Reducing processes to reduce die initial costs Fujii Corporation Co., Ltd.

Fujii Corporation Co., Ltd. is a Niigata Prefecture-based manufacturing company, a snowy prefecture located 200 miles north of Tokyo, with nearly 150 years of history. They have been growing as a leading manufacturer of snowblowers and have been exporting mainly throughout Europe and Japan.

Yet in the course of the design for snowblower parts, Fujii Corporation also gained expertise in pressing sheet, and spun-off separate dieless press and steel materials divisions in the production of parts for construction machinery, automotive and outdoor lighting equipment.

In typical metal pressing, both a punch and a die are used to mold a piece into the desired shape, and the punch must repeatedly press the part against the die. Fujii Corporation's Dieless Press Division invented a technique of opposing hydraulic press called "Aqua Forming" in order to produce pressed parts without using expensive die. Here, a shape that was only created by the characteristics of deep drawn welding can be done in only one step. The company also uses another press technique called "Dolomite forming" that-using only a single die-allows multiple press parts to be formed as a set.

The Steel Materials Division is developing a perforated metal screen for use in dewatering equipment. Waste management facilities separate fluid from sludge with a dewatering machine, in which a long screw churns sludge in a circular motion, pushing out the fluid, or "filtrate," through a net and screen that surround the screw to produce the leftover dewatering "sludge cake."

On top of their experience with snowblowers, Fujii Corporation has developed a comprehensive inventory of equipment to meet customer requests-including mechanical presses wielding between 300 and 1,000 tons of force, robotic welding equipment as well as combination machines that trim parts accurately and quickly.