Tuesday, Dec 15, 2009
Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. has agreed to transfer the trademark right of Furukawa’s electrode wires for wire-cut discharge machines (Note 1 and 2) (trademark name: Full Ace) to Oki Electric Cable Co., Ltd.
Furukawa Electric has been involved integrated manufacturing, from casting to the final products. Going forward, Furukawa Electric will engage only in the manufacturing of stranded cables, while Oki will process stranded cables into products.
The companies will conclude an official transfer agreement in December. The plant dedicated to manufacturing electrode wires at Furukawa Electric’s Nikko Works (Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture) will close in March 2010. Oki will market the assigned brand (called Full Ace) products, which will have been processed into finished products by its Okaya Plant (Oyaya City, Nagano Prefecture).
The electrode wire market in Japan has been shrinking as die productions declines. The decline is attributed primarily to Japanese die makers’ transferring their manufacturing bases to China in recent years.
Given the conditions described above, the transfer agreement will enable Furukawa Electric to concentrate on the manufacture and marketing of stranded wires, which will facilitate the continued development of its accumulated alloy technologies. Meanwhile, Oki will take over the Full Ace brand, and increase its share of sales to consolidate its electrode wire business.
