Dramatic Upgrade to Nihon Superior’s Technical Capabilities

This new R&D Center is located adjacent to Nihon Superior’s major logistics and specialist manufacturing facility that was opened in 2006 and in which the research and development laboratories were initially housed. Extending over three levels the total floor area of the new Center is 2030 square meters (21,830 square feet) on a 1600 square meter (17,200 square feet) site. At the time of its opening the Nihon Superior had invested ¥500 million (US$6 million) in this new R&D Center with plans to spend a further ¥1 billion (US$ 12 million) on additional equipment.

By locating research and development in the same building as the Technical Center and Quality Assurance Department that were previously located in the company’s six story headquarter in Suita City Nihon Superior expects to greatly enhance its capacity for developing innovative new products and providing the highest level of customer service. Being closer to the logistics center the Quality Assurance Department can better ensure on- time delivery of in-specification product.

Responding to Market Challenges
The increasing demand for more functions in ever smaller packages without compromising reliability is providing huge challenges for electronics manufacturing technologies. As a supplier to the global electronics industry Nihon Superior feels obliged to contribute to the development of materials and processes that will make it possible to meet these challenges. The investment in highly skilled human resources and advanced equipment represented by this new R&D Center is a practical expression of Nihon Superior’s commitment to support the global electronics industry with new solutions.


Nihon Superior took the first step to increase its technical capability with the inclusion in a new logistics centre constructed in Toyonaka City in 2006 of a dedicated R&D Center. That has proved very successful with many new products having been developed and solutions found to customers’ technical problems. As the complexity of the packaging and assembly technologies employed by the electronics industry has continued to increase the work undertaken by the R&D Center has advanced to the extent that papers reporting the results have been accepted for presentation at academic conferences around the world and alliances have been formed with overseas universities and research institutes for the deeper study of solder alloys and solder joints.

It was in expectation of this trend continuing that Nihon Superior management decided to makes a further substantial investment to increased research and development capability.

Supporting a Larger Customer Base
As Nihon Superior has increased its penetration into the global market, e.g. with the opening of two new offices in South East Asia (Vietnam and Indonesia) that increased the total number of sites worldwide to ten, it became clear that it would be necessary to increase the company’s capability for responding promptly to customers’ needs for new products and technical support in dealing with problems. This was another reason why Nihon Superior management decided that it was necessary to move all the technical functions to larger premises so that more equipment could be accommodated and the widest possible range of skills and experience available within the company brought together at a single site.

President Nishimura’s Vision
“By locating research, product development, customer technical support, and quality assurance in the same building we have created a powerful center of knowledge, skill, and experience. Our plan is to leverage that capability to respond more effectively to a wider range of customer requirements. At the same time we will continue to pursue aggressively more academic avenues of research with a view to contributing to the wider development of the electronics industry.”