2016.02.09
EBARA Corporation
New factory opened at Kumamoto office
EBARA Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "EBARA") has decided to expand its Kumamoto Plant, a core production plant for its precision equipment and electronics business, in order to flexibly respond to the diverse needs of customers and to investments in semiconductor equipment, for which steady demand is expected to grow. This expansion involves building a new factory of roughly the same scale as the existing factory facilities within the Kumamoto facility, and will be the largest capital investment in EBARA's precision machinery and electronics business since the completion of the Kumamoto factory in 2001. The new factory is expected to have highly flexible production facilities capable of producing a variety of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, including the company's main production model, CMP equipment. Additionally, by halving the electricity used for air conditioning in the cleanroom and reusing more than 95% of the water used in the production process, we will strive to reduce our environmental impact, harmonize with the surrounding environment, and coexist with the local community. Furthermore, we plan to establish a new service factory as an overhaul base for dry vacuum pumps, mainly in the Kyushu and Chugoku regions.
EBARA will continue to contribute to the development of the semiconductor industry by providing high-performance semiconductor manufacturing equipment that meets customer needs and expanding its service and support system.
Plan Summary
(1) Overview of Kumamoto Office | |
Location | 4000-1 Hii, Nankan-machi, Tamana-gun, Kumamoto Prefecture |
Site area | Approximately 140,000 square meters |
(2) Overview of New Factory Plan | |
Facility Details | Production of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and service and support for dry vacuum pumps |
Building area | Approximately 12,000 square meters |
Start of construction | March 2016 |
Scheduled start of operations | December 2016 |
Investment amount | Approximately 6.8 billion yen |
[Background to new factory expansion]
The semiconductor market is predicted to grow steadily through 2017, according to World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) and other sources. Furthermore, the market is expected to continue growing in the future due to increased demand in the automotive, energy and medical fields, as well as the advancement of the Internet of Things (IoT), which will connect all kinds of things via the Internet. On the other hand, semiconductor manufacturing equipment is required to meet diverse needs, including applications and manufacturing processes.
In this situation, EBARA has carefully examined the production, logistics, and procurement strategies of the entire Precision Machinery & Electronics Business, including the division of functions with its other domestic production base, the Precision Machinery & Fujisawa Plant (Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture), and has determined that "ensuring flexibility of production capacity" by building a new plant within the Kumamoto Office is the best option from the perspective of improving the business's global competitiveness and business value in the future, and has decided to go ahead with the expansion. This will double the production capacity of the Precision Manufacturing Kumamoto Plant and enable flexible response to customer needs and delivery dates, as well as flexible production operations including the Precision Manufacturing Fujisawa Plant. Going forward, we will strive to optimize our production systems at both our Fujisawa and Kumamoto bases based on changing market needs and product strategies. Through these efforts, we will be able to flexibly respond to customer needs and expand our business in the rapidly changing semiconductor industry.