In commemoration of Mazda's 80th year since its establishment, Mazda has published "Mazda Technological Chronicles," a large collection of Mazda's key vehicle manufacturing technology and technological know-how.
The publication of this work first came about
through the formation "Sanmoku-kai," a volunteer group of former Mazda
directors. The volunteer team set out in June of 1995, to chronicle and
pass on to the next generation the technology and technological know-how
occurring in the sphere of Mazda manufacturing from the Toyo Kogyo Co.,
Ltd. period to now. The group also wanted to do this work as a contribution
to the improvement of Mazda's technology and technological ability.
Subsequent groups were formed, composed
of specialists in the vehicle manufacture process ranging from, among others,
materials to vehicle assembly, production control and quality control.
The nearly 700 current and former Mazda employees cooperated over a five-year
period in artifact and information recovery activities.
This large collection of approximately 10,000
items has been summarized in the current publication of "Mazda Technological
Chronicles," organizing the content into three parts, with another publication
describing the chronological table.
The first part, "Mazda Advances," covers
Mazda's manufacturing history and features on technological know-how, with
some notable episodes. The second part, "Mazda's Various Control Systems
Viewed from the Perspective of Manufacturing Functions," concerns the people
who are engaged in the manufacturing process and how the associated processes
are maintained while making vehicles in terms of the changes in control
systems for manufacturing, quality, cost and labor. The third part, "Changes
in Technology and Technological Know-How of Separate Manufacturing Fields,"
describes in a series, the changes in the processing of vehicle parts from
material casting to molding, lathing and assembly. It also includes the
process of metal stamping, welding and painting to the final process of
how a vehicle is assembled.
This publication was given to the National
Diet Library, the Hiroshima Prefectural Library, Hiroshima City Central
Library, university libraries nationwide, government and public offices,
related industries and the Kyoshin-kai Association, as well as to individuals
who graciously cooperated in the compilation of this publication.