

overcome

In addition to its “Non-Wearable Electrode Circuits”, the “Loran machining method” and the creation of world’s first NC EDM, another revolutionary Sodick innovation became a major breakthrough in the advancement of EDM machine construction: the Ceramic Work Zone.

The First EDMs with Ceramic Work Zone

This innovation involved the use of proprietary fine ceramics in machine construction, providing exceptional thermal stability and electrical insulation in the EDM work zone.

This advanced ceramic material, also known as FineXCera®, has an extremely low coefficient of thermal expansion — approximately two times lower than granite and 3.5 to 4 times lower than steel.

As a result, for more than 40 years, Sodick has been producing machine tools with a level of geometric accuracy previously considered impossible.

All structural elements of the EDM work zone in Sodick Co., Ltd. machines are made of Sodick in-house fine ceramic. In wire EDM machines, this includes all components that hold the wire with absolute precision in relation to the workpiece being cut. In die-sinking EDM machines, the ceramic structures support and position the electrode in relation to the workpiece.

The Sodick ceramics is also an ideal electrical insulator. As a result, Sodick EDM machines feature complete galvanic isolation of the working zone — the very zone where machining is performed by electrical discharges. Compare this with conventional machine designs, where the workpiece is electrically connected to the machine frame and “sits on the machine ground,” and the difference becomes obvious.

Flat Linear Motors: The Second Revolution

The most significant innovation introduced by Sodick Co., Ltd. was the use of flat linear motors in EDM machines. The first linear-motor EDM systems — in effect, a revolution in EDM technology — appeared on the market in 1998. By October 2008, more than 20,000 linear-motor EDM machines were already in operation worldwide. By mid-2018, that figure had exceeded 50,000, and by 2026 more than 60,000 Sodick linear-motor machine tools are in operation worldwide.

Sodick’s share of the Japanese EDM market is approximately 50%, and more than 70% of the company’s production is exported. In total, more than 70,000 EDM machines manufactured by Sodick are in operation throughout the world.

Sodick EDM equipment represents a synthesis of the most advanced — and often unique — technologies combined with elegant and efficient engineering solutions. Sodick machines incorporate sophisticated functions and capabilities that are not available in EDM systems from other manufacturers. Add to this unmatched Japanese quality, reliability and long-term dependability, and it becomes clear why so many of the world’s leading manufacturers have chosen Sodick EDM technology for their factories.

Today, Sodick machines are used by almost all leading manufacturers in aerospace, automotive, electronics, medical, watchmaking and precision engineering. Due to today’s strict confidentiality requirements, many of the most prestigious users cannot be named. Among the well-known companies using Sodick EDM equipment are thousands of well-known companies. In aerospace manufacturing these include most leading and well-known world companies and even governmental authorities and universities.

Sodick equipment gives its users measurable advantages in quality, productivity, and precision. For this reason, many leading manufacturers prefer not to publicize the fact that they use Sodick machines. The choice of manufacturing technology is often considered strategic information, because it can reveal a company’s level of precision, production capability, and future technological direction. Therefore, Sodick and its distributors normally do not publish detailed customer lists and strictly respect confidentiality agreements.

Technology is strategic information

Many of the world’s leading high-tech manufacturers use Sodick equipment, but most prefer that this not be publicly emphasized. The choice of manufacturing technology is often regarded as strategic information. In many industries, revealing the machine tools in use can disclose valuable information about a company’s production methods, level of precision, productivity, and future technological plans.

Why Many Sodick Customers Remain Confidential

Since the 1980s, Sodick EDM machines have been used by virtually all major Japanese and World manufacturers of electronic and electrical products. Likewise, there are very few Japanese and World automotive component manufacturers that do not operate Sodick machines. The same is true in many other industries worldwide where EDM technology is essential.

Some customer names and case studies are publicly available through official channels such as Sodick on LinkedIn and similar media.

In the early 2000s, the ultra-precision Sodick AP200L became one of the most widely used wire EDM machines in the Swiss watch industry. Due to confidentiality agreements, the names of the companies cannot be disclosed — but they include some of the world’s most prestigious and expensive watch brands.

The remarkable success achieved by Sodick Co., Ltd.within a very short time can largely be explained by the fact that the company was founded by talented EDM engineers and designers who, after many years of work, left the “pioneer company” of Japanese EDM — JAPAX INC. — in order to implement their own original ideas and develop EDM machines at an entirely new level.

JAPAX had been manufacturing EDM machines since 1953. The company was founded by Kiyoshi Inoue, often called “the father of Japanese EDM.” Following the pioneering work of Boris Lazarenko and Natalia Lazarenko, as well as other Soviet scientists, Kiyoshi Inoue began research into EDM technology in Japan and made the greatest contribution to the creation and manufacture of EDM machines in the country.

The experience and knowledge gained by Sodick’s founders during their years at JAPAX became the launch platform and the initial scientific and technical capital for the rapid rise of the new company. The flow of leading specialists from JAPAX to Sodick continued until April 1992, when JAPAX INC. formally became part of Sodick Co., Ltd..

The first Japanese EDM machine — and the first EDM machine built outside the USSR — is shown on the left: JAPAX INC., 1954. On the right are improved JAPAX EDM machines from 1957 and 1961.
#EDM #JapanfirstEDM #Japax

In its early years, one of the key strengths of Sodick Co., Ltd. was the exceptional expertise of its engineers in electronics and numerical control. Sodick was in fact one of the first companies to introduce computer technology into the CNC systems of EDM machines.

This breakthrough innovation in EDM machine design not only improved machine performance, but also opened up entirely new applications for EDM technology. The first computer-based CNC system developed specifically for EDM machines achieved outstanding commercial success and became one of the key factors behind Sodick’s rapid growth and rise to prominence.

Cooperation with Makino Milling Machine Co., Ltd. in the 1970s helped create the first multi-axis CNC die-sinking EDM machine. The machine was presented at EMO Milano 1979 together with the prototype of ROBOCUT, an automated version of the ISOCUT wire EDM system.

From the late 1980s until the early 2000s, Sodick Co., Ltd. cooperated closely with Enshu Limited, one of Japan’s leading manufacturers of milling machines. The cooperation included cross-investment and was intended to combine Sodick’s know-how in electronics and CNC systems with Enshu’s mechanical engineering expertise.

Sodick Co., Ltd. cooperates with several universities and, in particular, with the Department of Mechatronics at University of California, Davis. Professor Yamazaki, who headed the department, assisted in the development of a unique digital servo-control system for axis motion. This system is installed exclusively on the latest generations of Sodick EDM machines.

The University of California has also worked on future applications of artificial-intelligence-based control systems developed by Sodick. In the 1990s, such systems — the NF CNC generators based on a neural network and an “intelligent knowledge base” — made it possible for the first time to control all stages of complex die-sinking EDM processes completely automatically.

Sodick Co., Ltd. spends more than US$3.5 million annually on research alone, while development costs are budgeted separately. Altogether, up to 25% of the company’s revenue is invested in research and development.

The already impressive list of patents owned by the world leader in EDM technology was further strengthened in 1991, when Sodick acquired the patent portfolio previously owned by JAPAX INC., one of the pioneers of industrial EDM. In effect, Sodick acquired the company without which Sodick itself would never have existed.

Today, Sodick Co., Ltd. owns more than 1,500 patents, industrial designs and trademarks. Sodick possesses the largest number of active EDM-related patents in the world. More than 80% of these patents protect inventions developed by Sodick’s own engineers, while only a relatively small number originated from JAPAX. Yet even these JAPAX inventions were created with significant contributions from the engineers who today form the design elite of Sodick.

For example, as of March 2, 2003, Sodick Co., Ltd. owned 367 United States patents. U.S. patent statistics are particularly representative because nearly all major machine-tool manufacturers seek patent protection in the United States. This was more than any other EDM manufacturer possessed, and significantly more than the combined total of 298 U.S. patents held by the two Swiss EDM brands Agie and Charmilles, both then owned by Georg Fischer.

(https://www.uspto.gov)