CEO Interview
Aiming to be a company with drones that are used more in the field than anywhere else in the world
TOMPLA's mission is to "bring life closer to an imaginable future," and aims to realize a collaborative society with drones and robotics.
The company offers a wide range of services, including drone-based delivery services, operational management support, factory equipment management, and pilot matching. Currently, the company is focusing on developing small drones that can fit into small spaces, a field that is seeing a rapid increase in social needs.
This time, we spoke with CEO Fujimoto about the company's business and the appeal of working at TOMPLA.
◆ Starting from a different career than drones
── Please tell us about your career so far.
Fujimoto : Actually, my career had nothing to do with drones.
In my first career, I was working on product development proposals for local food manufacturers. As the manufacturing process for processed foods is fixed, I selected the ingredients needed for the manufacturing process and worked alongside the client developers to achieve the desired taste and product. While working on various products, I developed a desire to start by coming up with product concepts myself, so I changed jobs to work in the product planning and marketing department of a pharmaceutical manufacturer that sells products in drugstores.
There were many people in that department who had experience working for foreign marketing companies, so I was able to learn about the work style of famous foreign marketing companies. One of the characteristics of foreign marketing companies is that they make decisions by quantifying and parameterizing all information. While I felt that this would enable me to optimize operations and create clarity in decision-making, I also realized that the structure made it difficult to venture into new areas where there was no previous data. I could no longer suppress my desire to take on new challenges, so I joined the business development department of a human resources IT company that is famous for creating new businesses and entrepreneurs. This led to the founding of our company.
── Your career seems unrelated to drones, but how did it lead to founding TOMPLA?
Fujimoto : One of the new businesses I was involved in at the time was building a nationwide recruitment center for logistics drivers and food service staff. As I collected recruitment data from around the country, I saw that in rural areas, the cost of recruiting part-time staff was in the millions of yen, and I felt that we needed to change the assumption that on-site work would be carried out by humans. Around that time, there was an increase in news about the start of social trials of robots and drones, so I created a business plan and proposed it for my department at the time to start a business matching robots with on-site work. Unfortunately, it was quickly rejected (lol). Nowadays, major companies are launching this business, but it seems we were too early.
So, I thought, why not start my own business implementing drones and robots on-site? That's what led me to start our company.
◆ Developing a device that collects data on behalf of humans in hard-to-reach places
── What kind of drones are you currently developing and manufacturing?
Fujimoto : Our development team's vision is "Unlocking inaccessible insights, effortlessly."
While involved in many on-site demonstrations of drones and robotics, I have seen many environments where people are risking their own safety to collect condition data, such as plant equipment tens of meters high and deep vertical tunnels in infrastructure facilities.
We are trying to create a world where data can be collected on behalf of humans in these hard-to-reach locations, of which there are said to be more than a million around the world.
To that end, we are currently developing small drones that can fit into small spaces, where there is a rapidly growing social need.
A distinctive feature of our drone hardware design philosophy is that the usage environment and operation method are fixed, while leaving room for payload customization.
We are experts in drones and robotics, but not in field work. That's why we try to create room to accommodate the use cases of field workers. On the other hand, if we make the usage environment and operation methods too flexible, it will end up being custom-made every time, so we also place importance on development efficiency.
◆ "Customer issues" are the starting point for everything
── What is the appeal of working at TOMPLA?
Fujimoto : It's said that the cycle of a business or product has three phases: 0-1 (creation), 1-10 (verification), and 10-100 (mass production). In many manufacturing companies, projects are completed in the 1-10 phase, or they only have work in the 10-100 phase. This was exactly the case for me when I worked for a large company.
Our company is currently working on a project that looks ahead to phases 0-1, 1-10, and 10-100, so we are in a position where we can experience all of the phases. We believe that this is a unique opportunity for our company.
── Please tell us about your company culture and values.
Fujimoto : One thing we value in our company's values and decision-making is that we use "customer challenges" as the subject. This is based on the premise that it is connected to the vision and mission we aim for as a company, but by using "customer challenges" as the subject of our decision-making, rather than "technology" or "customers," we clarify the decision-making criteria for development content and methods.
── What kind of person is TOMPLA suitable for?
Fujimoto : Someone who can work cooperatively. Drones and robotics are driven by the accumulation of various technologies, so we need to incorporate diverse knowledge and experience to move forward. We're not looking for Dr. Tony Stark (the protagonist of Iron Man), so we're looking for someone who won't try to handle things alone, but who is open to sharing ideas without fear of things they don't understand or that don't go well.
◆ We are looking for colleagues who can materialize customer issues
── Please tell us about the position you are recruiting for.
Fujimoto : From listening to various on-site issues, we have been able to articulate the required functions and performance to a large extent. So now we are looking for the expertise and passion to put it into practice.
After joining the company, you will be responsible for the core of product development, from the design stage to implementation and testing, with an engineer's perspective.
We welcome anyone with this experience.
Experience in designing and developing homemade robots and drones
Attitude control system implementation experience
Experience in developing programs for sensor data and aircraft control
Experience in building a production system and production quality for approximately 100 precision instruments
◆ Aiming to be a company with drones that are used more in the field than anywhere else in the world
── Please tell us about your future prospects.
Fujimoto : Our company's mission is to "bring life closer to an imaginable future."
This means that we want to be a company that bridges the gap between the convenient and exciting future that everyone imagined as a child and the reality of life. In my own career, I have always worked to bridge the gap between the target state and the current situation, so I would like our company to be a bridge to an exciting future world.
Rather than being a company with drones that attract global attention, we want to be a company with drones that are used more in the field than anywhere else in the world. To achieve this, we are currently focusing on projects with an overwhelming number of sites and uses. The data that our drones can collect is valuable data that would have been difficult to obtain in the past. We believe that the data that can be obtained by acquiring a large number of sites has great potential. With the development of generative AI, we believe that possessing data sources that are difficult to obtain will become even more valuable.
Nowadays, various technologies are constantly emerging, attracting attention, and then becoming outdated. In the world of drones, which tends to be discussed primarily in terms of technology, we want to work together to create a world where drones and robots are increasingly used as a means to solve the world's problems.