EPSON TO QUADRUPLE PRINTHEAD BUILD

Epson is set to begin construction of a new multi-million-dollar factory for inkjet printheads this month, which will quadruple its current printhead production capacity.

Epson is making the investment as it expects further growth in the use of PrecisionCore printheads in commercial and industrial printers.

Completion of the new factory is anticipated in September next year. Epson's printing solutions business provides products and services based on original Micro Piezo inkjet technology to commercial and industrial customers, as well as those in the home and office.

Epson says demand for commercial and industrial inkjet printers is also increasing with the technology shift from analogue to digital in sectors where the printing media is not paper, such as digital textile printing.

In addition, many commercial and industrial inkjet printers use PrecisionCore MicroTFP printheads (PrecisionCore printheads), which can be flexibly adapted for different applications by assembling MicroTFP print chips in various combinations.

Epson is strengthening its printhead sales business to accelerate inkjet innovation and expand the applications for digital printing, which has a far lower environmental impact than conventional printing.

With an ever-expanding range of printing applications as well as emerging needs in areas such as electronics and bioprinting. Epson is looking to collaborate with partners with new ideas and technologies. Through such open innovation, Epson is seeking to expand the possibilities of PrecisionCore technology.

Epson began manufacturing printheads (Chips heads) in 1995, and launched volume production of PrecisionCore printheads in June 2013, on a fully automated assembly line that makes extensive use of Epson robots. It has since been accumulating expertise in printhead production and building a solid base of production technology, increasing its competitive advantage as a domestic production site.

Seiko Epson's Hirooka Office, in Nagano Prefecture, handles front-end processing of micro-TFP print chips. Plans call for production of these chips to increase over the next three years. The new Tohoku Epson factory will accommodate this increase and, together with Akita Epson Building No. 10, construction on which was completed 18 months ago, will expand domestic back-end process production capacity.

To ensure stable production, each of the two sites in the Tohoku region will be allocated responsibility for different models, but to ensure business continuity, both sites will be able to flexibly adapt to production fluctuations with production lines for the most popular models and with shared lines. This will enable the company to strengthen its product lineup in response to future demand for inkjet printers equipped with PrecisionCore printheads.

The new factory building will employ a newly engineered process that will save manpower and space, by minimising in-process inventory, automated transfer robots, and efficient layout reducing the workload on personnel. Epson says it will respond to the challenges faced by the manufacturing industry, and realise a factory of the future that is both more efficient and easier to work in.

This is the first new building at Tohoku Epson since the construction of a semiconductor fabrication facility in 1997.