Technological Alliance Between Kobe Steel and Its Group Companies
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(Keynote article) Technological Alliance between Kobe Steel and its Group Companies Dr. Hiroshi SATOH Executive Vice President Throughout its history of over a hundred years, Kobe both of which we have high world wide market Steel has been a manufacturer of a wide variety of shares, high strength sheets & wires with excellent products including materials, such as steel & formabilities for automotive applications; nonferrous aluminum, and machinery, such as industrial metal products, e.g., aluminum sheets and extruded machines & construction machines. During its products for transportation machinery, and titanium extensive history, Kobe Steel has organized an alliance products for aircraft engines; and, furthermore, of Kobe Steel Group companies, each of which has electronics materials, e.g., copper alloy sheets for established its position in many advanced products semiconductor leadframes. in both the material and machinery business fields. In the field of machinery and engineering, Kobe Such advanced products include new iron making Steel and Kobe Steel Group companies are pursuing plants, environmental equipment & facilities, global business by developing products and their electronic materials, and wholesale power. production systems. Those products include industrial Nowadays, the value of companies is evaluated machinery, including gas compressors, and construction by the total business value of the group of companies machinery, including hydraulic excavators. The as a whole, rather than by the value of an individual technologies, developed within the Kobe Steel and company. Thus, it is a business requirement to Kobe Steel Group, have led further to new iron maximize the total commercial value of the group of source business and environment business. The new companies as a whole, by integrating individual iron source business involves a direct iron reduction capabilities, while cultivating their individuality. process, which is gaining attention from around the Currently, more than fifty out of one hundred sixty world, as the demand for reduced iron increases Kobe Steel Group companies are actively pursuing against a background of global iron source depletion. manufacturing business of their own, by exploiting This special edition about the group companies their technical expertise and market development introduces new products and technologies, developed capabilities. Their fundamental technologies are, in through close technical collaborations between Kobe many aspects, common or complementary with Kobe Steel and each Kobe Steel Group companies. Steel’s technologies, and we have been strengthening In the field of construction machinery, KOBELCO the technological alliance. CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY CO., LTD. mainly For manufacturers, technologies are the fundamental builds hydraulic excavators and KOBELCO CRANES basis of business, and it is essential to strengthen CO., LTD. mainly builds large cranes. Both the their basic, underlying technologies. At the same companies pursue multifunctional products with time, it is indispensable for manufacturers to pursue energy saving features, low noise and ease of unique products having advantageous features. operations. Various in-house basic technologies, Kobe Steel Group now pursues uniqueness under a developed by our Corporate Research Laboratories, slogan "ONLY ONE", meaning products that are only such as acoustic technology, control technology, one of a kind in the world. In addition, it is becoming structure and vibration analyses, and weight more and more important to develop production reduction technology, were employed not only in technologies which assure stable manufacturing of designs of their products, but also in the production high quality products. technologies at those group companies. Kobe Steel Group, in its strategy, puts the highest Sputtering target materials for thin-film wiring of priority on strengthening its manufacturing LCDs, commercialized by KOBELCO RESEARCH technologies for producing value-added and cost- INSTITUTE, INC., are other examples of the competitive products with stability, by merging and collaborative results. The sputtering target materials, integrating the fundamental technologies of Kobe developed by Kobe Steel’s material design technology, Steel and Kobe Steel Group together. are widely used in the majority of LCD panels, with In the field of materials, Kobe Steel and Kobe Steel their superior performance, widely accepted by the Group companies are closely allied in the LCD industry. Another example is wafer reclamation development, improvement and commercialization technology, commercialized by KOBE PRECISION of a wide range of products. Such products include: INC.(KPI) There, collaborative research has been steel products, e.g., valve-springs & vessel crankshafts, carried out between KPI and Kobe Steel to improve 1 KOBELCO TECHNOLOGY REVIEW NO. 27 NOV. 2007 process technologies and product qualities in the JAPAN SUPERCONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGY; "High reclamation of used wafers, including prevention of Strength Oil-tempered Steel Wire for Valve Springs" copper contamination. by SHINKO WIRE CO., LTD. and "Sound Absorbing Solid waste and water treatment technologies of Panel for Surface Traffic Noise Reduction" by SHINKO KOBELCO ECO-SOLUTIONS CO., LTD. are other KENZAI, LTD. examples in the field of environmental business. The As described above, Kobe Steel and Kobe Steel company leads the business field of gasification Group companies own a wide variety of unique and melting & ash-melting, including plasma ash- advanced technologies. It is my pleasure if this melting, and tackles issues of persistent solid wastes special edition about Kobe Steel Group companies such as PCBs. The company is also highly appraised can be of some help to understand the outline our in the developments of high-level water treatment technologies. technologies, including highly efficient nitrification Higher level technologies will continue to be technology, and of sludge reduction plants in water required, as business competition intensifies at a treatment systems. The technologies, developed by global level with diversifying user needs. Kobe Steel the Machinery & Engineering division and Corporate and its group companies are committed to strive for Research Laboratories of Kobe Steel, are widely development of unique and advanced products applied to those new technologies of the company. and technologies (ONLY ONE) together, through There are many other "ONLY ONE" products, integrating the powers of Kobe Steel Group developed through the alliances between Kobe Steel companies, and to satisfy society’s future needs. We, and Kobe Steel Group companies. Those include as an alliance, will continue to ensure competitive "Lubricant Pretreated Aluminum Sheet for Printed costs and qualities of our products by improving our Wiring Board Drilling" by SUN ALUMINUM IND. production technologies to make them even more LTD.; "Cryogen-free Superconducting Magnet" by efficient and stable. KOBELCO TECHNOLOGY REVIEW NO. 27 NOV. 2007 2.