Building a machine to construct high-end Prada sweaters was just the start.
Now Mitsuhiro Shima, who took over his dad's knitting-machine firm three months ago, is setting his sights on — of all places — the car industry. The 56-year-old president of Shima Seiki Manufacturing Ltd. is in talks with auto-parts makers to use its technology to develop lighter, non-steel components, and plans to sign a deal next fiscal year.
It's the latest evolution of the company founded in 1962 by Masahiro Shima, a prodigy who made a series of inventions before he turned 20. Back then, Shima Seiki developed machines for making work gloves. More than half a century later, it's one of the top global suppliers of advanced knitting machines, which create seamless and other clothing for brands from Prada and Giorgio Armani to Fast Retailing Co.'s Uniqlo. And it's not stopping at that.