The Audacious Factory 「KASETZ」

Give the factory a temporary form and transform it into a space for creativity.

KASETZ, newly established in the production area of Azbil’s Shonan Factory, is a dedicated platform for employees to shape the factory’s unique identity. Inspired by the company president’s desire to create an “audacious factory,” the project brought together eight factory members to explore a more creative vision for the factory—one that goes beyond efficiency.

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"The Audacious Factory"

The project began with a request from the company president: “I want you to explore what we can do with the factory and AI.” He also called for the factory to become “more audacious,” setting the project in motion. Here, “audacious” means thinking and acting freely, unconstrained by conventions or conventional limitations. The core question was how the factory could move beyond efficiency and productivity to generate new ideas and function as a place for creativity.

For a factory to take on a creative role requires a fundamentally different way of seeing its everyday identity. We positioned the project as giving the factory a “temporary form.” The name KASETZ emerged from the concept of revealing latent aspects of the factory that are difficult to see in daily operations and continuously testing their potential. The initial challenge was to work with factory members from the ground up, defining what this “temporary form” could be and how it might take shape within the factory space.

Creation

Create a temporary form to reveal the factory’s unique character.

The first step was to give each of the eight factory members selected for the project a temporary “character.” While their daily work prioritizes efficiency and accuracy, creative activities called for different sides of each individual to emerge. These fictional personas revealed personalities and areas of expertise that rarely surfaced in their usual roles.

Rather than prioritizing planning and design, the team adopted a prototype-first approach: make something, then reflect on it. Prototyping began before the final outcome was clear. By repeatedly installing and testing ideas in the factory, developing new concepts each week, and visualizing them through CG and drawings, the team introduced approaches rarely seen in a conventional factory and continuously refined the project.

A Circus of Making — An Ever-Evolving, Interactive Space

KASETZ was designed not as a finished space, but as a temporary stage for making. Its structure allows it to be relocated in the future, creating a prototype stage for trial production and experimentation. Makers become performers, while visitors act as both audience members and potential participants. The roles of observing and performing shift dynamically, opening the making process itself to view. The space functions as a people-centered platform where new attempts and prototypes continue to emerge.

The space serves three main purposes.
First, to create a place to belong.
It provides a space where people can casually stop by, stay, discuss, and chat, while also revealing the unfinished process of making.
Second, to open up making.
By placing makers at the center and sharing the process of prototyping, the space brings together people from different roles and areas of work. Observers and makers exchange roles, opening the act of making to others.
Third, to keep updating the space.
The temporary, relocatable, and flexible structure continues to evolve through use. People actively shape the space, using its margins and levels to generate new experiments and playful ideas on site.

KASETZ System

We developed the KASETZ System to archive project outputs and make them accessible for anyone to explore and use. Inspired by the experience of using game cartridges, the system offers an intuitive and playful way to share members’ unique traits, IP ideas, and project information.
By accumulating outputs and making them available to all, the system enables creative activities to build on one another and expand over time. As more projects emerge and a wider variety of cartridges are added, the platform will continue to support the growth of the initiative as a whole.

Fortune of Failure

This interactive installation uses real stories of failure from Azbil employees. AI generates omikuji-style fortunes based on the data, which are printed through a receipt printer.
Built around the idea that “failure becomes poison when hidden, but medicine when shared,” the experience lets participants learn from others’ mistakes through a playful format shaped by chance. Its purpose is to preserve and share individual failures as collective knowledge for the organization. The installation emerged from the concept of creating a temporary “graveyard of failures” within the factory.

Peephole

The factory brings together people with diverse backgrounds, technical skills, and interests. This interactive installation celebrates the richness of their individuality—each person’s world is fascinating enough to make simply peeking inside enjoyable.
Set within the fictional company NOZ Inc., the installation visualizes the personalities and unique perspectives of factory members, allowing them to share their worlds with one another. Built on the idea that peeking is an inherently active and personal form of exploration, the experience invites visitors to discover the diverse characters that exist within the factory.

Future

Spreading a Creative Perspective Across the Factory

KASETZ began with eight members and will continue to welcome a wider range of participants. By establishing a space where people can engage in creative activities through temporary personas, the project is already bringing new energy to the factory.
The next phase will involve employees who have not yet participated in KASETZ, extending a creative perspective across the entire factory.