Sambo Copper Alloy to Introduce New Rolling Machine by 2009

Sambo Copper Alloy, Osaka based maker of copper alloy fabricated products, plans capital expenditure of total 9 billion yen for 2007-2009 along its 3-year management plan. The firm will invest more than 4 billion yen for introduction of a newest rolling machine. With the rest of capex, the firm will introduce melting and casting facilities for its original lead-free copper alloy “EcoBrass” and double the output capacity of the foreign subsidiary to manufacture copper tube for air conditioners.Sambo Copper Alloy plans to complete construction of a newest rolling machine by 2009 with almost half of the 3-year capex. The firm examines design detail of equipment to improve product quality and productivity. This investment will become the largest plan for Sambo Copper Alloy since the firm established a vertical annealing and pickling line with capex of 1 billion yen in December 2005.The firm will set up new melting and casting equipment for EcoBrass within 2007. Takao Hashida, president of Sambo Copper Alloy, expected EcoBrass demand could increase sharply when lead-free materials are being needed in Europe and USA rather than in Japan. The firm prepares productive system for EcoBrass to meet higher demand in near future.Sambo Copper Alloy manufactures copper tubes installed into industrial air conditioners at Thai subsidiary, whose factory is 5,200 square meters on the land of 11,680 square meters with 700 employees. The firm aims to expand the sales of the subsidiary by 50% after output capacity expansion along the 3-year management plan.