Japan Edit – July 2020
The Japan Edit is a monthly curation of business news and reports which have a direct impact on the Japanese – and global – composites industry.
Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry picks over 100 top firms in niche industries
Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has compiled this year’s list of more than 100 top domestic companies in niche industries worldwide.
The Ministry selected the firms based on their global market share and technologies for the production of key parts or materials for supply chains. It plans to support the research and development of these companies. The roster includes food manufacturing equipment maker Rheon Automatic Machinery. The company, based in Tochigi Prefecture, is one of the world’s first to put into practical use a machine that automatically covers sweet bean paste with dough and forms it into the required shape. The technique is also applicable to making other delicacies, such as China’s moon cakes and Russia’s pirozhki. The machine has been sold to 125 countries.
Tokyo-based precision machinery manufacturer Nikkiso also makes the list. It boasts 95% or more of the global market share of aircraft parts called cascades. These parts play an important role in controlling reversed airflow directions when planes activate engine thrust reversal for landing. The company is the world’s first developer of cascades made from carbon fibre-reinforced plastics, a material that is light and tough, yet difficult to process. The cascades are used in Boeing and Airbus jets.
More information: www.meti.go.jp
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New Coronavirus Countermeasure Support provides anti-infection products using 3D printers
3D Printing Corporation uses its manufacturing infrastructure based on 3D printing technology to develop new products designed to prevent new coronavirus infection.
Due to the coronavirus, there is a shortage of protective equipment such as face shields and infectious disease control products in Japan, and urgent procurement of the necessary parts and equipment is required. Parts can be delivered quickly by mass production using 3D printing, which is a powerful tool able to build a new supply chain following the drastic changes of recent times.
At the Yokohama factory, 3D Printing Corporation regularly manufactures various types of 3D printers and related technologies. As a new coronavirus infection prevention measure, the company manufactures face shields, doorknob tools and hand tools using 3D printers. To quickly deliver the products, the company’s engineers made a special design for 3D printing, DFAM™, and improved it so that lighter parts can be manufactured faster.
3D printing is used to manufacture the brims of face shields that protect people’s faces from splashes. A double clip can be used to attach a transparent sheet such as a clear file to this product, and a rubber band can be used on the hook at the back of the head.
Often touched by hands, doorknobs are a typical source of indirect contact infection. By installing the doorknob tool on a door in a public space, users can open and close the door using their arm without touching it directly with their hands.
Finally, the hand tool avoids having to make direct contact with people as well as with train or bus straps and elevator buttons. Carbon fibre-reinforced plastics are used as the material, and the load capacity when suspended is 40 kg.
More information: www.3dpc.co.jp – Read the original article
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Mitsubishi Materials and NIMS establish development centre to build information-integrated material development system
Mitsubishi Materials (MMC) and the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the establishment of the NIMS-Mitsubishi Materials Information Integrated Materials Development Centre at the NIMS campus in Tsukuba city.
At the centre, based on the NIMS’s information-integrated material development platform, a new development system will be built by combining various resources such as the experimental data, analysis models, and empirical rules accumulated by MMC. The information-integrated material development system will predict the performance and lifetime of materials. The centre’s aim is to build an information-integrated material development system for non-ferrous metals, thin film materials, and inorganic-organic composite materials by 2025.
MMC is promoting research and development incorporating IoT (Internet of Things)/AI (artificial intelligence), robots, and sophisticated production processes. Recently, the company constructed an information-integrated material development system together with NIMS. By incorporating it in research and development, they wish to reduce the time required for conventional manual data collection and analysis work. This will enable fast and efficient product development. By providing these products, they hope to contribute to the construction of a recycling-based, decarbonized society.
Regarding the establishment of the centre, NIMS positions the recent achievements of data-driven material research as a “new model case of industry-government collaboration” that can be used for product development by material manufacturers. In the future, they would like to strengthen the international competitiveness of the Japanese materials industry by publicising and promoting the use of the results obtained through collaboration between the two parties.
More information: www.mmc.co.jp – www.nims.go.jp – Read the original article
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Hamamatsu Photonics develops laser device parts
Hamamatsu Photonics recently announced that it has developed optical-related parts for a high-power industrial laser processing machine. These parts should make it possible to process difficult-to-process materials such as carbon fibre-reinforced plastics (CFRP) at high speed and with high accuracy.
The parts are used in a laser processing machine called “pulsed laser” to control the irradiation pattern of the laser. This time, the company improved their resistance to strong light so that they can be mounted on a high-power processing machine.
The pulsed laser processing machine irradiates high energy momentarily. Therefore, damage due to the influence of heat is suppressed and high-precision processing is possible. For difficult-to-process materials such as CFRP, the machine needed parts that would not be damaged even if it was pulled up to a high output.
The parts were developed as part of a research and development project on advanced optical technology led by the Cabinet Office. The company will proceed with development to further enhance their resistance to strong light. By the end of 2020, the parts will be installed on processing machines at the University of Tokyo and Utsunomiya University to collect data, aiming at the practical application of innovative laser processing machines.
More information: www.hamamatsu.com – Read the original article
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Nagoya Industrial Research Institute plans to establish start-up support base
Nagoya Municipal Industrial Research Institute (NMIRI) plans to install the support base for a technology-based start-up by next autumn to enhance testing machines such as CFRP-compatible 3D printers. NMIRI supports small- and medium-sized enterprises who are trying to create new businesses based on their own manufacturing technology. In collaboration with other support facilities, universities and companies inside and outside the city, the institute aims to create innovation based on manufacturing.
More information: www.nmiri.city.nagoya.jp – Read the original article
