Sumitomo Electric and Sumitomo Electric Hardmetal establish a mass production base for cutting tools in Changzhou, China
June 8, 2011
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. and Sumitomo Electric Hardmetal Corp. have established Sumitomo Electric Hardmetal Manufacturing (Changzhou) Co., Ltd. (SHMC) in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China as a mass production base for cemented carbide drills and sintered diamond indexable inserts. On April 5, 2011, both companies signed a contract with Wujin Hi-Tech Industrial Zone, where SHMC will be located.
The demand for cutting tools, state the company, is dramatically expanding today in China, India, Brazil, Russia and other emerging markets. Cutting tools are indispensable for manufacturing parts for vehicular and other uses. Rising demand for cutting tools is particularly noticeable in China in response to the rapidly growing automobile industry. Demand for these tools is also expanding dramatically in steel, railway, construction and other industrial sectors.
In FY2010, the Sumitomo Electric Group invested about YEN 12 billion in new equipment and facilities to meet such rapidly expanding demand for cutting tools in the above emerging markets. The investment was used mainly to enhance the production of indexable inserts and cemented carbide drills in Japan, to increase the number of engineering centers in order to meet customer needs more deeply, and to scale up the production capacity for cemented carbide materials, sintered diamond products, and sintered cBN products. In FY2011, the Group will spend about YEN 18 billion, mainly to expand global production and increase the tungsten recycling rate.
In China, Sumitomo Electric Hardmetal Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. opened sales branches in Beijing, Guangzhou, Dalian, Chongqing and other large cities to expand its sales network and thereby meet rapidly increasing demand for cutting tools. The company also repeated an in-depth study of the method for strengthening its cutting tool production/supply system in China. As a result, it arrived at a decision to establish SHMC in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, as a mass production base for cutting tools.
In October this year, SHMC will start producing cemented carbide drills used for drilling holes in steel members and castings as well as sintered diamond indexable inserts used for cutting aluminum parts that are used widely in automobiles today. SHMC will make every effort to significantly reduce cemented carbide drill and sintered diamond tool production costs to supply these products to customers in China, Europe and other Asian countries.
Edited by: Paul Whittaker, Editor ipmd.net, [email protected]
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