Nitta Corporation of America (NCA), the U.S. manufacturing and sales subsidiary of Nitta Corp. (TYO:5186), has decided to construct a second plant to add more production facilities. In addition to fabricating light conveyor belts made from plastic, the second plant will add facilities for producing flat belts. NCA will invest around $7.6 million in the project, with construction commencing this...
Industry
Ohno Rubber Enters New Markets, Sets Sights on 100 Years in Business
President Yoichi Ohno of Ohno Rubber Industrial Co. Ltd., a maker of automobile rubber spare parts, recently unveiled a policy for actively developing new markets and new products in areas that the company has not been active in up till now. Proud of its 75-year history, the expansion into new areas including plastics products and engineering plastics as well as special...
Firm Demand for Rubber Sheets – Market Report
Production and shipping volumes of general rubber sheets in Japan are each trending at an annual scale of 20,000 tons. Although market conditions have slumped for the fields of construction and civil engineering, which were major sources of demand for 2015, there still remains a firm undertone in demand with the return of domestic manufacturing. This is owing to a...
Sneaker Sales Continue to Ride Wave of Demand
The sneaker craze may very well have hit a peak in 2015. New Balance Japan Inc., a key driver of this high demand, saw 2015 (January–December) sales go up almost 30 percent over the previous year, with lifestyle shoes rising more than 40 percent. President Tomoo Tomita called 2015 a year in which his company benefitted from the sneaker craze....
Asics Global Sales Rise to 76% of Total
Motoi Oyama, president and CEO of Asics Corp. (TYO:7936), explained the company’s recent performance as follows. Domestic sales fell by 1.5 percent to 101.2 billion yen ($890.8 million) largely due to sluggish performance of apparel. Overseas sales increased by 14.8 percent to 327.3 billion yen, which even after removing currency effects, represented a 10.2 percent increase. The proportion of global...
Sumitomo Riko Establishes New Manufacturing Base in Poland
Sumitomo Riko Co. Ltd. (TYO:5191) has established in Poland a new company, SumiRiko Automotive Hose Poland Sp. z o. o. (SRK-HP), for the manufacturing and distribution of automotive hoses. The new company represents an investment of 10 million euro ($11 million). Located in the city of Sosnowiec, the company will commence operations in October of this year. Sumitomo Riko already...