Sumitomo Electric Hardmetal opens new facility for cemented carbide drills and steel tools
December 29, 2017
Ribbon cutting during the opening ceremony for Tohoku Sumiden Precision Co., Ltd. (Courtesy Sumitomo Electric)
Sumitomo Electric Hardmetal Corporation (SEH), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., (SEI) held an opening ceremony for its subsidiary Tohoku Sumiden Precision Co., Ltd., (TSP) in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture, December 2017. Tohoku Sumiden Precision Co., Ltd., aims to be a major production base for cemented carbide drills and steel tools.
SEH stated that, amid growing economic development and automobile production in emerging markets, the demand for cutting tools, and for cemented carbide drills and steel tools in particular, is expanding on a global scale. To enhance its supply capacity for these products, the group established TSP in April 2016 and the subsidiary assumed the production of cemented carbide drills and steel tools.
TSP began full-scale production in November 2017 at the 55888 m² Fukushima factory. According to the group, this factory offers the region’s first drill grinding facility. A 1853 m2 Tool Engineering Centre is also in operation at the facility, and is stated to be the sixth such facility in Japan. The Tool Engineering Centre provides technical consultations, demonstrations of machining work using the latest tools and equipment and various workshops to TSP’s customers.
The ceremony was attended by over fifty people including Masao Uchibori, the governor of Fukushima Prefecture, Yoshinori Suzuki, mayor of Miharu Town, and a number of Sumitomo’s customers and partners in the Tohoku region, as well as senior figures in Sumitomo Electric Group.
Katsuyuki Tanaka, President of Tohoku Sumiden Precision, commented on the company’s slogan: “Working Together in Pursuit of Development to Become a Globally Active Company from Miharu.” In his address, Tanaka stated that Sumitomo will strive to provide its customers around the world with excellent products in a short delivery time at reasonable prices.
Tanaka also stated that the group will ensure the Tohoku Tool Engineering Centre closely cooperates with customers to satisfy their needs through its workshops and various services including test cutting.
