100 Stories1984 The Challenge of MR-CT

Asahi Kasei has also been involved in life-saving businesses using the most advanced technology of the times. One such example is the diagnostic equipment represented by Asahi Medical's Asahi Mark-J. Asahi Kasei began development in the field of diagnostic equipment in the 1970s, releasing a pulmonary function testing device and importing and selling diagnostic ultrasound systems and X-ray CT scans, none of which were successful.

In the meantime, however, Asahi Kasei succeeded in developing the Asahi Mark-J in 1984. This was a magnetic resonance-computed tomography (MR-CT) device that Asahi Kasei and the University of Aberdeen in the UK had been working on through a technical tie-up. After obtaining manufacturing approval from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the first unit was delivered to Fujimoto Hospital in Miyakonojo City, Miyazaki Prefecture, and full-scale production began in Atsugi in May 1985.

At the time, the market for diagnostic equipment was rapidly expanding. Major electronics manufacturers such as GE and Toshiba entered the market one after another, and by the time Asahi Kasei entered the market, competition was already fierce. Despite efforts to develop the market for new equipment, the company was unable to remain cost competitive against major Japanese and overseas manufacturers.

In 1988, the company merged its MR-CT business with the Japanese subsidiary of Siemens AG of Germany, one of the world's leading companies, to form Siemens Asahi Meditec. Siemens Asahi Meditec steadily expanded its business, and by 1997, sales exceeded 30 billion yen. Siemens Asahi's MR-CTs were also highly regarded for their larger aperture and less oppressive feel than those of other companies.

However, because the MR-CT business is a diagnostic imaging business, there was little synergy with Asahi Kasei's pharmaceutical and medical businesses, and in 2010 the company's shares were transferred to Siemens AG, making it a 100% subsidiary of Siemens AG. The company is now Siemens Healthineers.

As a side note, Masaya Yamashita, famed for inventing the Electronic Compass, was in charge of this business and measured the geomagnetic field at various locations around the hospital where the equipment was installed. What would have happened to the invention of the Electronic Compass if the company had not pulled out? Although it may be a resultant argument, I feel that it is fate that one major decision to withdraw from the business led to the development of the Electronic Compass, which was a major development.