Mitsubishi Materials Starts End Mill Production in Indonesia

Mitsubishi Materials started local production of cemented carbide tools in Indonesia. The firm established production lines for cemented carbide end mill inside PT MMC Metal Fabrication, Mitsubishi Materials’ existent wholly-owned subsidiary in Bekasi Regency, Jawa Barat, Indonesia to fabricate super alloys mainly for chemical plants. The first commercial shipment was in October 2011. Mitsubishi Material Group’s end mill output volume will increase by 30% as of June 2012 when capacity expansion is scheduled to complete in Indonesia.

The productive lines consist of newly purchased facilities and transferred facilities from Akashi plant in Hyogo, Japan which is the mother plant of end mill. Akashi plant introduced more advanced facilities instead. Indonesian site is the fifth end mill production base for Mitsubishi Materials Group, following the existent plants in Japan, Europe, the U.S.A. and China.

Indonesian site supplies end mill to Mitsubishi Materials’ distribution centers around the world at present while Mitsubishi Materials expects for future demand growth in Indonesia where motorcycle and four-wheel vehicle markets are forecasted to expand. In Southeast Asia, Mitsubishi Materials has operated the other cemented carbide tool plant in Ayutthaya Province, Thailand, named MMC Tools (Thailand). However, MMC Tools (Thailand) has enlarged to employ as much as approximately 1,500 people. Mitsubishi Materials also considered geographical risk diversification.

Mitsubishi Materials forecasts its annual revenue of cemented carbide tools in fiscal 2011 (April 2011-March 2012) would maintain almost as flat as the revenue in fiscal 2010. During fiscal 2011, Tsukuba plant in Ibaraki, Japan was forced to suspend operation due to the Japan Earthquake and MMC Tools (Thailand) was hit by flood in Thailand. On the other hand, there have been strong orders from overseas users. In addition, order backlogs largely increased due to productive suspensions at Tsukuba plant and MMC Tools (Thailand). Thus Mitsubishi Materials is currently in almost full production except for some parts of MMC Tools (Thailand). High operation is expected to continue for a while.

The firm’s Advanced Materials & Tools division posted consolidated net sales at 73.4 billion yen with consolidated recurring profit at 7.8 billion yen in the first half of fiscal 2011, involving cemented carbide tools, super alloys and sintered products. Standalone revenue for cemented carbide tool business is not disclosed.

Tsukuba plant was hit by the Japan Earthquake in March and it took three months for full recovery. Tsukuba plant’s shipment volume exceeded the pre-disaster level in December and the operation reached full in January. MMC Tools (Thailand) suspended operation in early October due to flood and partially restarted in early December. Full recovery is scheduled in April 2012.