OREANDA-NEWS. Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. and its subsidiary Furukawa Magnet Wire Co., Ltd. (FMGW) have decided to enhance their manufacturing facilities in Jung Shing Wire Co., Ltd. (JSW; 21.15% investment by FMGW) for highly heat-resistant thin rectangular enameled wire ("ribbon wire") and thin round enameled wire for in-vehicle use. Furukawa Electric and FMGW will continue to take their strategic cooperation organization with JSW to the next level, as they monitor trends in demand.

Background

1. Ribbon wire

Ribbon wire is a belt-like heat-resistant thin enameled wire with a rectangular conductor shape. Furukawa Electric's ribbon wire has a uniform shape and features excellent isolation performance when it comes to high temperatures—even on corner sections which typically have been difficult to manufacture using enamel manufacturing. Ribbon wire plays a significant role in decreasing the size and profile of devices such as smartphones and tablets.

2. Thin enameled wire for in-vehicle use

Thin round enameled wire is used in such important parts as in-vehicle relays. In addition to general performance, it requires extremely strict characteristics, such as guaranteeing isolation performance, dimensional characteristics, and more throughout the entire length of the wire. As the top manufacturer of enameled wire for in-vehicle relays, the Furukawa Electric Group has worked hard to manufacture and develop thin round enameled wire that offers both high quality and high reliability.

Ribbon wire

Furukawa Electric and FMGW have decided to take their strategic cooperation organization with JSW to the next level, and will enhance the organization at JSW for manufacturing ribbon wires and thin enameled wire for in-vehicle use.

Recently, the strong demand for ribbon cables has greatly exceeded initial plans. Although the Furukawa Electric Group has responded by enhancing its own manufacturing capability, supply has been unable to keep up with demand. The Furukawa Electric Group and JSW have already entered into a license agreement to manufacture ribbon wires, but will bring their cooperation to the next level, and will continue to enhance manufacturing capability so that the JSW Taiwan Plant can handle demand that the manufacturing capability of the Furukawa Electric Group is unable to meet.

The Furukawa Electric Group has also transferred its technology for manufacturing thin enameled wire for in-vehicle use to JSW, so that JSW is now capable of manufacturing products that boast the same high level of quality as Japanese-manufactured products in terms of performance and quality assurance. Although the JSW China Plant (Dongguan city, Guangdong) is already involved in the outsourced production of thin round enameled wire for general use, it has been decided that the same plant will manufacture thin enameled wire for in-vehicle use in order to respond to recent increases in demand.

The Furukawa Electric Group will continue to supply world-class products that offer both high quality and high reliability from its bases across the world, and will continue to play a role in further increasing the performance of electronics products of and vehicles.

About Furukawa Electric Group

Furukawa Electric (TSE; 5801, ISIN; JP3827200001) Group started business in 1884, when its copper-smelting facility and wire manufacturing factory was established. Since then Furukawa Electric has become pioneers in the latest technologies by addressing diverse technological issues. Furukawa Electric has released products in a number of areas, including telecommunications, electronics, automobiles, and construction, with the three types of materials it works with at their core, namely, optics, plastics, and metals. Many of these products have attained the top global market share, and all of its products have contributed to society in numerous business areas. Furukawa Electric reported consolidated revenues of JPY 867.8 billion (approximately USD 8.2B) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015.