Sumitomo Riko received the Aichi Invention Grand Prize, the highest prize, for the first time in the 2024 Aichi Invention Award sponsored by the Aichi Institute of Invention and Innovation. The company was awarded for MIF, a heat-dissipating sound-absorbing material. The Aichi Invention Award has been held by the association since 1980 to honor outstanding inventors in Aichi Prefecture for...
Nitta has on July 9 in Osaka opened a satellite office at Mitsui Link Lab Nakanoshima in Nakanoshima Qross, an international center for future medicine. Nakanoshima Qross is an industrialization base for future medicine established in 2019 by Osaka Prefecture and 21 private companies and others. It aims to promote the industrialization of cutting-edge future medicine that responds to advances...
Maxell Kureha will raise the prices of all its products, including rubber sheets, by 5-20% from September 2, 2024. This will be the company’s first price revision since March 2023. The company said that, in addition to the successive increases in raw material prices, the main reasons for the price hikes are the sharp rise in electricity, gas, and other...
Oil seal manufacturer NOK has on June 26 launched a new global matrix structure, which combines two organizations, Business Function, a business axis, and Leading Function, a functional axis that connects 93 NOK group companies in Japan and overseas. The company will strengthen cooperation as Global One NOK and aim for further growth on a global scale. Under the new...
Yokohama Rubber will build a new passenger car tire plant in China. The production capacity will start at 9 million tires per year and is expected to expand in the future. The investment will be 1.96 billion yuan ($269.62 million), with production scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2026. The construction of the new plant is in response...
The so-called 2024 Problem, which refers to a cap on overtime hours for truck drivers in Japan that came into effect in April and results in transportation capacity shortages, has reached the rubber-related industries as well. Not only are transportation costs continuing to rise, but the conditions demanded by shippers, such as shorter waiting times for cargo, are becoming even...
