Furukawa Electric Scraps and Builds Operations

Furukawa Electric unveiled the plan for expansion of domestic copper foil offshore high voltage cable and semiconductor laser for restructuring of North American operation on Monday. The firm tries to improve the profitability through the scrap and build action.

The firm started expansion at plant in Shenyang, China after the 30% expansion for high voltage cable. The firm doubles the output of semiconductor laser for optical communication at Thai plant. The firm expands the capacity of electrolytic copper foil for lithium ion battery to 1.5 times in Japan.

The firm consolidated optical fiber production, which was in Chiba and Mie plants, into Chiba plant to improve the profitability under slower demand. The firm dissolves the North American holding company, Furukawa Electric North America in December and optical parts and electronics sales force, Furukawa America in March 2009. The firm consolidates the North American optical parts sales into the optical fiber making subsidiary, OFS while Furukawa Electric North America Automotive Parts Division takes the electronics sales role.