EoW May 2010

corporatenews

Wire manufacturer to create new jobs

“Plans to expand the group’s production capacity have been under way for some time. With the help of the state, we were able to purchase and upgrade this existing facility to meet our production needs more economically than by expansion of our other facilities.” The Tokusen group, based in Ono City, Japan, is a global supplier of steel wire. Annual sales of steel cord and saw wire from its plant in Arkansas are in excess of $80 million. The company counts among its customers global automobile tyre manufacturers including Michelin, Continental, Yokohama, Toyo, Bridgestone and Cooper in addition to many sawing wire customers. Tokusen USA Inc – USA Website : www.tokusenusa.com

Tokusen USA Inc plans to establish a wire manufacturing plant in Scottsburg and create up to 134 jobs by 2012. The company says it will invest $24.5 million to purchase and equip a 300,000 square-foot vacant facility in Scott County to manufacture sawing wire. The wire will be used to slice silicon ingots for the solar energy industry. Tokusen USA already operates a plant in Arkansas with over 300 employees. “The Tokusen group, which operates wire manufacturing plants in Japan, China and the United States has been experiencing growing demand for sawing wire to support the growth in demand for solar panel manufacturing,” said Hiromi Kanai, chairman of Tokusen USA Inc.

New sales appointment

Cable maker to shed 100 jobs

Production in Christchurch will be consolidated, with low-value-added cable production moved to facilities in the Philippines or Thailand. Mr Birkett would not comment on how many jobs would be lost but Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union assistant national secretary Ged O’Connell said workers were told that around 100 manufacturing jobs, or almost a third of the workforce, would be cut. He said that the site has five factories and the plan is to consolidate to one. General Cable New Zealand Ltd – New Zealand Website : www.generalcable.co.nz

About 100 jobs will go at loss-making Christchurch cable maker, General Cable New Zealand, with plans to shut four of its five plants and shift some production to Southeast Asia. The redundancies come after other big job cuts at Christchurch manufacturers late last year, including 275 at the Bridgestone-Firestone tyre factory. General Cable managing director Chris Birkett said jobs would not be cut until 2011, after a $5m investment in the Christchurch plant, which would be reduced in scale and productivity improved. Demand for the cables the firm produces has slackened during the slump in residential building.

Kühne + Vogel Prozessautomatisierung Antriebstechnik GmbH has appointed Mr Norbert Bergmann to take charge of sales of the company’s range of cable machinery. Mr Bergmann has many years of experience within the industry. Kühne + Vogel, supplier of the Extrumatic product family, is planning to extend its activities in the cable machinery sector. Kühne + Vogel Prozessautomatisierung Antriebstechnik GmbH – Germany Fax : +49 9171 62767 Email : pa@kuehneundvogel.de Website : www.kuehneundvogel-pa.de

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EuroWire – May 2010