Hamamatsu to construct second building at Shingai Factory

Japan’s Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. is to construct a new building at its Shingai Factory in Hamamatsu City to cope with increasing sales demand for optoelectronic semiconductors, x-ray image sensors and x-ray flat-panel sensors. Sited on the east side of Shingai Factory No.1, construction of Shingai Factory Building No.2 should start in July and be completed in August 2020 (at a total cost of 6.5bn yen), for operation from that October (with the capacity to accommodate 400 staff). Production capacity should equate to annual sales of 25bn yen.

Picture: Artist’s rendering of Shingai Factory Building No. 2.

Hamamatsu Photonics has been supplying opto products for a wide range of applications such as medical diagnosis and treatment, industrial instrumentation, automotive and scientific measurement. Recently, there has been increasing demand for plastic-molded opto devices mass-producible in large quantities as well as for x-ray image sensors and x-ray flat panel sensors used in radiation inspection devices. The firm expects a further increase in sales of these products across a diverse spectrum of applications.

Construction of the new building will also consolidate the firm’s opto semiconductor production processes that are currently sited in different locations at the Shingai Factory and associated companies. These will now all take place in the new factory building, streamlining production efficiency and creating a more robust supply system through labor-saving and automation.

To boost x-ray image sensor and x-ray flat panel sensor production in response to the growing demand, the firm aims to speed up product development by consolidating design, development and evaluation into a single area and will also streamline its supply system by locating production processes on the same floor.

Specifically, the four-story steel-frame structure (with a building area of 4560m2 and total floor space of 15,285m2) comprises:

1st floor - visitor entrance, shipping area, production cleanroom for opto semiconductors;
2nd floor - production cleanroom for opto semiconductors;
3rd floor - production cleanroom for x-ray image sensors and flat-panel sensors;
4th floor - design room, evaluation room, meeting rooms, restrooms; and
roof floor - 186kW solar power plant (to supply the power consumption needs of the factory).

To ensure business continuity against natural disasters which are increasing in recent years, the firm will make anti-disaster measures more robust by incorporating earthquake and flood control measures into the building structure based on our business continuity planning. At the same time, the new building is designed to actively incorporate eco-friendly measures such as LED lighting, heat-insulated walls, solar power plant and rainwater reuse systems.

See related items:

Hamamatsu completes new building to increase opto production capacity

Hamamatsu to add new building to expand production of IR detectors and emitters

Tags: optoelectronic

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