Report
As global interest in alternative energy rises, 1,592 firms from 30 countries gathered to exhibit their technology and products.
In recent years, there seemed to have been more visitors from inside Japan or the ASEAN region at expos, but at this event there were many attendees from Western countries, and it seemed to be because of the rising interest in Japanese companies for technologies and products related to alternative energy.
In many occasions I saw visitors at the booths not just standing and talking, but actually sitting down for negotiations like how it often is at trade fairs in Western countries. Also, I noticed a lot of the companies that exhibited were promising firms that are sure to be vital to the future of Japan.
I saw many manufacturers that are already established as household names in the global market, along with ambitious rising brands that are aiming to expand beyond country borders in the near future.
World Smart Energy Week 2014
February 26 – 28
at TOKYO BIG SIGHT in Tokyo, Japan
Looop Co., Ltd. is a company that develops, sells, and maintains photovoltaic power systems, and is currently receiving a lot of attention for their distribution of the ” Power Generator Kit.” The concept behind the kit is that everyone can make and own their very own solar power generator. Conventional photovoltaic systems required installation by professionals, and since a unified pricing was never firmly set, they never took off. However, Looop makes installation easier by distributing solar panels in the form of a kit, increasing sales to individual customers. The company’s original stand allows for expansion in 12kw increments depending on characteristics of the landscape. Many options are available in layout as the stands split up into 3kw units. The company is particularly confident about its low-pressure units under 50kw. Aside from an extensive support system, the company offers a 2-year guarantee plan of 90% of the nominal output guaranteed for 12 years, and 80% guaranteed for 25 years. Furthermore, while the sales of large-scale photovoltaic power systems in the past took the style of designing and customizing a system for each customer, procuring and selling necessary parts, the Mega Solar Kit is a bundle of mega class output panels distributed in kit form, and results in lower costs for clients. Business Description: Development, sales, installation, management, maintenance and related construction for photovoltaic power systems.
Syvec Corporation, a company that develops dies and does press processing for ultra precise parts, was able to realize the impossible by pressing high precision metal parts from thick plates, with their core technology, the CFP (Cold Forging Progressive) method. The CFP method is a technology that combines metal forming and cold forging technologies, and allows for the pressing of products that could only be produced through cutting or sintering. Since press processing is the cheapest of methods of processing metals, this leads to a major cut in costs. Faster production, automation of production, stable and precise specifications, and improved durability lead to smaller sizes, lighter parts, and a reduction in the number of parts. For example, auto parts, the company has succeeded in pressing gears using cycloid curves and parts with complex three-dimensional shapes. Another unique point is that the production facilities are customized to match the company’s technological capabilities. Working in press processing and die designing, with nothing but the highest caliber of both equipment and facilities, the company produces numerous products, which at times are described as works of art.
Tokyo Braze Co., Ltd. is a manufacturer specializing in brazing. Brazing within an environment without oxygen results in a finish with brilliance. The materials for the filler metal can include nickel, copper, phosphor copper, and silver, and the company’s most formidable specialty is the brazing of stainless steel in their original continuous hydrogen furnace. Furthermore, their original active silver filler metal allows for faster turnaround and lowered cost by cutting pretreatment steps such as metalizing, by directly brazing metals and ceramics. Depending on the product, the company proposes the optimal filler material and heating method, and is ready for all situations with hydrogen furnaces and vacuum furnaces. Accumulating knowhow and technology for over 40 years since their establishment, the company also produces plate heat exchangers. Since plate heat exchangers is a container formed by seamlessly connecting numerous thin sheets, the numbers of joints are in the hundreds, offering an opportunity for the company to flex their technological muscles. All of Tokyo Braze’s heat exchangers adopt the inner fin design, and can withstand high pressure. The company proactively enters many brazing conferences both domestically and internationally, and through presentations on their research and making connections with researchers and technicians worldwide, works towards constantly acquiring state of the art information on the subject.
Saijo INX Co., Ltd. is a company based in Kyoto working in the prototyping of precision sheet metal products, precision mass production press processing, and production of precision dies. Having prototyping projects Fin projects, and mass production projects as their main business, the company is able to do everything from prototyping to mass producing. The company puts a lot of energy into their prototyping. The company has the speed and technology to quickly produce anything from 1 prototype of a sheet metal product to thousands of units, and has very fast delivery times. Production based on 3D and DFX data is also possible. For short turnaround prototyping, the company realizes a speedy delivery by combining the power of their 45 plus employee roster and the 3 franchise factories, even for orders with many parts or orders based on only 3D data. For prototypes requiring dies, quality and precision is equivalent to that of mass-produced units, and punch dies can be designed as well. For simplified molds, the company has a performance record of producing 300 units in a month. The company is also offering sets of metal and molding parts assets. For their fin projects, the company prototypes and mass produces lightweight radiator fins, heat sinks, and current collecting fins; putting Saijo INX on the trajectory to becoming a heat sink manufacturer of high standards and quality. The company does not attach itself too strongly to single step, or progressive processing such as punching or bending. Instead, they work towards bringing new values and possibilities to sheet metal products by combining their superior facilities, with the sheet metal processing technology and knowhow of combining multiple elements, such as pressing instead of die cast or cut processing. In recent years, the company has been actively engaging in business with overseas clients.
