Kato Works to invest ¥3.16 billion in production equipment at Ibaraki plant
Machinery & roboticsIbaraki
Kato Works plans to install manufacturing and related equipment at its Ibaraki plant in Goka, Ibaraki, to improve production productivity. The company expects construction to begin in May 2026 and finish in March 2029, funded through internal funds and borrowings.
Punch Industry will invest in a Japanese-made electron-beam processing machine at its consolidated subsidiary, Punch Industry (Dalian) Co., Ltd., in Dalian, China. The equipment will expand capacity for custom mold components and precision micro-machined products, supporting confirmed new and expanded orders from an undisclosed global mold manufacturer serving beverage-container and medical-consumables markets. The machine's own price is undisclosed under contract with the vendor; the company separately plans approximately JPY 500 million in related capacity investment across the multi-year Value Creation 28 plan period, of which this machine is only part.
SOLIZE PARTNERS and its Indian affiliate opened an AI Innovation Lab in Bengaluru, India, to conduct research and development combining manufacturing engineering, 3D data and 3D printing with AI. The lab will serve as a global R&D, talent-development and technology hub focused on design support, predictive maintenance, defect detection, industrial AI/IoT and robotics applications.
Dai Nippon Printing will open the FIO Lab at its Tsukuba Integrated Development Center in August 2026. The R&D facility will provide practical manufacturing-like environments for validating AI, robotics, equipment design, quality control and process-control technologies with corporate, university and research partners, supporting deployment across DNP manufacturing sites.
Sumitomo Heavy Industries has started commissioning a pilot-test facility for gasification in Niihama, Ehime, Japan. The facility is an R&D and pilot plant for validating gasification technology and related process equipment; no investment amount or capacity is disclosed in the provided text.
Tadano Utility, Tadano's wholly owned subsidiary, began operating its newly built Yawata Factory in Chikuma, Nagano Prefecture, in July 2026. The facility is a new manufacturing base for aerial work platforms.