Asics Commercial ISS | Episode 2 - Continuous Improvement 2025

VIDEO asics ISS | Episode 2 - Continuous Improvement TV commercial 2022 • Can athletic shoes keep evolving? We asked Seigo Nakaya from the Footwear Function Research Department of ASICS Institute of Sport Science this question (and more). ASICS makes advanced shoes that enable athletes to consistently perform at their best. Seigo Nakaya leads research into ASICS shoes’ functional structure, based on biomechanical analysis of human movement. At ISS, one of our important functions is testing the shoe structure to see that it’s performing properly. In particular, ASICS evaluates the structures which support performance enhancement for a sport, its practitioners and the prevention of sport injury. So, what are ASICS Institute of Sport Science’s evaluation frameworks? How are they applied? At ASICS, we need to prove that our new models are better than their predecessors. To do that, the first thing to do is to quantitatively evaluate the shoes. Having a framework for making numerical comparisons is crucial to understand what it means to be the best for athletic shoes—it’s how we demonstrate that the ASICS shoes are actually better. For example, what’s involved in improving the cushioning and making the best cushioned shoes? Which parts of the shoe provide relevant indicators for evaluating the cushioning? To develop shoe designs, it’s important to express people's perceptions and needs in concise numerical terms. For instance, you need lots of cushioning for sports with a high landing impact, but cushioning is less important for sports that involve kicking firmly off the ground. Other aspects of functionality can be important too, like designing the most comfortable athletic shoes. Different sports require different functionalities. Requirements can even change within the same sport and while it’s not easy to accomplish all that in a single shoe, that’s what makes being a product engineer fun. ASICS Institute of Sport Science has researchers from a variety of backgrounds including engineering, biomechanics and psychology. That’s why we come up with so many new ideas. For instance, what are people thinking and how do they feel when they’re wearing a certain pair of shoes? The expert insights of psychologists can play a crucial role in understanding things like that. Customer needs and technological advances. It’s a story of continuous improvement: The customer needs change and that’s inevitable. Materials and manufacturing processes evolve too. We don't change things we should not change. However, we actively embrace new technologies at ASICS, and we deploy new technologies to take the product to the next level. There are some areas we should focus on more—that’s one of the ideas behind continuous improvement—and we’ll be progressing on them. As researchers, we make shoes that enable people to consistently perform at their best.- advertisement spot 2022