Consumables
Teijin to Acquire GH Craft and Launch R&D Center for Composite Materials
Thursday 19. June 2008 - Steps up development of automotive CFRP and other composites
Teijin Limited announced today that it will acquire a majority stake in GH Craft Ltd., a proven manufacturer with outstanding technologies in advanced composite materials, and establish the tentatively named TEIJIN Composites Innovation Center (TCIC) on the premises of GH Craft in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture this July.
The center will integrate key R&D and marketing functions for advanced composites within the Teijin Group.
Teijin Group is actively involved in the development of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) for automobiles, aircraft, marine vessels, industrial robots and wind power generators. The new R&D center will enable Teijin to work in close collaboration with automotive manufacturers to develop CFRP components that offer improved functionality in terms of weight reduction and crashworthiness.
Background and purpose
The Teijin Group opened the TEIJIN MIRAI STUDIO in the company’s headquarters last November, using the new facility as a showroom to encourage collaborative planning with customers. To date, many visitors have proposed ideas for developing new CFRP products together with Teijin. With its new TCIC R&D center, Teijin expects to collaborate even more closely with customers to transform their proposals into viable CFRP technologies and products
GH Craft, led by its founder and president, Gaku Kimura, has a 38-year track record of researching and developing advanced composites. The company is now expanding this scope to fully enter the highly promising field of CFRP.
Under the new arrangement, Teijin’s materials, carbon fiber, aramid fiber and polymers, and related technologies, will be integrated with GH Craft’s design, modeling, prototyping and fabrication capabilities. Through the integration, Teijin expects to strengthen its response to customer needs and accelerate its development and commercialization of CFRP products.
The TCIC will function as an R&D hub for advanced composites, and serve as a lab for collaborating with customers of the TEIJIN MIRAI STUDIO, especially for the development of CFRP automotive components.
GH Craft
Headquarters: 733 Itazuma, Gotemba, Shizuoka, Japan
Representative: Gaku Kimura, president
Origins: Business since 1970, officially established in 1972
Employees: 45
Business:
1) Design, manufacture and sales of automobiles, special-purpose vehicles, marine vessels and aircraft.
2) Design, modeling, prototyping, manufacture and sales of composite materials.
3) Design, manufacture, construction and sales of energy supply equipment, such as wind power generators.
Main business partners: Toyota, Mitsubishi Heavy Industry, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Honda Motor, Mitsubishi Rayon, Toho Tenax, NEC, Hitachi and JAXA.
TEIJIN Composites Innovation Center (TCIC)
Teijin will establish the TCIC on the premises of GH Craft to develop technologies for advanced composites, which are in high demand and play an important role in Teijin’s downstream strategies.
GH Craft is located in the city of Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, just one hour from Tokyo and near the Mishima Factory of Toho Tenax Co., Ltd., a leading carbon fiber company in the Teijin Group. The proximity of these two facilities will facilitate the integration of advanced-composite research and development.
Advanced composites-related facilities, employees and R&D functions in the Teijin Group, including those of Toho Tenax, will be consolidated at GH Craft, with the TCIC serving to promote cooperation with both global companies and academic institutions. Teijin, in addition to its conventional sales of high-performance raw materials, now intends to offer composite-material solutions that incorporate the company’s expanding technological assets in this field.