Nihon Superior Co. Ltd. has taken the opportunity provided by the celebration of the 20^th Anniversary of its Singapore office, Nihon Superior Trading (S) Pte Ltd., to announce the upgrade of that office to a regional headquarters with plans to establish an English-speaking research and development (R&D) center to strengthen the support that can be provided to global customers.

20^th Anniversary Celebration for Nihon Superior Singapore

On May 24, 2008, the 20^th Anniversary of Nihon Superior’s Singapore subsidiary, Nihon Superior Trading (S) Pte Ltd (NSTS) was celebrated at the Pan Pacific Hotel with approximately 70 invited guests including staff from the group’s Osaka head office and regional offices, customers, friends of the company, and representatives of the press.

NSTS was established in February 1988 as a joint venture with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. and was Nihon Superior’s first overseas subsidiary. Since then, its business has grown continuously and by 2007 accounted for 16 percent of Nihon Superior’s total turnover. NSTS has made a major contribution to the growth of Nihon Superior and, as it celebrated its 20^th anniversary, plans were announced for changes that will make it an even greater contribution in the future.

In opening the formal proceedings, the NSTS Chief Operating Officer Richard Sim welcomed guests and expressed his appreciation for those who have contributed to the success of the company over the years. The managing director Daisuke Watanabe added his thanks for the support that NSTS has received and resolved to take the company to a new level with the establishment of a dedicated technical support center for global customers with a program of R&D directed at addressing customers’ increasing requirements for advanced soldering materials. The highlight of the evening was the presentation by the Nihon Superior president Tetsuro Nishimura who reviewed photographically the history of the company and the success of its unique SN100C^® lead-free solder alloy. While this was of great interest he really caught the attention of the audience when he described his vision for the research, product development and technical service that will be provided by the new center in Singapore.

The occasion was marked by the Kagami Biraki ceremony in which Chairman Mr. Toshiro Nishimura, President Mr. Tetsuro Nishimura, and NSTS Chief Operating Officer Richard Sim, dressed in traditional Japanese robes, smashed open with hammers the lid of a barrel of sake with hammers. The sake was then distributed for guests to toast the success of NSTS with the cry of “kampai!”

With the formal proceedings completed, the guests were entertained by a performance of traditional Chinese music. The evening concluded with a lion dance that, according to Chinese tradition, will bring the expanded NSTS good fortune as it takes on its new challenges.

With its friendly relaxed atmosphere, the celebration provided the ideal way of ushering in a new era for NSTS.

In the nine years since its launch, SN100C has been used to produce an estimated 900,000 electronics assemblies that have provided reliable service. The service those assemblies continuously provided demonstrates that SN100C solder joints thrive in conditions of high currents, elevated temperatures, thermal cycling, vibration, and impact loading. On the basis of this unequalled track record, SN100C is on the way to becoming the new global standard for lead-free solder.

For Nihon Superior, delivering a quality product is just the start. The company is committed to achieving the highest possible level of customer satisfaction through meticulous attention to customer service. In taking the customers’ perspective as its own, Nihon Superior aims to respond rapidly to their needs by developing innovative solutions that deliver real value. To do this, the company needs people with a high level of investigative skills and a laboratory that is equipped with the sophisticated instruments needed for inspection, testing and analysis, and that is what has been providing in the R&D Center that was opened in Toyonaka City, Osaka in 2006. However, as other countries adopt policies similar to those of the EU RoHS Directive, as the number of SN100C users increases and as the implementation of REACH approaches, the demand for technical support and product development is increasing beyond the capacity of the Toyonaka City facility.

In considering how best to provide additional capacity, Nihon Superior management realized that much of the growth in demand for SN100C is occurring outside Japan in markets where English is the spoken language of industry and technology. That being the case, there was a strong argument that the required new capacity should be located outside Japan.

Like many companies facing a similar challenge, Nihon Superior selected Singapore as the location to best meet its needs. The countries surrounding Singapore already constitute a large market for electronics assembly materials with further growth expected. With its excellent infrastructure and English as the official language, Singapore also is an ideal center from which to service the global electronics industry. And with its many specialist research institutes and knowledge-based industries, Singapore provides an ideal environment for R&D.

Nihon Superior’s Singapore R&D Center will be in operation before the end of 2008 with an initial investment of SG$1.275 million (JP¥100 million). The initial focus will be on establishing analytical capability with XRF and ICP equipment and recruiting staff qualified to operating that equipment. Additional basic tools required for the development and testing of soldering materials and the diagnosis of customer technical problems such as microscopy and mechanical testing will follow.

With this technical facility in place, NSTS will take on the role of Nihon Superior’s Regional Headquarters, coordinating sales to major companies in the region, leading negotiations with customers with global operations, and delivering product development and technical support services for the markets it serves. This new operation will require strong proactive leadership and Nihon Superior is confident that it has selected the right person in Mr. Daisuke Watanabe. He had seven-and-a-half years experience in Singapore as NSTS managing director before returning to Japan in 2003 to take up the position of manager of the newly created Overseas Business Development Department. With this mix of experience in the region and the head office, Mr. Watanabe is well qualified to deal with the considerable challenge of providing this new level of service to Nihon Superior’s global customers.