Nov 9 2006
GE Plastics today announced the official opening of its new Japan Technology Center (JTC) located within its Moka City facility to provide Japanese customers with state-of-the-art application development capabilities. As one of the seven GE Global Application Technology (GApT) centers worldwide, the JTC will serve as a technical Center of Excellence for the automotive industry in the harnesses, pedestrian impact testing, and engine components areas, and the electronics industry in optical media such as Blu-ray discs, high heat resistance films, etc. The new facility occupies a three story, 3,700-sq.-meter building.
Taketoshi Fukuda, mayor of Moka City and Tsuneharu Takeda, president of Central Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd, together with Nobuhiko Ito, president of GE Japan and Takashi Hata, president of GE Plastics Japan, officiated at the opening ceremony held today at the JTC.
Takashi Hata said, “The objective of establishing the Japan Technology Center is to offer advanced technical support to our Japanese customers. Today, customers are demanding the latest innovative materials and best-in-class technical support with speed. We firmly believe that our Japan Technology Center can offer these solutions and further expand the possibilities of engineering plastic materials.”
The first level of the JTC houses laboratories for plastics processing, automobile impact, and chemical analysis. The plastics processing laboratory will provide advanced support for all aspects of plastics processing from review of drawings and tool design to development of new molding processes. Major equipment items include general-purpose injection molding machines, a wire encapsulation extrusion line, an optical disc molding machine, and specialized molding equipment that includes a Heat & Cool molding unit and a gas-assist molding unit.
The automobile impact testing facility is located in a dedicated wing towards the rear of the main building. Equipment is available for pedestrian impact testing such as head and leg impact and bumper and fender impact testing. In addition to verification of the safety of various automotive components, the facility will also assist in design optimization and material selection.
The chemical analysis laboratory is equipped with various types of chemical analysis equipment and electron microscopes, and provides customers with plastic component analysis, as well as a data service.
The second floor of the JTC is devoted to providing services for physical property measurement and secondary processing. Various equipment is available to verify the quality, performance, service life, and durability of plastic final products, as well as optimal part design. For example, in the case of electrical wires, evaluation of the strength of final products and conducting tests at various standards is possible.
A showroom featuring products and applications made with GE’s innovative materials around the world has been set up on the third level. The showcase provides a glimpse into the future possibilities of plastic materials. Furthermore, a design room has been established to offer concept and part design development services.
“With the opening of our new technology center in Japan, we are expanding our reach into a critical region of the world, giving our customers here the full application development support they need to maintain their competitive edge as leaders in the industries they serve,” said Robert Florence, Pacific Global Application Technology manager, GE Plastics.