4 ms·

How nimble Keyence grew into a $140B titan

58 points by gabthinking2017 5y ago

1cvmask 5y ago
I never heard of them before. The link was behind a paywall. But the company seems to be thriving: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyence
11thEarlOfMar 5y ago
Keyence is very well known in industrial automation. Many vision and light-based products, largely for sensing and quality control. High quality components, reasonable prices, attentive, educated technical field sales, will stop calling you if you express that you'd rather not hear from them again.
- systemvoltage 5y ago
  Keyence is not well known outside of the tech world. Keyence sales team rocks! They bugged me, annoyed me, gave me tons of free information, free loaners of $100k equipment, persuaded me and we’ve become friends now after years of great engineer+sales relationship. Their purpose truly is to make you succeed as an engineer.
  - gerdesj 5y ago
    "Keyence sales team rocks! They bugged me, annoyed me, gave me tons of free information, free loaners of $100k worth of equipment, persuaded me and we’ve become friends now after years of great engineer+sales relationship. Their purpose truly is to make you succeed as an engineer." $ RLY LOL ?
  - ackbar03 5y ago
    What's the price of the typical product they sell though? I went to one of their booths at a trade show in Shanghai. It seemed that one of their key products was these OCR tools for components manufacturing for QA type tasks, although I assume they have more sophisticated products. The trade convention was filled with a lot of smaller type competitors as well. I think the typical sticker price for one of those OCR type things is something around 20k RMB which is around 3-4K USD although I can't be sure exactly since they sort of throw these price ranges around, final quotation might be higher. But at the time I didn't quite understand how such a low revenue product could support all the sales and engineer people running around. Plus these OCR tools tend to be fragile and need to be tailored to a specific production line meaning more costs.
    - systemvoltage 5y ago
      We were mostly interested in surface measurements. I lobbied for $80k VK-X series and bought a whole bunch of them. Ridiculously sexy tech, with great specs and performance. They're a high quality supplier in every way - think Apple of B2B - from sales to support.
euske 5y ago
Keyence is well known among tech students in Japan for their high wages (compare to the average) and its cutthroat environment. I hear that they tend to let young engineers do a rather advanced task.
myself248 5y ago
I run across their name all the time in microscopes and metrology equipment, and I think they do light-curtain stuff too.
jet_32951 5y ago
Keyence is my go-to for a number of sensors. Their datasheets are always borne out by the sensors' performance. I never hesitate in ordering their equipment.
TacticalCoder 5y ago
$140 billion yen, in TFA. That is big but it's "only" 1.3 billion USD if TFA is correct. It's also not very clear: the headline on HN says "grew into a $140B titan" but then the sentence says "Keyence reported a record 141.78 billion yen first-half net profit Thursday". I'm confused.
- daveguy 5y ago
  *16 trillion yen, 141 billion USD = Market Cap. Vs 141B yen first half profit.
- zck 5y ago
  The previous paragraph: > This continued adaptation has helped Keyence grow to become Japan's third-most-valuable listed company, behind only Toyota Motor and Sony Group, with a market capitalization of nearly 16 trillion yen ($141 billion).
- manquer 5y ago
  Its market cap is $143 billion. The half year profit in yen being same is just kind of a coincidence. https://companiesmarketcap.com/keyence/marketcap/ https://companiesmarketcap.com/keyence/marketcap/
cashsterling 5y ago
I have used a variety of Keyence stuff in my career ranging from their high end microscopes to industrial automation sensors for machines and process sensing. They make great stuff.
genericone 5y ago
What is the fastest animal in Japan? ... A Keyence sales rep. Strange joke made by older japanese coworkers after a sales visit by Keyence.
- hyuuu 5y ago
  wait, how is that strange? it makes sense given what the company is known for
  - genericone 5y ago
    I didn't mean strange as "unfitting", but strange as in "this is such an inside joke" from the front-lines of the Japanese tech industry. Admittedly, when I first heard the joke 10 years ago, (and only one more time since then), I didn't quite get it until a Japanese coworker clarified the Keyence sales culture for me. I've only heard confirmations of this since then, and now a decade later the international tech zeitgeist is aware too of their culture.
- jchallis 5y ago
  That’s a delightfully wholesome joke.
chiyc 5y ago
I actually have a lot to be thankful for to Keyence. In a prior life as a process engineer, I had some exposure to Keyence products in a manufacturing setting. Looking to make a career change, I got into their hiring pipeline for a technical sales role. Fortunately, I got rejected after taking a personality test and submitting a video response to some interview prompt. I instead got my first software development position the following month, which has been an amazingly positive change in my life. So thank you, Keyence. Who knows where I’d be today otherwise!
hncommenter13 5y ago
The Financial Times has occasionally written articles pondering some of the odder financial decisions at Keyence (eg, hoarding cash, world-beating margins vs. competitors, low relative R&D as a % of sales, etc). Doesn't seem to have hurt the stock price, though. FT Links: https://archive.md/bFfLI https://archive.md/bFfLI https://archive.md/58bio https://archive.md/58bio https://archive.md/kn6oY https://archive.md/kn6oY Edit: formatting
maciejw 5y ago
I also had an opportunity to design control systems using their products in Poland. The sensors were very accurate, and competitively priced (although maybe a bit fragile, compared to Sick or other European products - it was visibly different engineering culture), but the most remarkable thing about them was their sales team. They were ready to borrow expensive sensors for months, and responded very quickly.
rwmurrayVT 5y ago
It has been my experience that some of their metrology equipment lags behind API and Faro. Then again I'm a little biased because of my exposure to them both.

I never heard of them before. The link was behind a paywall. But the company seems to be thriving: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyence

11thEarlOfMar 5y ago

Keyence is very well known in industrial automation. Many vision and light-based products, largely for sensing and quality control. High quality components, reasonable prices, attentive, educated technical field sales, will stop calling you if you express that you'd rather not hear from them again.

systemvoltage 5y ago
Keyence is not well known outside of the tech world. Keyence sales team rocks! They bugged me, annoyed me, gave me tons of free information, free loaners of $100k equipment, persuaded me and we’ve become friends now after years of great engineer+sales relationship. Their purpose truly is to make you succeed as an engineer.
- gerdesj 5y ago
  "Keyence sales team rocks! They bugged me, annoyed me, gave me tons of free information, free loaners of $100k worth of equipment, persuaded me and we’ve become friends now after years of great engineer+sales relationship. Their purpose truly is to make you succeed as an engineer." $ RLY LOL ?
- ackbar03 5y ago
  What's the price of the typical product they sell though? I went to one of their booths at a trade show in Shanghai. It seemed that one of their key products was these OCR tools for components manufacturing for QA type tasks, although I assume they have more sophisticated products. The trade convention was filled with a lot of smaller type competitors as well. I think the typical sticker price for one of those OCR type things is something around 20k RMB which is around 3-4K USD although I can't be sure exactly since they sort of throw these price ranges around, final quotation might be higher. But at the time I didn't quite understand how such a low revenue product could support all the sales and engineer people running around. Plus these OCR tools tend to be fragile and need to be tailored to a specific production line meaning more costs.
  - systemvoltage 5y ago
    We were mostly interested in surface measurements. I lobbied for $80k VK-X series and bought a whole bunch of them. Ridiculously sexy tech, with great specs and performance. They're a high quality supplier in every way - think Apple of B2B - from sales to support.

euske 5y ago

Keyence is well known among tech students in Japan for their high wages (compare to the average) and its cutthroat environment. I hear that they tend to let young engineers do a rather advanced task.

myself248 5y ago

I run across their name all the time in microscopes and metrology equipment, and I think they do light-curtain stuff too.

jet_32951 5y ago

Keyence is my go-to for a number of sensors. Their datasheets are always borne out by the sensors' performance. I never hesitate in ordering their equipment.

TacticalCoder 5y ago

$140 billion yen, in TFA. That is big but it's "only" 1.3 billion USD if TFA is correct. It's also not very clear: the headline on HN says "grew into a $140B titan" but then the sentence says "Keyence reported a record 141.78 billion yen first-half net profit Thursday". I'm confused.

daveguy 5y ago
*16 trillion yen, 141 billion USD = Market Cap. Vs 141B yen first half profit.
zck 5y ago
The previous paragraph: > This continued adaptation has helped Keyence grow to become Japan's third-most-valuable listed company, behind only Toyota Motor and Sony Group, with a market capitalization of nearly 16 trillion yen ($141 billion).
manquer 5y ago
Its market cap is $143 billion. The half year profit in yen being same is just kind of a coincidence. https://companiesmarketcap.com/keyence/marketcap/ https://companiesmarketcap.com/keyence/marketcap/

cashsterling 5y ago

I have used a variety of Keyence stuff in my career ranging from their high end microscopes to industrial automation sensors for machines and process sensing. They make great stuff.

genericone 5y ago

What is the fastest animal in Japan? ... A Keyence sales rep. Strange joke made by older japanese coworkers after a sales visit by Keyence.

hyuuu 5y ago
wait, how is that strange? it makes sense given what the company is known for
- genericone 5y ago
  I didn't mean strange as "unfitting", but strange as in "this is such an inside joke" from the front-lines of the Japanese tech industry. Admittedly, when I first heard the joke 10 years ago, (and only one more time since then), I didn't quite get it until a Japanese coworker clarified the Keyence sales culture for me. I've only heard confirmations of this since then, and now a decade later the international tech zeitgeist is aware too of their culture.
jchallis 5y ago
That’s a delightfully wholesome joke.

chiyc 5y ago

I actually have a lot to be thankful for to Keyence. In a prior life as a process engineer, I had some exposure to Keyence products in a manufacturing setting. Looking to make a career change, I got into their hiring pipeline for a technical sales role. Fortunately, I got rejected after taking a personality test and submitting a video response to some interview prompt. I instead got my first software development position the following month, which has been an amazingly positive change in my life. So thank you, Keyence. Who knows where I’d be today otherwise!

hncommenter13 5y ago

The Financial Times has occasionally written articles pondering some of the odder financial decisions at Keyence (eg, hoarding cash, world-beating margins vs. competitors, low relative R&D as a % of sales, etc). Doesn't seem to have hurt the stock price, though. FT Links: https://archive.md/bFfLI https://archive.md/bFfLI https://archive.md/58bio https://archive.md/58bio https://archive.md/kn6oY https://archive.md/kn6oY Edit: formatting

maciejw 5y ago

I also had an opportunity to design control systems using their products in Poland. The sensors were very accurate, and competitively priced (although maybe a bit fragile, compared to Sick or other European products - it was visibly different engineering culture), but the most remarkable thing about them was their sales team. They were ready to borrow expensive sensors for months, and responded very quickly.

rwmurrayVT 5y ago

It has been my experience that some of their metrology equipment lags behind API and Faro. Then again I'm a little biased because of my exposure to them both.