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Mitsubishi
Cable Industries and Showa Electric Wire & Cable Co., Ltd.,
will combine their operations in medium- and high-voltage
power cables and lines through a 50:50 joint venture by
next July. Those operations serve primarily power utilities
in Japan and worldwide. The joint venture will inherit plants
for making power cables, overhead transmission lines, overhead
distribution lines, and related components. In addition,
it will handle marketing, development, and installation
work.
The strategic collaboration is a move
to cope effectively with intensifying competition in Japan
and in export markets. It will strengthen the companies'
competitiveness in power cables by unifying their operations
in that sector. |
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Mitsubishi
Shindoh recently licensed the U.S. manufacturing and marketing
rights to two copper alloys to the U.S. company Brush Wellman
Inc. The alloys, MAX251 (CDA Copper Alloy No. C64725) and
MSP1 (CDA Copper Alloy No. 18665), offer superior performance
in terminal connectors on electronic devices. Mitsubishi
Shindoh holds patents for them in Japan, the United States,
and Germany. It licensed similar rights to the German company
Stolberger Metallwerke in 1986.
Global manufacturers of terminal connectors
require local sources of high-quality alloys in each market
to minimize costs, accommodate customer specifications,
and respond to fluctuations in demand. Mitsubishi Shindoh's
licensing arrangement with Brush Wellman, together with
the earlier contract with Stolberger Metallwerke, makes
the company's technology available from local producers
in North America and Europe, as well as Japan.
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Here are some of the kinds
of terminals and connectors that contain Mitsubishi
Shindoh's special alloy. |
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In
the vanguard of Japanese moves to upgrade corporate governance
is Mitsubishi Corporation. The company has broken with traditional
Japanese practice by naming people from outside the company
to its board of directors. And now, it has established an
international advisory committee to furnish senior management
with a better perspective on global trends and events.
Serving on the committee are the six
individuals at the right. All six are prominent figures
in the public and private sectors of the Americas, Europe,
and Asia. Also on the committee are Mitsubishi Corporation's
chairman, Minoru Makihara, its president and CEO, Mikio
Sasaki; and board member Tatsuo Arima, a former government
official. |
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Dr.
Herminio Blanco Mendoza
Former Secretary of Commerce and
Industrial Promotion, Mexico |
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Thomas
S. Foley
Former U.S. ambassador
to Japan |
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Lucio A. Noto
Former vice chairman,
ExxonMobil |
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Sir
David Scholey
Former chairman,
S.G. Warburg Group |
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Ratan
N. Tata
Chairman,
Tata Sons Limited |
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Jaime
Augusto
Zobel de Ayala II
President, Ayala Corporation |
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Providing
the world with reliable supplies of energy remains a core
mission at Mitsubishi Corporation, as evidenced by two recent
projects. In Australia, the company has acquired a 40% stake
in offshore gas fields in Victoria. It has established a
joint venture with Tokyo Gas to participate in developing
the fields and supplying natural gas to Australia's domestic
market. Total investment in the project will amount to about
A$110 million (?7 billion), and plans call for production
to get under way as early as September 2002. The participants
expect gas sales to users in Victoria to reach 400 million
cubic meters per year--about 8% of total demand in the state.
In Indonesia, Mitsubishi Corporation
will buy nearly 23% of the Tangguh liquefied natural gas
(LNG) project from a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum
Corporation. It thus will secure natural gas reserves equivalent
to 48 million tons of LNG. That is nearly as much LNG as
Japan imports annually.
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The
men in the photo are extending the life of a bridge in Tokyo.
They have lifted the span with a jack and injected a reinforcing
agent between sections of the bridge. Mitsubishi Electric
developed the agent originally to strengthen satellites.
The company is Japan's largest manufacturer of satellites
and has developed several materials for space applications.
Mitsubishi Electric engineers discovered
that their reinforcing agent was effective in rejuvenating
old bridges. They are commercializing that effectiveness
in cooperation with Toyo Takasago Dry Battery Co., Ltd.,
a Mitsubishi Electric affiliate.
The space-age agent supports about 65
kilograms per square centimeter, which is far more than
urban bridges need to hold. Fixing bridges with Mitsubishi
Electric's reinforcing agent is a lot less expensive than
conventional reinforcement methods. It also is a lot faster
and simpler. Now, how about that crack in your wall? |
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This'll make it strong enough to
hold up a parade of sumo wrestlers. |
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