Super compact hearing aids are manu-factured by Rion Techno Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Rion. e company has grown from about 20 employees at the time of its founding to about 80 today. Hearing aids are manufactured at four factories, including a partner fac-tory, from where they are shipped nati on wide.First introduced in 2004, an automated shell production system called Rionet Yumeji Kobo makes it possible to mass-produce these precision instru-ments. It converts the shape of the mold taken of the customer’s ear canal into three-dimensional data to enable a CAD system to design a hearing aid. is system can reduce the potential for differences from worker to worker in the precision and size of products. It also allows us to accumulate, store, and reuse customer data. The system has contributed signicantly to improving production efficiency and stabilizing quality. But two other processes in the production of super compact hearing aids still require the superior human skills of engineers. e rst is model-ing—designing the hearing aid on a CAD system. e second is assembly—inserting the necessary components into the shell. is is especially true for the Completely-In-Canal (Mini CIC), the smallest of our custom-made hear-ing aids. e engineers capable of per-forming these two processes are rare experts, addressed respectfully as meisters.“e main reason for introducing the Meister System was to ensure that the skills of the meisters, so crucial to ensuring the quality of Rionet hearing aids, are acquired by, and passed on to the engineers around them to maintain our company’s technical prowess. We also wanted to motivate our staff to improve their skills,” says Katsuhiro Omuro, Director and Factory Manager of Rion Techno.“We’re dealing with the human ear, so there are as many ear shapes as there are people. at’s why we have to ne tune them for each person to ensure comfort. We have to t the parts into tiny shells, each with their unique shape. We haven’t found a way to auto-mate these processes yet. We still rely on the intuition and skill of the meisters.”On the following page, we’ll hear from the meisters themselves to get a better idea what these skills are.Katsuhiro OmuroDirector and Factory Manager of Rion Techno Co., Ltd. Joined Rion Techno in 2004. After working in the Customer Support Section and the Hearing Aid Process Control Department, he as-sumed his current position in 2022.Although digitalization has realized stable production, crasmanship remains indispensableMeister’s Job Number 2: AssemblyThe second job of a meister is assembly. This painstaking process involves han-dling delicate micro components using various tools while peering through a microscope. Few people can do this.Meister’s Job Number 1: ModelingThe first job of a meister is modeling. The meister determines the shape of the super compact hearing aid and creates a design that provides the optimal t for the ear of each customer.Completely-In-Canal (Mini CIC), the smallest hearing aid in Rion’s hearing aid lineupOn the left is the Completely-In-Canal (Mini CIC). On the right is a standard-sized cus-tom-made hearing aid (Canal Aid). This tiny hearing aid, smaller than a one-yen coin, lies in a realm beyond all but those with the skills of the engineers who handle their manufac-turing and the design of the internal devices.7
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