FLAT PANEL DISPLAY (LCD)
INDUSTRY UPDATE
January 2017
McIlvaine Company
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
Continental Uses Arburg for Its Displays
Sintronic Starts Sapphire Production Line
Sharp Plans OLED Line at Foxconn Factory in China
CSOT Constructing 11G LCD Factory
Foxconn Expands LCD Production
SDP to Set Up 10.5G LCD Display Park in Southern China
Arburg, a global manufacturer of plastic processing machines,
has delivered the tenth Allrounder injection molding machine to Continental for
the production of aspherical mirrors for head-up displays (HUDs). High-precision
aspherical mirrors are produced solely on electric Alldrive machines and the
whole process, including packaging, is fully automated and takes place in a
cleanroom.
The company has been cooperating with Arburg on an exclusive
basis in this highly demanding segment since 2010, for which it solely uses
specially equipped electric machines from the Alldrive series.
Demand for head-up displays is growing steadily: annual
production increased by 70% to around 600,000 parts between 2015 and 2016 alone.
Head-up displays from Continental are installed in cars of
various brands throughout the world. These use aspherical mirrors to project all
driving-related information (such as the current road speed) onto the
windscreen, and thus directly into the driver's line of vision – an important
contribution towards greater driver safety.
Displaying this information on the screen without distortion
requires moulds with accurate contours and high-precision surfaces. When
producing the mirrors, it is essential to accurately reproduce the different
curvatures of a wide variety of car windscreens.
Continental has been using Allrounders in plastics processing
since 1970. In 2010, cooperation intensified in the field of head-up displays,
as the production of aspherical mirrors makes extremely stringent demands in
terms of precision. In the case of the injected part, the permissible deviation
from the target geometry is less than five micrometers, in other words the
diameter of a human hair.
Accordingly, technological cooperation between the two
companies covers not only machine design, but also joint process optimization in
terms of sequencing and programming.
To mould the mirrors from cycloolefin-copolymer (COC), a
special transparent thermoplastic, the electric Allrounders of the Alldrive
machine series feature injection compression molding equipment.
A sensor in the mould detects the coining gap and the internal
mould pressure during injection compression molding.
The Selogica machine control system monitors these measurement
signals. Near-contour temperature control is implemented in up to 12 individual
mould temperature control zones. The sprue is removed immediately in the mold.
After the injection molding process, a six-axis robot with
specially adapted gripper removes the mirrors without bending them and transfers
them to a laser station.
Here, each part is marked with its own individual production
data, so that it can be identified directly and tracked through production.
This step is in line with the requirements of Industry 4.0.
Next, the mirrors are set down onto a cooling station, where
they are cooled from below with ionized air.
This is followed by 100% measurement and vacuum deposition of
highly-reflective aluminum on the front side.
The whole process, including packaging, is fully automated and
takes place in a cleanroom to prevent contamination from dust particles.
Continental is now producing its third generation of head-up
displays. While the first-generation molded parts still required downstream
assembly operations, the optical and mechanical functions are now directly
integrated in the current versions.
They can be installed directly in the housing, which enhances
production efficiency. HUD development is moving in the direction of larger
mirrors, better image quality, integration of assist systems and augmented
reality applications.
Diode rectifier seller and CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent
lamp) lighting maker Sintronic Technology will set up a polycrystalline sapphire
production line in southern Taiwan in first-quarter 2017, with production to
begin in the following quarter, according to the company.
To raise funds for constructing the production line, Sintronic
will issue 10 million new shares and 3-year zero-interest secured convertible
bonds worth NT$300 million (US$9.4 million).
With production cost being 35% lower than that for
monocrystalline sapphire, polycrystalline sapphire is mainly used to make covers
of smartphone-use fingerprint recognition modules and cameras, Sintronic said.
The production line will have monthly capacity of 20,000 5-inch x 5-inch
polycrystalline sapphire plates, equivalent to three million covers of
fingerprint recognition modules, and will later produce 6-inch x 6-inch units,
Sintronic noted.
Sintronic has partnered with China-based China Star
Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) for promoting adoption of CSOT-produced small-
to medium-size LTPS TFT-LCD panels mainly by Taiwan-based smartphone vendors or
ODMs, with such products being under trial use, Sintronic indicated.
Sintronic has also become a Taiwan sales agent of handset-use
chemical materials, including photoresists, ITO film and OCA (optically clear
adhesive), for Japan-based makers.
With 99.09% of consolidated revenues coming from diode
rectifiers and 0.65% from CCFL lighting currently, Sintronic expects diode
rectifiers to account for 40% of 2017 consolidated revenues, chemical materials
40% and LTPS panels 20%.
Sintronic posted consolidated revenues of NT$758 million,
gross margin of 14.95%, net operating loss of NT$13.9 million, net loss of
NT$31.8 million and net loss per share of NT$0.33 for January-September 2016.
Sharp plans to invest JPY100 billion (US$864 million) to set
up an OLED production line at Foxconn Electronics' factory in Zhengzhou City,
northern China, with production to begin in 2019, according to Japan-based
Nikkei.
As Foxconn produces iPhones at the factory, the OLED capacity
is believed to be specifically for supplying OLED panels for upcoming iPhone
models.
Japan-based Sakai Display Products (SDP), of which Foxconn
chairman Terry Guo and Sharp are shareholders, has invested JPY57 billion to set
up an OLED trial production line and will kick off volume production in 2018.
Dai Cheng-wu, Foxconn vice chairman and president of Sharp, indicated that
Sharp's establishment of OLED production capacity will hinge on the results of
SDP's trials.
Foxconn said in plans to issue a statement to the Taiwan Stock
Exchange in response to the Nikkei report.
China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) in late November
2016 started construction of an 11G LCD factory with monthly production capacity
of 140,000 glass substrates in Shenzhen, southern China, at an investment of
CNY53.8 billion (US$7.8 billion). Production of 43-, 65- and 75-inch Ultra HD
LCD TV panels and AMOLED panels is scheduled begin in March 2019, according to
China-based media reports.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. popularly known as Foxconn, has
entered into a partnership with Sharp Corp to set up a $8.8 billion factory in
China. The massive factory will produce liquid-crystal displays (LCDs). The
plant is expected to have a capacity of almost 92 Billion Yuan, as opposed to
the 62 Billion Yuan that are going into setting it up.
Titled Sakai Display Products Corp’s plant, the manufacturing
facility will be equipped with high end facilities and will be capable of
churning out large-screen LCDs, as well as other displays. The scale of
investment is certainly very unprecedented, however it is an accurate reflection
of the rapidly growing demand for LCD screens in the Asian continent.
What’s more, the growing demand has been met by sinking
supplies, thanks to Samsung closing down one of its mega factories that
accounted for almost 3 percent of the global LCD output. Companies are now
looking to fill up the vacuum that has been created by setting up manufacturing
facilities to cope with the excess demand.
This new Foxconn backed facility is slated to start production
from 2019. What’s more, it will also attempt sell of a total of 436,000 shares
for another 17.1 billion yuan sum. The purchase in this case will be made by an
investment firm that is co-owned by Hon Hai Chairman Terry Gou. This new
transaction will end up giving Hon Hai a total of 53 percent stakes in the
business. On the lowering of Sharp’s stake from to 26 percent from 40 percent.
Other manufacturers who are building similar factories
include BOE Technology Group, China Optoelectronics Technology Co,
Japan-based Sakai Display Products (SDP) has signed with the
Guangzhou city government for cooperation to set up a 10.5G LCD display park in
the southern Chinese city with total investment of CNY61.0 billion (US$8.84
billion.
The park will consist of a 10.5G IGZO TFT-LCD factory with
monthly production capacity of about 90,000 3,370mm x 2,940mm glass substrates,
a smart LCD TV factory and an electronic white board factory, according to the
company. Construction of the factories will begin in March 2017 and production
will kick off in 2019.
Among panel makers around the world, SDP is the only one that
has a 10G IGZO TFT-LCD factory to produce 8K TV panels, and the 10.5G line in
Guangzhou will also produce 8K TV panels.
This will be the third 10.5G LCD plant in China. China-based
BOE Technology is constructing a 10.5G line in northern China and China Star
Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) will soon begin construction of another in
southern China.
Sharp and Terry Guo, chairman for Taiwan-based Foxconn
Electronics, are shareholders of SDP, and Foxconn is the majority shareholder of
Sharp.
McIlvaine Company
Northfield, IL 60093-2743
Tel:
847-784-0012; Fax:
847-784-0061
E-mail:
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