To Maintain and Expand Production Infrastructure with Sights on Future Business Expansion 

 

April 17, 2017

 

Alps  Electric  Co.,  Ltd.  (Ota-ku,  Tokyo;  President:  Toshihiro  Kuriyama)  will  in  September  2017 commence construction of a new plant building at the site of its Kitahara Plant, in Osaki, Miyagi Prefecture, for the purpose of maintaining and expanding infrastructure for production of electronic components and to bolster mother plant functions in Japan looking ahead to the future. The new building is scheduled for completion in October 2018 with operations to begin that same month.   
 
Alps Electric has been developing, manufacturing and selling electronic components throughout its history,  ever  since  its  founding  in  1948.  With  the  expanding  functionality  and  global  spread  of smartphones in recent years, there is a growing need for electronic components to support greater sophistication and higher demand. In the automotive market, too, the role of electronic components is  expected  to expand  dramatically  due  to  the  emergence  of  successive  new  technologies  like electric vehicles and autonomous driving, as well as fusion with such domains as the Internet of Things (IoT) and augmented and virtual reality, which are projected to offer much more in the years ahead.  
 

Against this backdrop, Alps Electric is looking to establish a new mother plant for Japan, aiming for a highly functional, state-of-the-art plant ready to serve for the next 50 years. This will involve the construction of a new plant building on the 48,000m 2  site acquired in June 2016 adjacent to the company’s  Kitahara  Plant  to  secure  additional  production  space  and  bring  about  productivity improvements.  

Production management systems (IoT) will be deployed in the new plant building to achieve greater visualization of processes,quality and productivity, while an indoor terminal for goods loading and unloading will be set up to enhance security for parts, materials and products. Energy savings will be achieved through high-efficiency energy utilization based on switching of fuels and use of natural energy  sources. 
Areas  of  greenery  on  the  site  will  be  expanded  and  global  warming countermeasures will be incorporated into the day-to-day running of the plant. The aim is to realize a plant delivering exceptional economical and functional performance, even in environmental terms.
 

The  new  plant  building  will  occupy  14,500m 2   of  a  48,000m 2   site  and  have  a  total  floor  area  of 37,000m 2 . This will bring total floor space combined with the existing Kitahara Plant to 52,800m 2 , making it Alps Electric’s biggest production center in Japan. The total number of employees at the new  plant,  combined  with  the  workforce  at  the  existing  plant  and  including  some  production functions  relocated  from  Furukawa  Plant  (also  located  in  Osaki)  due  to  aging  of  that  facility,  is projected to come to around 2,000. For the near term, the plant will produce electronic components for  smartphones,  other  mobile  devices  and  automotive  equipment.  Looking  to  the  future,  the company will also consider other future uses for the plant, including manufacturing of products for energy, healthcare and industry markets, where demand is expected to grow, as well as products within the Internet of Things (IoT) domain.    
 

The  project  will  have  minimal  impact  on  consolidated  financial  performance  for  the  fiscal  years ended March 31, 2017, and ending March 31, 2018.

 

 

Please see the attached Press Information for details.

 

 

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Companies Website:
http://www.alps.com/e/

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