EoW May 2010

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EuroWire – May 2010 13
corporatenews
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.
“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:
Wire manufacturer to create new jobs
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.
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:
Cable maker to shed 100 jobs
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:
Website:
New sales
appointment