Opened a laser processing solution laboratory in Kariya City, Aichi Prefecture

Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. (Head office: 2-6-4 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Hideya Moridaira; hereinafter “Furukawa Electric”) and Nichia Corporation (Head office: 491 Oka, Kaminaka-cho, Anan City, Tokushima Prefecture; President: Hiroyoshi Ogawa; hereinafter “Nichia”) opened the Cutting-Edge Laser processing solution Lab. (CELL) in Kariya City, Aichi Prefecture.

As locations for developing laser processing solutions in Japan, Furukawa Electric and Nichia have already opened three laser application laboratories in the Chiba Works of Furukawa Electric (Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture), CALL (Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture) and in the Yokohama Research Center of Nichia (Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture). Following the accelerating electrification of mobility, the use of laser processing has increased, including for welding copper materials widely used in electric axles and batteries. Directed at further shortening the customer’s production technology development cycle, along with increased need to develop various laser processing solutions at a single location, it is also necessary to accelerate the development of next-generation laser products.

Furukawa Electric and Nichia jointly opened the new laser processing solution laboratory CELL in the Chubu Region, a major hub of the automotive industry. CELL is currently equipped with the cutting-edge 5kW blue laser (BR5000) that produces the world’s highest-level brightness from optical fiber. In addition, it is planned to install all of Furukawa Electric’s industrial lasers, including the BRACE^® Series of Blue-IR hybrid industrial lasers. This will enable us to respond to a wide range of customer requirements, shorten the process testing and evaluation cycle and thereby contribute to accelerating the development of production technology utilizing lasers. Also, because CELL is jointly operated by Furukawa Electric and Nichia, it will be possible to conduct a full range of activities from laser processing to the development of light sources, and through this, we will be able to propose solutions including next-generation laser products based on the characteristics required by customers.
Furukawa Electric and Nichia will continue to carry out joint development with the aim of responding to the diverse requests for copper processing arising from the electrification of mobility.