TOTAL PRIZE AMOUNT: ¥1,000,000! Rinkak & Unitcom will Co-hold the International 3D Printing Contest「LEVEL∞ AIR VENT HACK DESIGN CONTEST」

■ 　 Entry site (released in late August)
DomesticJapan（Japanese）：https://www.rinkak.com/jp/contest/level_infinity_airventhack
OverseasGlobal（English）：https://www.rinkak.com/us/contest/level_infinity_airventhack




■ About the “「LEVEL∞ AIR VENT HACK DESIGN CONTEST”」

The ¥1,000,000 “「LEVEL∞ AIR VENT HACK DESIGN CONTEST” 」is an international
3D design contest co-held by “「LEVEL∞”」, the brilliant gaming PC brand,
and Rinkak, the marketplace focusing on 3D Printing technology.
By using 3D printing technology, the customers will be able to individualize
 the air outlet partsvent on the PC case. And now we are inviting everyone
 to join this attractive contest and make innovations!

For the winners, the total prize amount will be ¥1,000,000, their works will
 be sold on Rinkak.com, and they will get support to help sell the products at
 the retail shops.

And all the participants will be given a prize for actively engaging in this event.
 We are waiting for you!

■ About “「LEVEL∞ AIR VENT HACK」”

It is a gaming PC brand that developed by the high-spec PC line “「LEVEL∞”」,
and can be individualized by 3D printing technology.



■ 　Entry Guidelines
Based on the openpublic 3D data of the air outlet partsvent, which is placed on
the front ofon the gaming PC case of the gaming PC “「iiyama PC LEVEL∞」”,
 designers will be able to use 3D printing technology to customize different styles.
In order to seek for a wide varietydiversify ideas and insights, we are opening
3 different categories:
Art: ideas with styling and fashion
Product: ideas with convenience and practicability
2D Graphic: 2D graphic designs with characters or patterns


■　Screening criterion
・Idea’s originality
・A good sense of art and design
・Possibility to customize the PC
・Feasible for 3D printers
(for 3D printing materials, please refer to the following link: https://www.rinkak.com/jp/materials?hl=en)

■　Examiners
・Tamaho Shigemura (CEO of Algorithm Design Laboratory Inc. / Architecture & Environment Ddesigner/ BIM Cconsultant)
・Yuji Fujimura (Autodesk Fusion 360 Evangelist)
・Yasuhide Yokoi (Kabuku Industrial Designer)
・Toshiya Takahashi (Technical Writer)
・Yuji Takashima (CEO of MCJ)


■　Total Prize Amount
・1 Million Yen in total
・Sales support from the hosts
・Participation Prize (all participants)

■　Entry Qualifications
・For those who are interested in designing, regardless of being a professional, amateur, or the country you come from.
・Ideas published at other awards, contests or media can also be applied.
・A Rinkak account will be needed.

■ How to apply
・Please prepare the 3D data of the design file and apply through the entry site.

※ the entry site is expected to be released in late August

■　Schedule
・Starting date: August 23, 2016
・Deadline: 23:59 October 18, 2016 (JST)
・Announcement of results: November, 2016 (planned)

Oct 9,2016/By Masafumi Asakura

Kabuku and Honda co-develop a 3D printed vehicle to be exhibited at CEATEC JAPAN 2016 from Tuesday, October 4th.

Kabuku Inc. (head office: Shinjuku, Tokyo; CEO: Masahiko Inada; referred to below as “Kabuku”) and Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (head office: Minato, Tokyo; President/CEO: Takahiro Hachigo; referred to below as “Honda”) have jointly developed a vehicle that utilizes 3D printing technology.  It will be exhibited from Tuesday, October 4^th to Friday October 7^th at CEATEC JAPAN 2016 which is held at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.

For this joint development, Kabuku took advantage of the “Rinkak Mass Customization Solution” to provide on-demand digital manufacturing of customized products to meet a variety of user needs by offering comprehensive body design, engineering and manufacturing options.

Toshimaya Corp. (head office: Kamakura, Kanagawa; President: Haruhiko Kubota; referred to below as “Toshimaya”) in particular faced a problem of finding a delivery vehicle that could be used for local deliveries and also for economical advertisement.  Kabuku provided them with the jointly developed mass customized vehicle that reflected their individual needs.

The location of the head office of Toshimaya is in Kamakura where there is the challenge of narrow roads in the area for their home delivery business.  They continued to use a standard vehicle there because the development of a promotional vehicle is time consuming and costly. Kabuku was able to provide a mass customized original vehicle by responding to their individual needs for design, engineering and manufacturing by utilizing 3D printers. 

Also, the total development process was shortened to about two months while still offering an original vehicle with reduced time and costs.  By using “Rinkak Mass Customization Solutions”, the project could take advantage of rapid 3D design, a mold-less development process for 3D printers and a digital manufacturing factory network.

Furthermore, the vehicle created from this project will be announced at “CEATEC JAPAN 2016” held at Makuhari Messe from Tuesday, October 4^th to Friday, October 7^th.

Kabuku will continue to implement the development of mass customized products in all areas using “Rinkak Mass Customization Solutions” and taking advantage of its digital manufacturing technology and factory network.

■ “CEATEC JAPAN 2016” Exhibition Overview

Theme: Connecting Society, Creating the Future
Dates： Tuesday, October 4^th to Friday, October 7^th, 2016
１０：００ am - ５：００ pm
Venue： Makuhari Messe, Nakase 2-1, Mihama, Chiba
CEATEC JAPAN official website ＵＲＬ： http://www.ceatec.com/ja/

Honda Booth Location： Hall ２ Booth Number ２S93 （https://www.ceatec.com/ja/exhibition/detail.html?id=6812）

Panel discussion： A panel discussion with external experts on the theme “Transforming manufactured goods into good experiences – Open innovation and mass customization”.

■ About Rinkak

Rinkak is the brand name of the digital manufacturing marketplace and 3D printing services offered by Kabuku Inc.

■About Kabuku Inc.

Kabuku Inc. (http://www.kabuku.co.jp) develops products and services that fuse hardware, software and design with core digital fabrication technology. “Rinkak Business (https://www.rinkak-services.com/ja/business/)” offers 3D printing technology solutions to corporate clients, supports activities of digital creators around the world and has been involved in advanced technology research with industry, government and academia.

　In 2014 Kabuku joined in a business partnership with Dentsu and has worked with Toyota, Olympus, Microsoft, Square Enix, Loft, Conran Shop, Calpis, Fuji TV, TBS and Hakuhodo. In addition, “Rinkak Factory (https://www.rinkak-services.com/ja/factory/)” provides business critical cloud services for manufacturing factories using 3D printers and “Rinkak 3D Printing Manufacturing Management Service（Rinkak 3D Printing  MMS）(https://www.3dprinting-mms.com/ja/)” offers a partner program to contract 3d printed manufacturing work from customers around the world.


Oct 5,2016/By Masafumi Asakura

The metal 3D printer trend in Japan.

METI, announced that they are going to launch a project for metal 3D printing after 2017.

The project is not only for development of material, but also the process.

The name of program is “Technological Development for Next-Generation Industrial 3D Printers and Ultra-High-Precision 3D Shaping Systems.”

In the case of 3D metal printers in Japan, Toshiba Corporation and Toshiba Machine Co, Ltd. have already developed a prototype 3D metal printer in 2015.

Toshiba and Toshiba Machine are going to continue development on the prototype to secure further increases in fabrication resolution and speed. The companies aim to bring the printer into practical use in or after 2017.

https://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2015_11/pr2501.htm

In the global market, EOS is one of the most famous 3D metal printers.  EOS is pioneer in technology and leader in quality in the field of additive manufacturing.

http://www.eos.info/en

I think for the manufacturing industry, the effect of 3D metal printers is not small.

From 2014 to 2015, the demands from the consumer side was large, and from 2016 the demand of the industrial side will have more growth in Japan.

Sep 22,2016/By Masafumi Asakura

Singapore market and Japan market

In the case of the IoT Japan market, Singapore is an important country.

There are two reasons for this importance.

First of all, it is the distance between Japan and Singapore. Almost all of the places in the USA and EU are over a 10 hour flight away. That is a problem in the view point

of travel. For example, if some company visits a Japanese 3D printing factory, it takes a few days to go from the USA or EU to Japan and back.

Secondly, there is a problem about time differences. There is a least a 16 hour time

difference between Japan and Silicon Valley. That's a big barrier even in the case of a Skype meeting.

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/usa

So, Singapore is better than the USA and EU in these points.

Let me share the more detail about Singapore actions about 3D printing.

In the case of Singapore, the government drives the 3d printing industry.

First of all, there is the Singapore Centre for 3D printing.

http://sc3dp.ntu.edu.sg/aboutus/Pages/About%20Us.aspx

The Singapore Centre for 3D printing (SC3DP) was built at Nanyang Technology University (NTU).

Though there is some government support of the 3d printing industry in Japan,the formation of support for the 3D printing industry in Singapore is

better than Japan in 2016.

Best regards,

Masafumi Asakura

IoT market in Japan,

Regarding the Japan market, there are several issues in the IoT industry,

and one of the important issues to compete in the Global (Japan?) market is human resources.

Though there are several news sources, according to the International Data Corporation(IDC), the total sales reached 34.5 billion yen. And the 3D printing market grew with 4.4 percent over 2015.

http://www.idcjapan.co.jp/English/index.html

So the Japanese market is growing, and there are several opportunities to expand 3D printing business.But, there are 2 main issues for companies targeting the Japanese 3D printing market.

First, there is a language barrier. In almost all the prefectures, it is tough to communicate

in English. By the EF EPI(English Proficiency Index), the ranking of Japan is 30/70.

http://mediakey1.ef.com/__/~/media/centralefcom/epi/downloads/full-reports/v5/ef-epi-2015-japanese.pdf

In the case of Tokyo, the situation is different, but in other prefectures it is very tough to communicate in English. Many factories are located not in Tokyo but other prefectures, therefore the problem of language barrier is  a serious issue.

Second, there is a problem of culture differences. Japanese language is high context language.

As a result, in business settings miscommunication happens easily. If business managers do not have a JLPT(Japanese Language Proficiency Test) 1, it's not easy to communicate with the local market in Japan.

http://www.jlpt.jp/e/index.cgi

What's the solution? One important factor is how to hire local employees who can communicate in English. Whether their contract is full time or not, this will be helpful to drive business in Japan.

Sep 3,2016/By Masafumi Asakura