Greetings from the New President
Misumi Group Inc. announced the appointment of Arata Shimizu as President and CEO effective April 1, 2026. The company aims to strengthen digital manufacturing through an AI platform.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 1, 2026 at 20:10
- 🔍 Collected: April 1, 2026 at 16:47
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 22, 2026 at 00:50 (488h 2m after Collected)
Misumi Group Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo) announced on April 1, 2026, the greetings of Arata Shimizu, who assumed the position of President and Representative Director on the same date. Starting with a deep understanding of our customers, we aim to be an AI platform that connects customers and suppliers. We will strengthen digital manufacturing in the golden age of AI, and contribute to the global manufacturing industry by driving further global growth of our business and bringing process innovation to new growth industries.
■ Greetings
Since our founding in 1963, we have expanded our services globally, centering on the manufacturing industry, and currently do business with over 320,000 corporate customers. We have grown by evolving our business model to meet the diverse needs of customers primarily involved in design and manufacturing.
Starting from catalog sales, we pioneered EDI connections and e-commerce sales in the industry, and have evolved into a technology-driven service, including "meviy," which provides automatic AI estimation from 3D drawings. In enhancing our product variations, we have achieved mass customization production with reliable short delivery times by advancing networking with our own factories and partner companies.
Our strength thus far lies in our focus on the customer's manufacturing processes. To improve convenience, we have evolved our model while innovating processes with a focus on the customer's "time value."
Today, technological advancement has accelerated further, transitioning from digitalization to the era of generative AI. We believe the impact of this AI will be a massive inflection point for us from two perspectives.
First, it will allow us to further power up and accelerate our forte: process innovation capabilities. Second, the development of the AI market will lead to the expansion of our customers' markets. AI is particularly driving the semiconductor industry, infrastructure industry, robotics and humanoid industry, agritech (smart agriculture) industry, and photoelectric fusion related markets. Of course, even in existing automotive-related and factory automation industries, we believe we can provide further process innovation.
By multiplying the manufacturing capabilities and IT capabilities we have cultivated so far with AI utilization, we aim to further enhance our product competitiveness. Moreover, aiming to become an AI platform that connects suppliers and customers, we will create new sales floors at customer touchpoints, and sustainably grow by elevating our core supply chain capabilities to a global level.
■ Biography
Name: Arata Shimizu
Date of Birth: June 1, 1972
Birthplace: Yamanashi Prefecture
Education: Graduated from Seikei University, Faculty of Engineering (now Faculty of Science and Technology) in March 1997
Career:
April 1997: Joined Accenture Japan Ltd.
September 2005: Executive Partner, Accenture Japan Ltd.
July 2015: General Manager and Executive Officer, Strategy Consulting Division, Accenture Japan Ltd.
March 2017: Representative Director and Vice President, COO, Seaos Inc.
June 2017: Outside Director, Interworks Inc. (currently Confidence Interworks Inc.)
September 2017: Trust Tech Inc. (currently Open Up Group Inc.) ...
■ Greetings
Since our founding in 1963, we have expanded our services globally, centering on the manufacturing industry, and currently do business with over 320,000 corporate customers. We have grown by evolving our business model to meet the diverse needs of customers primarily involved in design and manufacturing.
Starting from catalog sales, we pioneered EDI connections and e-commerce sales in the industry, and have evolved into a technology-driven service, including "meviy," which provides automatic AI estimation from 3D drawings. In enhancing our product variations, we have achieved mass customization production with reliable short delivery times by advancing networking with our own factories and partner companies.
Our strength thus far lies in our focus on the customer's manufacturing processes. To improve convenience, we have evolved our model while innovating processes with a focus on the customer's "time value."
Today, technological advancement has accelerated further, transitioning from digitalization to the era of generative AI. We believe the impact of this AI will be a massive inflection point for us from two perspectives.
First, it will allow us to further power up and accelerate our forte: process innovation capabilities. Second, the development of the AI market will lead to the expansion of our customers' markets. AI is particularly driving the semiconductor industry, infrastructure industry, robotics and humanoid industry, agritech (smart agriculture) industry, and photoelectric fusion related markets. Of course, even in existing automotive-related and factory automation industries, we believe we can provide further process innovation.
By multiplying the manufacturing capabilities and IT capabilities we have cultivated so far with AI utilization, we aim to further enhance our product competitiveness. Moreover, aiming to become an AI platform that connects suppliers and customers, we will create new sales floors at customer touchpoints, and sustainably grow by elevating our core supply chain capabilities to a global level.
■ Biography
Name: Arata Shimizu
Date of Birth: June 1, 1972
Birthplace: Yamanashi Prefecture
Education: Graduated from Seikei University, Faculty of Engineering (now Faculty of Science and Technology) in March 1997
Career:
April 1997: Joined Accenture Japan Ltd.
September 2005: Executive Partner, Accenture Japan Ltd.
July 2015: General Manager and Executive Officer, Strategy Consulting Division, Accenture Japan Ltd.
March 2017: Representative Director and Vice President, COO, Seaos Inc.
June 2017: Outside Director, Interworks Inc. (currently Confidence Interworks Inc.)
September 2017: Trust Tech Inc. (currently Open Up Group Inc.) ...