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Innovation Center, which Yamaha had been building at its headquarters in Hamamatsu completed on May 28 and opened for the industry guests and press members.

Consisted of 3 buildings accommodating 2,500 engineers, the Innovation Center has research laboratories, musical instruments and acoustic products manufacturing headquarters in No. 18 Building, product warranty division in No. 20 Building, and Innovation Road museum which showcases Yamaha’s historical musical instruments manufacturing open to general public on the 1st floor in new No. 21 Building. In addition, it has anechoic and echoic chambers, a vibration testing room, human sensor room, human engineering laboratory which only permitted person can access, a selection room and a new recording studio in the attached building.

Takuya Nakata, president/CEO commented at the opening reception, “We thought to add something innovative when we build the new No. 21 Building. Integrating R & D divisions located separately by product categories before, we expect the engineers can better communicate and get inspired each other on the same floor under one roof. Such work environment in cross-sectional design could provoke new ideas and experiments to be implemented in future Yamaha products. The X-type stairways also promise a more open and flexible workplace.”

Nakata continued, “We have 130 years of product development history initiated with traditional organ. The Innovation Road on the 1st floor will effectively illustrate such our histories in real products, instead of images. The visitors can share experience and feel the spirits of Yamaha. It’s our hope that we can contribute to people on the globe with innovative and creative products related to music and sound. And that will bring Yamaha a further growth in the future.”

The second floor of t
he new building has a design laboratory and prototype production room. The 3rd floor is offered for a restaurant and terrace area where the engineers flexibly hold meetings. There are R & D Management, Intellectual Property and Marketing Divisions on the 4th Floor, Music Products Development Division on the 5th floor, Musical Instruments, Audio Products Development Divisions on the 6th floor and Audio Products Development Division on the 7th floor.

Innovation Road is consisted of Crafts Walk which illustrates Yamaha’s manufacturing technique and the introduction processes of automated machinery, Digital Library, a digital archive of all Yamaha products, Innovation Road Map to introduce history of products development, Super Surround Theatre which provide experience of ViReal 3-dimentional acoustic technology, History Walk covering 200 Yamaha products from the very beginning to today, Futuristic Scope and Acoustic Technology Area.

Innovation Road seems to be a unique exhibition not found in other places of the world. Yamaha has set a new course for growth toward the future.