Akihiro Kitani, Managing Executive Officer in charge of MDI & IT, Mazda Motor Corporation

From technician to system engineer: Creating the Mazda brand through DX

Akihiro Kidani, Managing Executive Officer in charge of MDI & IT, Mazda Motor Corporation

■ Profile
He joined Mazda in 1982. He served as General Manager of the MDI Project Promotion Office in 2002, General Manager of the Powertrain Innovation Department in 2007, General Manager of the R&D Technology Management Division in 2013, General Manager of the MDI Project Office and General Manager of the IT Solutions Division in 2019, and Executive Officer and General Manager of the MDI & IT Division in the same year. In 2022, he was appointed Managing Executive Officer in charge of MDI & IT, a position he holds to this day.

Akihiro Kitani, Managing Executive Officer of Mazda Motor Corporation, has been involved in the use of digital technology in automobile manufacturing for 42 years since joining the company. We spoke to Kitani, who has always been at the forefront of digitalization since its dawn, about what DX means in the automotive industry and how DX has changed at Mazda. We will unravel the cutting edge of DX at an automotive company, which is making rapid progress.

My university life was spent holed up in the lab from 0am until midnight, devoting my days to making things. I would draw blueprints, make test pieces, and work tirelessly with my hands until I was satisfied with the results. Looking back, I think this experience was my first step towards becoming an engineer. While many students studying materials engineering only get to the design stage, my professor, who valued making things with his own hands rather than leaving it to craftsmen, taught me the attitude of a true engineer.

■The beginning of your digital life

I joined Mazda hoping to work in an engineering position. While most new employees aspired to research and development, I was unusual in that I wanted to work on the manufacturing floor. This is because, when I was a research student, a professor told me, "Your intelligence level is determined in middle and high school, so the place where you can really shine is on the manufacturing floor!" (laughs) Of course, I also had a strong desire to put the materials engineering skills I had honed to good use, so I intended to first spend 10 years learning all about the manufacturing floor. I was assigned to the prototype department I had always dreamed of, and my workplace was an office in a corner of a small local factory. My expectations grew as I saw the manufacturing floor I had always imagined. The sense of accomplishment I felt when, after six months of learning from the craftsmen, I was able to produce a part just 30μm in diameter was unparalleled.
However, shortly after being assigned, I was transferred to a CAD/CAM development project and began working on programming as a systems engineer. CAD is a tool for creating drawings on a computer, and CAM is a tool for creating programs for the production stage using drawings created with CAD. I never imagined I would end up on the side of creating systems, but I began learning from scratch, excited by the prospect of programming suddenly making the things I had been working so hard to create since my research student days more efficient. This is where my work in the digital department really began.

■What 3D and simulation bring

You might think that digital transformation has only happened in the last few years, but in fact, Mazda's digital transformation began with the launch of the MDI project in 1996. The MDI project, which stands for Mazda Digital Innovation, is an attempt to use 3D CAD/CAM to achieve all-3D manufacturing, from design to production. Previously, CAD data was not perfect, so it was common to go back to the design stage and revise the data before creating molds. However, by converting design drawings to 3D, it became possible to check the image of the finished product before making test pieces. Compared to the days when things were done steadily by hand in local factories, it is clear that technology has made great advances in just 20 years.
Entering the 2010s, Mazda not only pursued efficiency through technology, but also promoted digital innovation as a brand. For example, by simultaneously manipulating a physical clay model and a 3D computer model, Mazda was able to create complex shading on the car body, successfully developing unique products. Furthermore, improving the safety of the car body is of paramount importance for an automobile company. Simulation-based crash tests were conducted to explore how much stiffness and strength could be achieved in the car body while maintaining a lightweight design for improved fuel efficiency. In this way, 3D and simulation technology reduced development time and the number of prototypes, bringing about a major revolution in automobile production. And not only did this improve manufacturing efficiency, but design and safety also contributed to Mazda's branding.

■ DX that reaches customers

Furthermore, since 2016, we have been working on the digital transformation of logistics, known as MDI2. Before a car is purchased, there are major steps, including order placement, production, transportation, inventory, and the store. By visualizing this supply chain, all parties involved can share the movement of each individual car, such as which model is being sold at which store. In other words, digital transformation, which previously was limited to the areas from development to production, has now spread to include development and customers. We are currently in the process of promoting digital transformation in the accounting and human resources departments, which support corporate activities behind the scenes. Until now, each department used data classified separately, but we are working to eliminate the barriers between departments and build a system that allows everyone to use the same data.
I believe that AI has limitless potential, not just for digital transformation. Going forward, the key will be to utilize AI to enable as many tasks as possible to be performed with as few people as possible. For example, we need to consider to what extent we can utilize AI, from document creation such as accounting budgets to automobile development and production.

■Message to university students

To students aiming for a technical career, I would like to say, "Graduation research is the gateway to becoming an engineer." This is something I received from a professor when I was a student, and it is something I think about now that I have actually experienced the path of an engineer. The important thing is to get your hands dirty and be able to make test pieces yourself. And to keep experimenting with how to approach unknown challenges. The research you are about to undertake is world-first research that no one has ever done before. Don't forget to keep asking "why?" and always dig deep to make new discoveries.

Interview with Student Newspaper Online on March 17, 2025 by Sophia University third-year student, Himari Shirasaka

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