The Story of the ThinkPad: Building a Global Success
By Arimasa Naitoh
Introduction
I think that our R&D team, the Yamato Development Lab, has been able to survive for the past two decades by carving out and maintaining its position, just like how the Japanese have established and maintained its place in the world.
We asserted the technological capabilities of Japan within IBM’s massive organization by creating the machine known as ThinkPad in 1992, heralding a new age of computing. By the end of 2011, a total of 70 million ThinkPads were shipped worldwide.
The trip was not always an easy one. When we transferred from IBM to a new home in the next-generation global firm, Lenovo, we sensed that something new was about to begin, but we held on to and re-affirmed our identity by continuing to deliver highly regarded products to the world.
In 1985, IBM Japan’s development works at Fujisawa was relocated to Yamato, and became the Yamato Development Laboratory, which was assigned the development of personal computers (PCs) for the global market; specifically, battery-powered PCs, which are now known as notebook computers. As luck would have it, I was put in charge of this development.
Our team was ultimately responsible for the development of the ThinkPad series, something that was only achieved through great efforts all-round. Everyone worked non-stop, even through the New Year holidays. My engineers and I worked as much as possible, to the point that there was once, when I went home late in a taxi and was nearly hit by another car. One engineer did not go home from work for several days and was even almost declared missing by his family.
Everything back then was a first: we had to fit everything within a small space, which had to resist shocks and electromagnetic interferences, together with utility, speed and functionality in order to raise user productivity. Through trial and error, we revised designs countless times, which would often result in bottlenecks that brought the plant’s production line to a stop. But there were many good memories as well, like how the ThinkPad ran six months over schedule, and eventually fell on my birthday.
As we faced these challenges together, we became a family. The ThinkPad was our pride, our child. All the engineers at the Yamato Development Laboratory were crazy about the ThinkPad. This is why we have remained enthusiastic about Lenovo’s acquisition of IBM’s PC division and the company’s collaboration, and our transfer to a new corporate home.
We were able to endure all these changes because all of us at the Yamato Development Laboratory wanted to create ThinkPads, not just IBM PCs. We gave birth to the ThinkPad, and nurtured its growth. But what we have sought to create and what we were creating was not just another PC, because the work and results of everyone could be seen through the use of our product. A product that disappears from users’ awareness as it boosts their productivity exponentially—this is our goal for the ThinkPad. And so our journey in development continued.
Since my father’s time, Japanese people have been working hard. Over time the image of the Japanese as the most industrious people on earth has become something of a myth. Today, however, that myth may be more of a delusion. When the book “Japan as Number One” came out in 1979, we started to believe that we were the smartest people in the world, and ever since then label has stuck in our heads.
There is no doubt that Japanese are industrious. We study hard and stay late at work. There is also no doubt that we excel at many things. But there are many people in the world who work harder than we do, and more importantly, work smarter. My worry is that at some point, Japan had begun to fall behind in the global race. People here have started to think that working hard is uncool. Many now feel that they should care more about their private life than their work, and that it is important to have a relaxed lifestyle. This is certainly not a bad thing, but at the same time, the nation’s market drifted into a steady contraction, and the economy passed its peak and began to decline. The change in people’s way of thinking about work-life balance coincided with this economic shift, which was a combination that threatened to sharply accelerate the pace of decline.
I am not suggesting that working to the death, sacrificing sleep, and ignoring one’s family are good things, but looking at Japan’s situation in the world today, I cannot help but feel that we need to try harder. This may be no more than my own opinion, but I am convinced that the Yamato Development Laboratory’s achievement has built a reputation within the global corporation of IBM and Lenovo as an organization that created and developed the ThinkPad, and is a case study of the Japanese industry competing on the world stage.
From simply trying to survive by asserting our own existence within IBM, to becoming a driving force within the company and then remaining committed even as we changed companies, to always working to strengthen our presence: this was our path to success. Along the way, we felt that we wanted to represent the Japanese people, showing that we can all try harder. Sadly, Japan is now going through a confidence crisis. Most Japanese seem to have begun thinking that Japan is hopeless, a far cry from “Japan as number one”. What a pity.
On March 11, 2011, a historic tragedy befell Japan in the form of a giant earthquake and tsunami. This led to an extremely grave accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a crisis that continues even as I write today. Various political issues also entered the picture. Even as we tell ourselves to keep our spirit up, these are trying times. But Japan was not meant to end this way. As a Japanese person, not just a member of a global corporation, I want to shout, “Never say die!”
The ThinkPad was developed and refined as a tool for professionals. The sole criteria for success are whether and how it contributes to raising productivity.
People who work long hours are appreciated, people who practically live in the company are revered, and people who go to work on Saturdays and Sundays are regarded as models—by any means possible, we should promote and provide an environment where such “common sense” does not necessarily rule, and where people can work efficiently and effectively whenever and wherever they want to. All along our aim has been to change the working style of Japan’s businesspeople.
This book is a simple account of the journey of a group of people who shared that vision.