Company visit: PIM International, Vol.2 No. 2 June 2008, pages 45-47, 1064 words

Author: Nick Williams, PIM International, Shrewsbury, UK

Despite the dominance in Japan of PIM producers with in-house feedstock production capabilities, Dai-Ichi Ceramo Co., Ltd. is seeing a growing interest in its commercially produced feedstock for ceramic and metal injection moulding. Nick Williams reports on his visit to the production facilities of Japan’s leading independent feedstock manufacturer.

Company history

Dai-Ichi Kogyo Seiyaku Co.,Ltd. is a Japanese chemical company with operations in Japan, China, Taiwan, Indonesia and The Netherlands. Overall net sales in 2006 were ¥46,031million (approx. $445million) and the company employs over 650 people worldwide. The company traces its history to 1909 when the company Ohno Kungyokudo was established in Kyoto, Japan, producing a cocoon rewinding agent. It diversified in 1915 to manufacture its own ‘Gembu’ brand of Marseilles soap in Japan, a product that was previously only available for import from Europe and the USA. In 1918 Dai-Ichi Kogyo Seiyaku Co.,Ltd. was inaugurated and took over all manufacturing operations. Production of surfactants and detergents for the textile industry was further developed and today the company operates five core businesses: Surfactants, Functional Materials, Polyurethane Materials, Amenity Materials and Electronic Device Materials.
Dai-Ichi Ceramo Co., Ltd. is a part of Dai-Ichi Kogyo Seiyaku’s Electronic Materials division and was incorporated as an independent company in October 1988. Construction of Ceramo’s head office and factory in Shiga, outside of Osaka, was started in 1989. The company is the leading independent manufacturer of ceramic and metal injection moulding feedstock in Japan.......

Further sections of this article include:

- The move towards ceramic feedstock development

- Feedstock for metal injection moulding

- Sales and markets

- Production

- Outlook

- Production

- Outlook

Figures and Tables:

Fig. 1 The head office and manufacturing facilities of Dai-ichi Ceramo Co. Ltd in Shiga, close to Osaka

Fig. 2 A section of the feedstock production facility at Ceramo

Fig. 3 A section of the R&D laboratory, which also includes an injection moulding machine and debind/sinter facilities

Fig. 4 Ceramo’s metal (top) and ceramic (bottom) feedstocks

Fig. 5 Pressure kneader for the production of CIM and MIM feedstocks

Fig. 6 Pelletiser used in the final stage of feedstock production