Union Tool Plans 21.4% Higher PCB Drill Sales in New Fiscal Year

The world’s largest maker of cemented carbide drill for printed circuit boards, Union Tool plans to increase PCB drill sales by 21.4% to 341.75 million units in the year ending November 2011 from the previous fiscal year, announced at the annual results briefing on Monday. The firm tries to cultivate the market in China and Taiwan.

Union Tool estimates the world’s market of PCB drill increased to 86 million units per month in the year ended November 2010, which exceeded estimated 83 million units in the year ended November 2007. With the higher demand, Union Tool group’s sales also significantly increased.

However, the price competition with local makers is severe in South Korea and Taiwan. The firm’s business condition was also severe in domestic market when Japanese users shift the digital appliance production to offshore sites.

Union Tool plans to increase capital expenditure to around 2.2 times at 4.4 billion yen to develop new product in the year ending November 2011 from the previous fiscal year. The firm moves the facilities in Japan to China to meet the growing demand in China. While the firm reduces the output capacity to 17.5 million units per month at Nagaoka from 19 million units, the firm increases the output capacity to 6.1 million units at Dongguan, China from 5.2 million units and to 5.8 million units at Shanghai from 5.2 million units.