TOKIN Corporation has already completed the construction of its two new buildings at its head office in Shiroishi City in Japan’s Miyagi prefecture. Incidentally, the company held a ceremony for the new plants, which also marked the ceasing of operations of its Sendai facilities.  

During the ceremony, TOKIN Representative Director and President Fumihiro Katakura expressed gratitude to the national and local governments for making the transfer of operations possible.

“The magnet, metal, and magnetic application businesses relocated from Sendai support the Japanese industry. Thus, we will continue to support the industry in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, and the world from our operations in Shiroishi,” said Katakura.

Streamlines Operations

Accordingly, the company relocated its magnetic materials and other businesses from its Sendai office to the new building in Shiroishi. The two new buildings (Building K and Building L) are both steel-framed and one-story. Both have a total floor area of ​​6,282 square meters. The company completed the construction and moved in as scheduled. The unveiling ceremony in late April commemorated the start of the full-scale operation.

Building K has a total floor area of ​​2,898 square meters and 3,384 square meters for Building L. Specifically, the K building manufactures Memo Alloy, a nickel-titanium alloy used in medical guide wires. On the other hand, the L building houses NanoTerasu, a next-generation synchrotron radiation facility in the Aobayama new campus of Tohoku University.

Coinciding with the construction of the new buildings is the installation of a new vacuum melting furnace to melt nickel-titanium alloys. Likewise, the company also installed solar panels with a solar power generation system. With an average monthly power output of approximately 70,000 kW/h (estimated). Thus, approximately 10% of the Shiroishi Plant’s electricity consumption will be renewable energy, contributing to the realization of carbon neutrality.

The construction of the new buildings in Shiroishi started in November 2022 and was completed late last year. In April 2022, the company announced that it would transfer and consolidate the functions of its Sendai office to its Shiroishi office.

Accordingly, the Sendai Plant began operations in 1938, the same year of the company’s foundation. Since then, it has continued to operate.

However, many of the buildings and equipment within the plant have deteriorated and there are concerns that there will be safety issues in the future. For that reason, the company decided to relocate to the Shiroishi plant.

The Sendai Office will cease operations. On the other hand, affected employees of the Sendai office will continue to work at the Shiroishi office.

Additionally, TOKIN will transfer the assembly process for cobalt magnets produced at the Sendai office to its Xiamen factory in China.

10 May 2024