How Coronavirus is Transforming the Automation Industy

Welcome to Advanced Automation, a podcast by Calvary Robotics, where you'll find industry leaders and experts sharing their thoughts on the world of automation. We're really excited today's session. We've got a very special guest, a leader in our industry with one of the leading companies in the world, Fanuc Robotics. A very special guest, a dear friend, certainly one of the coveted leaders in the market, mister Mike Chico, the president and CEO of Fanuc Robotics. Welcome, Mike. Nice to have you with us. Joe, my friend, it's very good to be here. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. So, Mike, before we get into some of the questions, we wanna talk a little bit about the impact of the pandemic and what that's meant for the industry automation industry. Tell our viewers a little bit about yourself and and FANUC, if you would. Yeah. Sure. And I appreciate the opportunity to be with you. So, again, my my name is Mike Chico. I've been the CEO of Fanuc for about three years now. I've been with Fanuc for over twenty one years. Really came up through the engineering rank. So my I I cut my teeth programming robots early on and really spent my entire career in the automation field. From a FANUC perspective, as you mentioned, we're a we're a leader in the industry, not just in robotics, but also CNC controls, as well as a small line of machine tools ourselves. And so it's been really great to, to bring that as part of our portfolio here in North America and and offer that to the customers. So FANUC overall, when when customers ask us what we do, we we say we help solve manufacturing challenges. And it aligns great with Calvary. It aligns, really well with our integrator network in general, and it's it's it's my passion and it's what it's what I love. So I'm I'm blessed to be able to do what I love. Well, Mike, thanks for sharing that. And as you say, it's a more diverse company than maybe some of our audience would know, so it's good to share that with them. In addition, the diversity of the market you serve is pretty wide. So, we we certainly can learn a lot about the different industries through the the FANUC and and what they do in helping manufacturing across multiple industries. But today, we wanna talk a little bit more about the pandemic. And, maybe before we get into some more specific questions, if we could start with kind of an overview, what's your overall impression of the impact of this pandemic and and on the automation, industry, the implementation of automation in North America? It's a really good it's a really good question. Obviously, you and I have been living this as well as everybody's been living this for the last, five months now, maybe a little bit longer. And, you know, the effect to us has been interesting. As you mentioned, we're in a lot of different diverse industries. And, if you look at the auto mode the automotive industry that we're in, that industry halted instantly with the pandemic. I mean, shutting down plants, shutting down factories, and so that part of our business really, really got hurt pretty quickly as well as a lot of others when the pandemic started. But one of the great things about the automation industry and about manufacturing in general is advanced manufacturing in general is just when something like this happens, how quickly we can react. And it was not a few days after the shutdown happened, and we were trying to sort out what part of our business was essential business, what part of our business was nonessential, how many people we needed to be back, for various things. And we started getting calls. I mean, the phone started ringing of, hey. I wanna I want robots to help build ventilators. I want robots to help build masks. I need robots to put together test kits or swab kits, or even companies that were already manufacturing those things. The phone started ringing from a service perspective of saying, hey. You guys are open. Right? Because, you know, I'm running my equipment twenty four seven, and I I need to make sure that if something happens, you're here to support us. And so, when the pandemic actually really hit, it was a it was a really positive thing to see how our team reacted here at Fanuc, to be able to supply things, and then how others, yourself included, at Calvary reacted by meeting the needs of the industry and seeing, what what we could supply within this pandemic to help. And I gotta say just in the, you know, the April, May, June time frame that quarter, the second quarter, we saw a a large growth in in robot sales during that time almost exclusively due to to to orders related to the pandemic to do various things to help with the pandemic, which which really has a good feeling overall. I I can imagine in even areas where we probably didn't think about before, like hand sanitizers. Whoever was making that was making it, it was certainly a product they supplied to the industry, yet all of a sudden, there was this big boom that they had to scale for and and had tried to manage that. Even Lexan today, Lexan is in every supermarket, every store, every every pharmacy, just to protect the, you know, the interaction between people and allow us to be able to to, you know, try to live as much a normal life. So the companies who are making those things, I'm sure, was a dramatic impact. And regarding that in automation, you know, we've heard discussions about this pandemic actually having an effect of accelerating automation in North America. Is there evidence of that actually happening? And if so, why do you think that is? So I think, I think we're gonna see a couple things. I would say right now, the what I see might be a little bit of a short term bubble of, you know, people really need to ramp up to try to handle the pandemic as it sits today, and and we're in the midst of seeing that. So, we've we've kinda have the business that we normally do in outside of automotive and in general industry business, and we saw a big ramp up, in in this pandemic. And I I'm treating that a little bit short term because, a lot of those, increase in in lines is is gonna is gonna need to happen right now. But to your question, there will be a long term change, I think, in in what happens in manufacturing, not just in America, not just here, but all over the world of what what happened, because of this pandemic. I'm sure that, there's some people that might be listening that experience if there's any manufacturers that are listening to this, if they had any sort of supply chain that was coming from Asia or from Mexico or from Canada, that got that got severely impacted when this happened. And I think people are gonna think twice about that from a supply chain standpoint. And then I think, I think this is gonna also impact people from a resource standpoint too of just trying to keep people more spaced out, keep people safer, within their assembly process, and using using robots and automation looks like a a good way to do that for a lot of folks. It it that's a good point. I wanted to touch on that with you. So the this impact on existing markets, existing industries, do you do you think the companies, the the managers of these companies, the the people that are managing infrastructure, do you think that changes their planning going forward that not the short term as we talked about, but even the midterm, long term of how to scale, where they should scale, what they do? Do you think that, will have an impact in in the sense? If so, how? Yeah. I think the supply chain is going to be impacted. I I don't I think large companies are smart enough not to, not to be so reactive and completely move the needle, but I think a level of diversification is going to happen where, companies that had maybe a single source supply chain from a single comp country or from a certain area that they might diversify that a little bit and and try to get things more locally at times, or broaden the horizons about where they're gonna be. So, you know, I think across the different markets, depending on what industry that you're in, we'll see varying levels of that. I it's gonna be certainly harder in some areas than than others, but, yeah, I think we're gonna see both a a a short term and then a mid and long term change as well. And I think it's a valid point. I mean, some companies have indicated publicly that the localized supply chain is gonna become more important to them and how they manage that. But, certainly, as you say, some of these global companies need to still manage within the countries they're operating, so they still need to have a supply chain structure that can support their businesses. There has been some discussions oh, sorry. No. Sorry. I don't mean to interrupt you, but I just making the point that, a lot of people are looking at the pandemic and saying, oh, all of this is gonna change because of the pandemic. And it's probably good to note and remember that you really a lot of this has been changing for a long time, not not really just because of the pandemic. It may have, highlighted it or or, you know, accelerated it in some ways, but the concept of reshoring or localizing or or diversifying a supply chain, all of those concepts is the pandemic hasn't created those concepts. It's really just maybe accelerated them too. So, you know, we've been working for a long time in terms of when when things shifted to overseas and lower cost countries, you know, reshoring and bringing things here, has been happening for a long time. But I do think the pandemic is gonna accelerate some of that. But I think it's good to note that this this isn't a new concept really. It's just maybe something that we're talking about a little bit more because of what's happening today. And I would echo. I I absolutely agree. I think some of the economic reasons for it, the closer to the the end customer and how to manage that, All those things were playing into that long before the pandemic. It it probably did accelerate it as you pointed out, but, certainly, there were things in play prior to the, COVID effect and what that's done in the more recent, past. Mhmm. So there has been some discussion that new bar new markets will come out of this unprecedented situation. Do you expect that to be true? And if so, what areas do you think would that would be impacted by? Yeah. I think, again, maybe along the same lines before that, I think overall in automation, new markets, are always happening. We're always looking for ways to to handle things. And I think the pandemic, is maybe gonna highlight a little bit more on the employee safety side, of of the market. So, you might look into where you have a tremendous amount of people jam packed into a certain area, and the spread of you know, even even when the pandemic hopefully is over soon, just the spread of even the flu, may be prevalent in certain areas. So, one of the things I think about is not really related to automation is it's just a how many companies went to the like, an open workspace concept, that now really seems to be kinda challenging when you're looking at not spreading disease around and you're having people shoulder to shoulder in an open space. And I relate that to some of the, some of the companies that that we all go into. And when you're looking at areas where you have employees shoulder to shoulder, trying to do a a repetitive kinda dull, dirty, dangerous that all the these task. So I think that, those are some of the areas that are gonna be, affected coming out of this. The more automation we're gonna see that for trying to keep the employees safe and maybe distance out some more. I I would agree. I think even having, you know, you think about a production line with, you know, six people on the line, having a person and a robot and then a person and a robot, etcetera, will kind of give a a a natural default opportunity for people to be a little bit social distancing yet still keep the productivity and the people involved in that process. Maybe you get even more productivity out of having larger, you know, throughput. So I I think you're right. Those are some of the areas that, we'll see changes going forward. So shifting a little bit, but around that that topic, many companies are still asking workers as I know you are, we are, to do, you know, when they can, the jobs remotely or continue to do so. And do you see this having an impact on, say, FANUC or your go to market strategy? And, again, if so, how? Yeah. You know, the, our headquarters is here in Michigan. Actually, Joe is sitting, like, right next to me. Actually, this side, if you look at it this way. So we're spaced out into different rooms here. So we're we're experiencing this, this strategy here, in terms of remote working. But here, we're in the state of Michigan, and there's a lot of manufacturing that happens here. And when, our government allowed manufacturing to restart, obviously, our our essential business were, business workers were always here. But when our governor allowed the, manufacturing business to really turn on with social distancing restrictions but still turn on, we started cycling people back into the workplace. And it's been an ongoing process of what works, what doesn't work, what kind of safety measures we have. So I think that, I think that the the concept of remote work is applicable in a lot of areas. For us specifically, I mean, we deal with physical things. We deal with, we deal with robots that help people. We deal with machine tools that help people. And so when you deal with something physical, I think a lot of those things are difficult to do from home. And and as such, we've brought really our full team of engineers back here. But even what we're doing here with, you know, creating, this podcast episode, I think we've seen, some of the benefits where when we say host a training session or when we host a sales meeting, you know, our facility here, we can see maybe two hundred people in our auditorium, which was a limitation for us. But some of these tools that we're using now with remote work, you know, the last the last, technical training session we had, we had seven hundred people on it. And so you think about how many more people you can touch and the the changes in travel and things like that. So I think there's gonna be, pros and cons. I I honestly, my personal opinion is is I think that, that maybe too many people are still at home and, they're itching to get out and and get back, into a workplace somehow, but you've gotta do that in the right way. You know, it's like, you don't you don't leave home without this thing. I I got one sitting next to me all the time, right now, but I think that, people are gonna have to start transitioning back to some level of a face to face environment because I think the level of efficiency is is challenging from home. I think that's been a big a big challenge, and we're trying to overcome it every day. Yeah. And and you're right. There's positive and negatives to every situation. As you said, now you can get a larger audience, but we're social beings. We like to hit the opportunity to, you know, talk around the cool, and some good ideas can come come from that or the coffee coffee machine. And, certainly, that's, as you say, affects some of our efficiency. Some it's some limiting factor, but there's pluses too for sure. And as you say, the safety of the employees is certainly critical going forward. I I know you and I, we spent a lot of time visiting factories, etcetera. It wasn't all that long ago you could go to a factory, and they didn't ask if you had safety glasses or if you had hearing protection or steel toe shoes. But certainly over the last ten years, almost every single place I go today, that's a, you know, question they ask or they hand them to you. You have to have these safety glasses. You have to so we may see some of that where you, you know, you have to have a safety mask, going forward even if and when there's a a vaccine that takes care of, you know, protecting us. They still may have to have some of these protective situations in place and and to make sure that they keep their employees safe. So they may see some changes from that going forward. Well, I guess it remains to be seen. Right. So, would you have any advice for organizations on best practices dealing with this remote work environment? Because it's not going away tomorrow. It certainly hopefully will over time. But would you have any advice you'd like to share with, other listeners? Yeah. I mean, I guess, what I would say is is that, you you always wanna be trying things. You know, I I think back to March. Right? So in the middle beginning, middle of March, whenever it was, when everything shut down, I know that at that time when when I sat down with my old staff and we were trying to figure out what are we gonna do next because our governor came on and said you're not allowed to go to work the next day and what are we gonna do. There is no way, zero percent that I thought that sitting here in September, we'd be in the situation we are now. I so that's that was, you know, that was six months ago that that happened, and I would have thought six months ago there is no way that we'd be sitting here like this today. And then three months ago, I wouldn't have thought that either. So what I'm what I'm my advice to people is is that you've gotta think of multiple scenarios about how things are gonna be in the future. So I have a mindset where we're gonna be wearing masks all through next year. So twelve more months, fifteen more months Mhmm. Of wearing masks. What does that look like to your organization? And and so all of that leads up to, I think, that, companies need to start trying things. I will say that, the playbook that we have in place, which is forty eight pages long, but it breaks down to fairly simple of wear masks, keep a distance from people, wash your hands. I I mean, there's a lot of things in there. The conference room that, obviously, you're sitting in next to me in the conference room that I'm in right now have a lot less chairs in it than they normally did. But, the playbook we had, we've proven that it works. We've been back to work for, I think, five months now, four months now, and, we haven't had any spread. We've proven that that this this works. And so my advice would be is is I think organization because I do think that this is gonna last a lot longer than, even maybe we think now, that we should try or people should try to start cycling people back in, start try to experimenting with other things of thinking that this is gonna end quickly is probably the wrong, wrong thought process now. And so if there's areas of the business that that that you're are struggling because of the work from home, I'd encourage people to try it. And then the other thing is is and I was just with a another customer this morning talking about this is, some of the advice that we gave to our employees when they were home and some of the things that I've seen from others now is take advantage of this time. So if you you have employees at home that maybe can't be a hundred percent effective, think about all the things that you weren't able to do, when you were at work full time working, you know, working a hundred and twenty percent, you know, focus on training, focus on, building up some of the the soft skills that may be more challenging to do. I mean, obviously, it has to be done remotely, but we offer remote training classes. We offer live live instructed remote training classes where you'd be being instructed by a, by a teacher remotely. And so think about all those things that maybe if your folks aren't, a hundred percent effective because they're at home and you can't bring them back to the office for whatever reasons, try to focus on some of the other things that we never ever seem to have the time to do during normal times that we could take advantage of these times to do. Great. Great advice. And I I, again, echo that point. I've talked to our team too about take advantage of training, take advantage of contacting people, and and staying in touch with it. You haven't had, you know, the opportunity to. This is a great time to take advantage of that, you know, when you have that, I'll say, free time in front of a computer. So it sounds like you you have playbooked together. It sounds pretty, solid, and you got a plan together. Could you characterize anything you thought was the biggest challenge of putting this together? You know, heavy conference rooms and less cheers, certainly, things that you know, logical things to do. What would you say was a really challenge to try to make this work? Probably an easy the easiest question, but the hardest, to actually experience is the people. When something like this happens, you have people from, you know, every every part of the spectrum. This side, this side, everywhere in between, you have you have folks running that spectrum. And so and, you know, as a as a business leader like yourself, we we always wanna keep everybody happy. And so, you know, you think about the priorities. Health and safety of your people, number one. So you need to keep everybody safe. And but you know that you can't employ everybody if you can't keep the business going either. And so then you think start thinking about, you know, what how how effective is everybody? How's the business going? What can we do to get better? You couple all of that with the mindset that all the employees have from start you know, from this side to this side of, you know, I I'm I'm very, very concerned about COVID and and the effect that it has on my family to this whole thing is made up, and I don't believe that any of it's even a problem. And so you kinda have individuals for that whole span of, of that. And I would say that the way to the way to help that is to talk to people. And that's that's one of those benefits of, you know, you know this. I I normally would travel to Japan almost every month, to go back to our parent company. And not being able to do that now, one of those things for me, my free time is to be able to talk to our people. And and that has really helped out a lot of just especially when we are cycling people back in of just pulling people aside, holding town hall meetings, walking the floor, and just talking to people and, you know, going through what their concerns are, talking about what we what what what we have in mind of how to keep people safe, understanding that peep the backs of people's ears hurt because of the masks all the time and trying to find better ways to do that. So those are the the the the challenges is really just I you might I lost sleep every night about making sure that our people would stay safe. And, you know, I'm happy to I'm happy that it has worked out, thus far in terms of the the measures that we have in place. I have a huge, amazing team of people, that have really been working tirelessly since March on this. And and, but that's been that keeping the people safe and and keeping everybody informed is is been the biggest challenge for sure. Yeah. And and we certainly experienced the same thing. And as you and you characterize it perfectly, that spectrum of of understanding or belief or what they understood was going on in their lives and trying to talk to them and and recognize it. And, actually, it builds a little more, teamwork and coming together and try to communicate how we can, you know, work so that everybody stays safe, but everybody's concerns are addressed. Certainly, you're right. It was a challenge for us, but we also addressed it very similar to you. So, good to hear and great advice. Thanks. Yeah. Likewise. Likewise. Good job. So I'm gonna shift a little bit, but, again, around the same main topic. So most, if not all, in person, I'll call it, trade shows have been postponed or canceled for twenty twenty. How do you think this will affect the trade show activity for the future? Maybe still a little bit yet to be determined, to be honest, in my side. It it has been an interesting thing to see how quickly we've been able to pivot. I mean, what we're sitting on here right now with this with this, podcast and your picture, my picture next to each other and, you know, I I don't think our companies my company or your company have have had this kind of technology till COVID. Maybe you guys have, but we did we certainly do, and we've invested in that. And so a little bit of a plug for us. I maybe I don't know if I'm allowed to do this on your thing, but, we have a virtual show coming up. Some a lot of Calvary videos are gonna be highlighted through that. So we're gonna experiment with it as well. Obviously, a lot of the big trade show organizations between, a three and AMT and PMMI have created virtual events, and then a lot of us as robot OEMs and integrators have created virtual events. So ours is coming up in the middle of October, and we're gonna wait and see on that. I think the jury's still out in terms of what the effectiveness of those are. I do I I I I will say that I think that, this year is gonna be the year that it's the best year to do it because you know that no one's gonna go to a trade show anyway. So the the results that we get now are gonna be the best or the most telling, I think, in terms of how it could be the best it could be because there is no other alternative. You know, there is no trade show to go to, so you're gonna do what's out there right now. I'm really impressed with the way we've been able to do it. We were earlier today, you and I were talking about virtually touring our facilities. And I think that's really a great thing because, obviously, travel is tough, and so I think some of these virtual trade shows are gonna be good to be able to show people what a facility looks like without actually having to be there. But like I said in the beginning, what what our job is is to help people, do better at manufacturing. That that's what our job is. And if we can do that through a virtual trade show and or a virtual event, then I think that's that's that might shift things a little bit. But, I do fundamentally believe that human beings are social as you mentioned, and so I I never I I won't I don't think that there's gonna be a time when we don't have trade shows. Or I I would say I'd be I'm gonna be really sad if there is a time when we don't have trade shows because I I I I fundamentally believe that we need to be close to each other and and and show emotion and share things physically, with our customers that that that's the way to get to know people better. So I think there will be trade shows again. They might be a little different. You know, they might be a little more maybe maybe they're smaller. Maybe people's booths are smaller. Maybe the investment's a little bit different. But, I do think they will be back, but it it might take some time. It may take longer than we think it would. It it I I agree, and I'll touch on that a bit. I think, like you mentioned, you can have now, conferences where at some of these trade shows, it might have been five hundred people in the audience, but that's all you could fit. So maybe with this component of virtual impact, maybe a lot of five hundred people in that conference and another thousand that are, you know, streaming in from a a virtual, kind of in interface in in conference. So there may be some benefits we gain from that. Another thing I've noticed, and you probably have too, and I think it's really good as professionals and organizations, they're sharing best practices across these. Some of the ones you mentioned, the the PMMI, the the a three, they're sharing best practices, sharing challenges so they, you know, they can learn from each other and help each other. So I I think that's a positive. But I I I do absolutely agree with social animals, and I can't imagine that we won't look for that opportunity in the near in the near future, at least in the future, to have the ability to be together again, to take a look at what, you know, technologies are there. And you think about it. I shared this with, discussion with Jeff Bernstein, who's the president of a three, you know, certainly working with. And I you know, for many years now, you could essentially buy a car online. You could configure it, and you could buy a car online. Very few people that I know or very few people actually buy them online because you still wanna go and the proverbial kick the tires. You wanna know the, you know, the organization you're working with. You wanna know how it's gonna be serviced, where they are, what it looks like, what their, you know, their infrastructure looks like. So that's still true. And as as you say, suppliers to manufacturing, they still wanna know what we are, what we look like. So I I I think that's still gonna be relevant going into the future. It it'll morph a little bit, as you say, maybe to something a little bit different, but not completely go away. Yeah. So I got one, one other question for you here. But looking back now over these last several months since the pandemic has impacted on, you know, America and what's going on in America, is there anything you would do differently in the future, knowing what you know now? You know, one of the things that, maybe still a little too early to tell, but, you you know, I this is a interesting story. So I a number of years ago, this is maybe a long time, ten ten years ago, I interview I interviewed a guy one time. And after the interview, he sent me a text message and said thanks for the interview. And at that time, I thought that that was the rudest, most inconsiderate, you know, thing that someone could do. They they they it it I I would have written a letter, a handwritten letter, maybe a phone call, even worse an email, but a text message, I couldn't believe it. And, you know, I didn't give the guy a second look, to be honest. I I mean, after that, it was kinda like, well, if that's the way you're gonna treat this job interview then, you know, have that. So but you fast forward to today and and it it's it's one of the only ways we communicate where I would, you know, I do appreciate a handwritten letter. But it it it is something where I was either that guy or that that that young man was, ahead of the times or I was behind the times. And so, I think in terms of doing things differently, we always need to look at technology like this. And and I'm always sitting back considering whether or not, what we're doing is behind the times or ahead of the times. And I'm not talking about the technology with robots. I think we're we're well ahead of the times in terms of what we produce and the things that we develop. I'm talking about more social things. And, so in terms of doing things differently, you know, one of the things that we lacked in the beginning was was really a way to gauge people's, gauge people's effectiveness or gauge people's productivity when they were away that we're we've been together for so long that we just naturally understood if you were productive or not, but then you everyone goes away in in remote places, and it's hard to tell that. And so we're playing catch up a little bit now, from that aspect of what the future is really gonna look like. So, in terms of doing things differently, that that's probably it is is trying to figure out whether we're we're with the times, behind the times, with some of these some of these things that we're doing. I I think we've we've made up a lot of ground in five months in terms of, being comfortable on Zooms and not having to say, is everyone on mute? Or can you see my screen? And all that stuff that everyone used to say when you get on some of these calls. But, that's probably the biggest thing in terms of looking back on this is, we we should have embraced some of these technologies a little bit further, and and I continually think about them. What do we need to do for the future to make sure we don't fall behind? And so I'd like to have a conversation with you again ten years from now. So we look back on this one and say, so what was that impact and what did it do? And look at the world today and how it's changed. Anyway Probably one thing is I hope that when we do that ten years from now, we are actually face to face in the same room and, then we can do that. Then we can we don't have this white line between us of our videos, we can actually be next to each other when we're talking. Exactly. And we can high five at the end. Exactly. So, before before we go, if, you know, you mentioned that you're having this virtual event. I think it's wonderful, and I thank you for sharing that. So for our listeners that are that are tuning in, and they they may want to be in touch with FANUC, and you at least help them. What's the best way for them to get in touch with FANUC going forward if they'd like to know more about your organization and the things you do? Yeah. I appreciate it, Joe. So, certainly, if you know your local salesperson, FANUC has a diverse group of salespeople all over North and South America from FANUC America as well as all over the world. So, if you know your local salesperson, that's really the best way to reach out. They can get you in touch with, the proper systems integrator, like Calvary. They could they can help you with your issues, or your manufacturing challenges. But if you don't know all those things, go into fanic america dot com. Our our website is really, really good to be able to look at all the different ways that we've helped people, improve their manufacturing processes, and there's really great ways to fill out a form on there and say that this is you. This is what issues you're having right now, and can you help us solve those? And we will absolutely be right in touch with you and get you to the right people that can help. So talk to your local sales guy or go to fanic america dot com is the right way to do it, and I appreciate the opportunity to tell people that. Thank you, and and I appreciate you sharing that. I got one last burning question. I know most of my, listeners will be asking. So is it FANUC or is it FANUC? That's great. It's FANUC. Right off the bat, FANUC. And a lot of people say FANUC, I think, and then people start thinking that we're a German, company because it sounds German. But there may be a maybe a little secret there that not too many people know. But FANUC, the word FANUC is actually an acronym, from our history that, it stands for Fujitsu automatic numerical control. And it it goes back to when when before FANUC, but really in the nineteen fifties and sixties, FANUC And our honorary chairman, doctor Asanaba, was at was worked at Fujitsu in Japan. And, and and a division of Fujitsu, they let him spin off a division of Fujitsu to work on numeric controls, which is a CNC control. Mhmm. And, yeah, that's that's how we we became Fanuc. Yeah. We consider him in our industry the father of that, technology. So That's right. Sharing that little tidbit of trivia information. Again, thank you for being here. It's wonderful to have this opportunity to chat with you, get your thoughts, your ideas, and, the impact of going in. We wish you continued success and, hope to see you again, very soon on one of these discussions. Happy to do it. Happy to do it. Thanks a lot, Joe. Great to see you too.