Jul 15 2010
FUJIFILM Corporation (President and CEO: Shigetaka Komori) has announced that it is ramping up the production of the ultra-wide FUJITAC, a polarizer protective film essential for liquid crystal displays.
A total of three additional production lines will be built at the Ashigara Site of its Kanagawa Factory as well as at FUJIFILM Kyushu Co., Ltd. (President: Satoshi Sakamoto), which are both the FUJITAC's production bases. The capital investment is expected to total approx. 40 billion yen. The development of the additional production lines will boost the production capacity for ultra-wide FUJITAC by 3.5 times.
The ultra-wide FUJITAC is approx. 1.5 times wider (1,960mm - 2,300mm) than the conventional FUJITAC, making it ideally suited for the efficient production of 40 inch or larger LCD TVs. The latest move will reinforce the production capacity of the ultra-wide FUJITAC as follows:
- Turning Line 4 of FUJIFILM Kyushu's Plant No.2 into the production line for the ultra-wide FUJITAC (Scheduled operation commencement: October 2010)
- Newly establishing a production line for the ultra-wide FUJITAC at Plant No.3 of Ashigara Site of Kanagawa Factory (Scheduled operation commencement: April 2011)
- Newly building Plant No.4 for FUJIFILM Kyushu and assigning its production line 7 to the ultra-wide FUJITAC (Scheduled operation commencement: October 2011)
The declining prices and increasing performance of LCD TVs are rapidly expanding their demands in industrialized nations as well as emerging economies. The shipment volume of larger LCD TVs of 40 inches or above, in particular, is growing at the rate of over 30% per annum. By 2011, this type of TV set is expected to account for over 50% of all televisions in circulation in terms of screen area. Many LCD panel manufacturers plan to build production lines for large panels in China, where the rate of demand growth is most prominent, prompting the revamp of ultra-wide FUJITAC's production capacity.
The coming reinforcement of production capacity will also initiate the production of 'ultra-wide retardation film for VA-mode' in April 2011 in addition to 'ultra-wide Plain-TAC' and 'ultra-wide film for IPS-mode'. In other words, Fujifilm will supply ultra-wide films for all types of large LCD TVs. In an effort to contain the amount of investment and address customer needs swiftly, Fujifilm has opted to make use of existing buildings and production facilities, rather than newly building all of the additional production lines. By boosting ultra-wide FUJITAC's production capacity, Fujifilm will contribute to the production efficiency of polarizers and facilitate the standardization of ultra-wide films.
Defining the flat panel display materials business as one of the priority business fields, Fujifilm is set to expand the business with unique products that feature its proprietary technologies. Such products include FUJITAC as well as 'WV film' that offers the effect of expanding viewing angles and 'CV film' that provides a strong anti-reflective property for panel surfaces. Fujifilm will continue to aggressively pursue research and development of new technologies for stable supply of flat panel display materials and to contribute to the industry's growth as the leader in flat panel display materials.
Source: http://www.fujifilm.com/