Reallocating product mix at domestic factories has been an ongoing part of restructuring at UACJ since integrating the former companies in October 2013. Before integration began, the two companies had a number of similar products, so streamlining products and reallocating product mixes at each plant became the strategy for achieving a more efficient production network.

Hironori Tsuchiya, director and concurrently general manager of the Production Division at UACJ, explains, “One of the policies at UACJ is to strengthening global business, but it is also true that business is presently based on generating profits from domestic operations. Accordingly, increasing profitability by optimizing domestic production is an extremely important issue for achieving successful integration. Reallocating product mix at various plants requires meticulous adjustments while simultaneously being careful of customers’ needs. However, work is progressing smoothly at all plants and about 60% of the task was completed in fiscal 2015. We are looking at finishing most of the product reallocation in fiscal 2016 as scheduled.”

The Fukui Works is home to one of the largest-class rough hot rolling mills in Japan. As shown below, to improve production efficiency and make the most of its capacity, it is now positioned as the core plant for producing can stock and thick plate for LNG tankers, with other products being reallocated to different production facilities.

On the other hand, by moving can stock production to the Fukui Works, the Nagoya Works is now positioned as the core plant for automobile materials, litho sheet and fin materials, of which close cooperation with the Research and Development Center is indispensable.

Similarly, the Fukaya Works is now the core plant for thick plates and the Nikko Works is a finishing plant for precision and specialty materials.

Tsuchiya continues, “The purpose of the reallocation based on product mix was to increase production efficiency at each plant, including Fukui and Nagoya, thereby strengthening our competitive edge. Even after completing the reallocation phase, each plant will continue to implement various initiatives to further improve competitiveness in quality, cost and delivery, what we call 'QCD.'”

The headquarters of the UACJ Group’s Research and Development Division is the Research and Development Center located at the Nagoya Works, the center of all R&D activities. There are also branches at the Fukui Works and Fukaya Works. This structure enables research resources to be centralized in Nagoya while providing certain R&D functions at other main production bases. It also creates better access to customers and achieves smooth collaboration at production bases. Utilizing this R&D structure, we are developing new products and technologies while simultaneously strengthening and deepening of basic technologies.

As a result of advances technological innovation, today’s industrial products use not only metal materials like steel and aluminum, but also resins and various composite materials such as ceramics and carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP). In order for the UACJ Group to continue sustainable growth, it must keep winning in the competition against many diversified materials, let alone the competition within the aluminum industry.

Kazuhisa Shibue, director, explains, “Recently, big changes are taking place in the manufacturing world as represented by applying the Internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) to the manufacturing industry. In the near future, such advanced technologies will be used at production sites in the aluminum industry. To properly respond to rapidly evolving technological innovations, we must strengthen our business competitiveness through pragmatic and steady materials development. Furthermore, it is essential to concentrate on cultivating engineers who can act quickly and proactively to the needs of our customers and production sites.