The Sakai Plant can trace it roots back to 1891. Then the factory
was adjacent to the Osaka Mint and was a part of the old Mitsubishi Company.
The photo on the right is of the Osaka Refinery in 1906. |
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There were many changes over the years at the Osaka Refinery.
Casting of billets and cakes started in 1950 and wirerod in 1952.
The photo on the far left is ingot production for billet and cake
production about 1950. The photo on the right is of wirerod
production about 1952. |
In 1971, the Osaka Refinery became the first copper plant in Japan to install a
SCR (Southwire Continuous
Rod) wirerod system. In 1976 the plant also started wirerod
production using the DIP Forming Process developed by General Electric. The SCR system was
replaced in 1989 with the completion of the Sakai Plant and the DIP
Forming line was shut down.
The photo on the right is of the Osaka Refinery in 1955. |
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Increasingly urban development encroached on the Osaka Refinery. In
the late 1980's it was decided to relocate the plant in an
industrial site in Sakai City, south of Osaka. In 1988 ground was
broken for the new plant in Chikko Shinmachi (Rinkai Industrial
Estate).
The photo on the left is the Osaka Refinery surrounded by the City of
Osaka about 1989. The old Osaka Mint is in the lower left of the
photo. |
All new equipment was installed including a new SCR
line and fully continuous billet and cake casting lines. A new fully
continuous oxygen-free casting line was also installed.
Today the SCR line has a capacity of about 14,000 tons per month and
the billet and cake line has about 12,000 tons per month. The billet
and cake line produces about 5,000 tons per month of oxygen-free
copper and oxygen-free copper alloys. |
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History
Mitsubishi Materials
Corporation, Sakai Plant