Why Japan’s Automation Inc is indispensable to global industry

A little-known pinch-point in the world’s supply chains??

Japan's automation firms also owe some of their?success to corporate culture.SMC maintains a network of 6,ooo salespeople who double as systems engineers with in-depth knowledge of customers'?equipment.Keyence uses no middlemen to sell?its products, relying entirely on its own sales force.?As with SMC,many are engineers, who spend a lot of time on customers'?factory floors identifying niggles and tweaks?that might otherwise go unnoticed.They are rewarded handsomely for their efforts.?Nikkei, a Japanese publisher, reports that average salaries at Keyence exceeded $15o,ooo in the last fiscal year.

niggle/?n?ɡl/ ?N1.輕微的批評(píng)；小牢騷2.一絲揮不去的煩惱（或疑慮等）?a niggle of doubt 一絲揮之不去的疑慮3.輕微疼痛V?1~ (at sb) 使煩惱；使焦慮?A doubt niggled at her. 一絲疑惑困擾著她。2.[ V ] ~ (about/over sth)~ (at sb) (for sth) 吹毛求疵；挑剔

tweak ?/twi?k/ ?V/N1.扭；擰；扯2.稍稍調(diào)整（機(jī)器、系統(tǒng)等）

The automation stars,?like Japan Inc as a whole, tend to be?less generous with shareholders.?Most sit on piles of cash;?Keyence held over $10bn in current assets in the last financial year. The reserved character?of the companies and their?tightfistedness?is so well-established that some investors say any sudden shifts in that attitude may be a sign of big and possibly unwelcome changes at the firms.

Tightfistedness：吝嗇

Investors have to rely on such rune-reading because it is not always clear what is going on inside the companies, at least by contemporary Western standards of open shareholder relations. SMC's?“traditional?Japanese approach to corporate governance", as Baillie Gifford,?a tech-focused British asset manager, delicately put it in 2o2o, offers only limited engagement with shareholders. One asset manager with a stake in Keyence reports never speaking directly with its management.

Rune /ru?n/n. 1.如尼字母（屬于北歐古文字體系）2.神秘的記號(hào)；有魔力的符號(hào)

As the companies become ever more international, they will face pressure to be more candid-and less frugal,?both with payouts to shareholders and with investments. Fanuc?increased its dividend sharply in 2015 under pressure from Third Point,?an American activist hedge fund.?As?Japan becomes less averse to?gadfly investors, Automation Inc should expect more such calls. To maintain their innovative edge, meanwhile,?the firms may need to spend considerably more on R&D.?Amid tech-inflected geopolitical tensions with the West, China wants to reduce its reliance on foreign suppliers of all manner of advanced technology, including robotics.?If successful, the Chinese strategy would at once deprive the Japanese firms of a big market and create new global rivals.?Becoming indispensable is one thing.?Staying so is quite another.

?Candid /?k?nd?d/ adj. 1.坦率的；坦誠(chéng)的；直言不諱的?a candid statement/interview 坦率的陳述╱會(huì)談2. 搶拍的，偷拍的（照片）

?frugal/?fru：ɡl/adj. 1.（對(duì)金錢、食物等）節(jié)約的，節(jié)儉的?a frugal existence/life 儉樸的生活?2.( 飯菜 ) 簡(jiǎn)單廉價(jià)的

?averse to?：反對(duì)··，··不樂意··

gadfly /?ɡ?dfla?/ n. （為使別人做某事而對(duì)其進(jìn)行騷擾或批評(píng)的）討人厭者；牛虻

?譯文

Japan's automation firms also owe some?of their?success to corporate culture.SMC maintains a network of 6,ooo salespeople who double as systems engineers with in-depth knowledge of customers'?equipment.Keyence uses no middlemen to sell?its products, relying entirely on?its own sales force.?As with SMC,many are engineers, who spend a lot of time on customers'?factory floors identifying?niggles?and?tweaks?that might otherwise go unnoticed.They are rewarded handsomely for their efforts.?Nikkei, a Japanese publisher, reports that average salaries at Keyence exceeded $15o,ooo in the last fiscal year.

日本的自動(dòng)化公司也將他們的成功部分歸功于企業(yè)文化。SMC擁有6千名銷售人員，他們同時(shí)也是系統(tǒng)工程師，對(duì)客戶設(shè)備有深入的了解?；魇坎煌ㄟ^中間商銷售產(chǎn)品，完全依靠自己的銷售團(tuán)隊(duì)。與SMC一樣，許多人都是工程師，他們花大量時(shí)間在客戶的工廠車間，找出那些可能被忽視的細(xì)微之處和調(diào)整。他們的努力得到了豐厚的回報(bào)。日本出版商《日經(jīng)新聞》(Nikkei)報(bào)道稱，凱恩斯在上個(gè)財(cái)年的平均工資超過了150000美元。

The automation stars,?like Japan Inc as a whole, tend to be?less generous with shareholders.?Most sit on piles of cash;?Keyence held over $10bn in current assets in the last financial year. The reserved character?of the companies and their?tightfistedness?is so well-established that some investors say any sudden shifts in that attitude may be a sign of big and possibly unwelcome changes at the firms.

自動(dòng)化企業(yè)與日本公司整體形象一樣，對(duì)股東往往不那么慷慨。大多數(shù)公司坐擁大量現(xiàn)金?；魇吭谏弦回?cái)年持有逾100億美元的流動(dòng)資產(chǎn)。這些公司內(nèi)斂而吝嗇的特制是如此根深蒂固，以至于一些投資者說，這種態(tài)度的任何突然轉(zhuǎn)變，都可能是這些公司出現(xiàn)重大、可能不受歡迎的變化的跡象。

Investors have to rely on such?rune-reading?because it is not always clear what is going on inside the companies, at least by contemporary Western standards of open shareholder relations. SMC's?“traditional?Japanese approach to corporate governance", as Baillie Gifford,?a tech-focused British asset manager, delicately put it in 2o2o, offers only limited engagement with shareholders. One asset manager with a stake in Keyence reports never speaking directly with its management.

投資者不得不依賴這種“符文解讀”，因?yàn)楣緝?nèi)部的情況并不總是很清楚，至少以當(dāng)代西方公開股東關(guān)系的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來看是如此。正如專注于技術(shù)的英國(guó)資產(chǎn)管理公司貝利?吉福德(Baillie Gifford)在2020中巧妙地指出的那樣，SMC“傳統(tǒng)的日本公司治理方式”只能與股東進(jìn)行有限的接觸。一位持有基恩士股份的資產(chǎn)管理公司表示，從未與該公司管理層直接對(duì)話。

As the companies become ever more international, they will face pressure to be more?candid-and less?frugal,?both with payouts to shareholders and with investments. Fanuc?increased its dividend sharply in 2O15 under pressure from Third Point,?an American activist hedge fund.?As?Japan becomes less?averse to?gadfly?investors, Automation Inc should expect more such calls. To maintain their innovative edge, meanwhile,?the firms may need to spend considerably more on R&D.?Amid tech-inflected geopolitical tensions with the West, China wants to reduce its reliance on foreign suppliers of all manner of advanced technology, including robotics.?If successful, the Chinese strategy would at once deprive the Japanese firms of a big market and create new global rivals.?Becoming indispensable is one thing.?Staying so is quite another.

隨著這些公司變得越來越國(guó)際化，要求它們更加坦率和減少節(jié)儉的壓力會(huì)更多，不論是在向股東派發(fā)股息還是投資方面。在美國(guó)激進(jìn)對(duì)沖基金Third Point的壓力下，發(fā)那科在2020年大幅增加了股息。隨著日本對(duì)餓狼般投資者不再那么反感，自動(dòng)化公司應(yīng)該會(huì)應(yīng)對(duì)更多這樣的要求。與此同時(shí)，為了保持他們的創(chuàng)新優(yōu)勢(shì)，這些公司可能需要在研發(fā)上投入更多。在科技影響下的與西方的地緣政治緊張關(guān)系中，中國(guó)希望減少對(duì)外國(guó)供應(yīng)商的各種先進(jìn)技術(shù)的依賴，包括機(jī)器人。如果成功，中國(guó)的戰(zhàn)略將立刻剝奪日本公司的巨大市場(chǎng)，并創(chuàng)造日本新的全球競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手。變得不可或缺是一回事。保持這種狀態(tài)完全是另一回事。

《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人·商論》22年3月刊

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