PI Extends Factory Space

Precision positioning systems provider PI (Physik Instrumente) has added a new building to its factory in Karlsruhe, Germany, providing more production floors, metrology labs and R&D office space. The high-load hexapod production and test facility adds about 4500 sq ft of space dedicated to the manufacture and test of heavy-duty 6-axis motion systems capable of moving loads of up to five tons with submicron precision. The accuracy of the positioners is verified using metrology rooms filled with interferometers and other test equipment, the company said. PI’s hexapod systems are used for optics alignment, medical tumor treatment, high-energy physics, and aerospace and semiconductor manufacturing.

Firstronic Receives Business Development Grant for Expansion in Michigan

Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Firstronic LLC has received a $300,000 Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant. The grant was made possible by The Right Place Inc., the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and the city of Grand Rapids.

The grant will allow the contract electronic component manufacturer to add 110 new jobs to its 35,000-square-foot facility on Michigan Street in Grand Rapids. At present, Firstronic employs 68 people in Grand Rapids. The company plans to invest $2.45 million for building renovations, machinery and equipment. The new jobs will be full-time and will include benefits. The positions will range from engineers to technicians, entry-level electronic assembly operators and skilled hand solderers.

The Michigan Business Development Program provides grants, loans and other economic assistance to qualified businesses that make investments or create jobs in Michigan, with preference given to businesses that need additional assistance for deal-closing and for second-stage gap financing. The program will consider a number of factors in making these awards, including: out-of-state competition, private investment in the project, business diversification opportunities, near-term job creation, wage and benefit levels of the new jobs, and net-positive return to the state. Business retention and retail projects are not eligible for consideration of these incentives.

The Right Place is a regional non-profit economic development organization founded in 1985 and supported through investments from the private and public sector. Its mission is to promote economic growth in the areas of quality employment, productivity and technology in West Michigan by developing jobs through leading business retention, expansion and attraction efforts.

“This expansion will allow us to add both capacity and equipment to keep up with our growing business and customer demand,” said John Sammut, Firstronic’s CEO. “We are grateful to The Right Place, MEDC and city of Grand Rapids for trusting in our vision and assisting in our growth in Grand Rapids.”

Firstronic serves a variety of industries, but it’s the company’s focus on medical device manufacturing that has local economic development officials particularly excited.

“Firstronic’s high-tech electronic manufacturing capabilities are an important part of the medical device industry we are developing here in West Michigan,” said Birgit Klohs, president and CEO of The Right Place. “As part of our five-year strategic plan, we are committed to building world-class medical device companies and capabilities in the region.”

The city offered local tax abatements in support of the project.

Med Center Nabs $11M Nanotech Grant

The University of Nebraska Medical Center has been awarded more than $11.2 million from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, funding that will allow the university to continue and expand its cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research into nanotechnology.

The grant, which will be awarded over five years, will fund the continuation of an Institutional Development Award to the Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE).

UNMC researcher Tatiana Bronich, Ph.D., is the principal investigator on the grant. Dr. Bronich is the Parke-Davis Chair in Pharmaceutics, UNMC College of Pharmacy, and the director of the Nebraska Center for Nanomedicine. Nanomedicine uses nanomaterials, small polymeric particles, to deliver drugs safely to disease sites, such as cancer tumors.

“This will further and solidify our efforts in the areas of drug delivery and nanomedicine,” Dr. Bronich says. “It allows us to continue our truly interdisciplinary research at the university.”

In addition, the grant will support two research core facilities: the bioimaging core, directed by Michael Boska, Ph.D., radiology department; and the nanomaterials core, co-directed by Dr. Bronich and Dong Wang, Ph.D., pharmaceutical sciences.

The Nanomedicine COBRE provides UNMC with unique expertise and resources, says Jennifer Larsen, M.D., vice chancellor for research.

“This grant was first funded in 2008, with the scientific mission to improve drug delivery, through basic and applied advances in nanotechnology, in order to advance treatment of human diseases,” he says. “This five-year renewal provides the strongest evidence possible that Dr. Bronich and her team of scientists have made considerable progress on this mission — and most importantly, has laid out a compelling plan for their future work.”

Dr. Fletcher says the renewal also affirms that the drug delivery program at the College of Pharmacy and UNMC is both a national and international leader in this area of work — “work that is fundamental to advancing the efficacy of drug therapy,” he says.

The COBRE grant will support five projects, including a MUC4 nanovaccine for pancreatic cancer, renal drug targeting for the treatment of lupus nephritis, the role of nanoformulated Cu/ZnSOD in reducing systemic hypertension in obesity, development of metabolically active linkers (MALs) to improve diagnostic and radiotherapeutic HPMA copolymers, and neuroprotective regulatory T cells as vehicles for nanoformulated growth factor delivery to an injured brain.

Cleanrooms Ready for Submarine Cable System Build

Huawei Marine Networks Co. Ltd., a global submarine cable networks provider, announces the commercial operation of their second generation undersea repeater and branching unit manufacturing plant in Dongguan, China. The factory is ramping-up to full production capacity as Huawei Marine prepares for a new project in the West African region.

Completed in April 2012, with an initial investment of $9 million, the new Dongguan plant is over 12,000 ft2, of which about 5,200 ft2 is dedicated to a cleanroom facility comprising Class 1,000 and Class 10,000 cleanrooms to meet the most rigorous standards of particulate management and environmental control for repeater assembly and sealing. The plant is also equipped with newly developed technology and production facilities for the manufacturing, assembly, testing, quality management, and assurance of all core elements associated with building undersea repeaters and branching units. The key technologies and equipment to be used include the Optical Amplifier Module final assembly equipment, Automatic Test Equipment (ATE), Hydraulic Test Equipment, a Hermeticity Verification system, and a full set of tools for repeater and branching unit integration. All of this enables the precise assembly of these subsea products to meet and exceed the 25-year reliability lifespan required by the industry.

Currently, the new Dongguan plant can support production capacity of 20 repeater modules per month but is engineered to meet future market demand by up to four times this throughput, culminating in 80 units per month. When the plant operates at full manufacturing capacity, it will be one of the largest in the world and is able to support the construction of two transoceanic systems in one year.

The new plant will also deploy the in-house developed repeater integration processes, equipment, and facilities incorporating the industry standard UJTM cable jointing solutions which are firmly built into the repeater and branching unit designs. Modularized and containerized, the platform enables system integration to take place in cable factories, remote locations or, potentially, onboard suitable vessels, offering flexibility and efficiency for customers. Each integration platform can currently handle a rate of 10 repeater integrations per month, per site or factory. The application of proven UJTM technology, together with an innovative repeater design, can provide operational benefits and simplification, enabling significant savings in project cost and time.

Huawei Marine's production team at the new plant consists of optical and electrical experts, mechanical engineers, and production technicians, who have undergone rigorous production training and are experienced in repeater and branching unit production process for major commercial projects.

The new Dongguan plant is also located near Huawei Marine’s terrestrial production plant which offers production for dry plant products, such as Submarine Line Terminal Equipment (SLTE) and Submarine Line Monitor (SLM), enabling the integrated inspection, testing, and handover of both dry and wet plant products to customers.

“Manufacturing of the second generation repeaters and branching unit for our latest project has commenced. We are delighted to be bringing our state-of-the-art facility online so soon after construction. With such a strong foundation and clear focus, the journey ahead certainly looks exciting.” says Nigel Bayliff, Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Marine.

Sharp Expands Production in Indonesia Facility

Sharp Corporation has commenced operations earlier this month at its brand new Indonesian plant located in Karawang International Industrial City. The company is hoping to set up a stable production supply in the country as it anticipates rising demand for consumer electronics based on the steady growth rate of domestic consumption.

The Karawang Plant will focus on manufacturing large home appliances with current production of washing machines to be complemented by production of refrigerators starting in October. Sharp intends to double its production of refrigerators for the Indonesian market at 220,000 units per month and increase washing machine production by 2.5 times at 140,000 units per month.

The medium-term management plan announced by Sharp in May this year identified as a key management policy the development of ASEAN-centered overseas operations. The commencement of operations at the Karawang Plant is expected to help speed up Sharp's business expansion in the region. Capital investment for the new site is approximately $123 million.

The opening of Karawang Plant is good news for Sharp which announced August last year that it will cut roughly ten per cent of its workforce by the end of the third quarter of this year as it sustained a net loss of $1.7 billion dollars from April to June 2012.

South Korean neighbor Samsung Electronics also gave Sharp a hand back in March when it funneled a significant sum to improve the struggling Japanese firm's financial health and boost supplies of television and smartphone LCD panels.

Earlier this year, Sharp Chairman Toshi Osawa spoke at the annual Consumer Electronics Show and talked about the company's future banking a great deal on bigger and broader TVs with higher resolution and generally more expensive.

McIlvaine Company

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