Nippon Paper Industries Co. Ltd. (TYO:3863) is moving forward with plans to commercialize resins reinforced with cellulose nanofiber (CNF) for automotive applications. The firm has invested a total of 300 million yen ($2.67 million) in a demonstration facility that recently went into operation in Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture. The facility has the capacity to produce more...
METI
METI Estimates Global Supply and Demand Trends for Petrochemical Products
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has compiled predictions for petrochemical product supply and demand until 2021. According to these predictions, global ethylene production will exceed 200 million tons in 2021 for an increase of 45.4 million tons compared to 2015. From the fall of 2017 onward, the addition of more shale gas-derived...
METI to Encourage Data Integration to Create Smart Supply Chains
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) will accelerate efforts to formulate policies encouraging factories and companies to link each other’s data so as to utilize it throughout entire supply chains. Japan’s Cabinet adopted a spending plan, Future Investment Strategy 2017, which characterizes the task of upgrading supply chains as a strategic concern for...
Japanese Government Relaxes Regulations on New Chemical Substances
Japan’s House of Representatives passed and enacted a new amendment bill at a May 30 plenary session for the Act on the Evaluation of Chemical Substances and Regulation of Their Manufacture. The lower house has revised the Special Arrangements for Evaluation Requirements that serve to control the total quantity of new chemical substances across Japan,...
METI Releases Outline of New Industrial Structure Vision
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) on May 18 released an outline of the New Industrial Structure Vision during a meeting of the Industrial Structure Council. The vision calls for the building of systems that will create new technologies stemming from the Fourth Industrial Revolution in such fields as data, AI and robotics....
Nippon Paper Opens World-Leading CNF Production Line
Nippon Paper Industries Co. Ltd. (TYO:3863) announced on April 25 that the cellulose nanofiber (CNF) production line at its Ishinomaki mill in Miyagi Prefecture has gone online. The 1.6 billion yen ($14.39 million) facility has the capacity to produce 500 tons of CNF annually, making it one of the world’s largest. Regarded as the most...
Japan’s Ethylene Production Down for 2016, Operation Rates Remain High
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) recently compiled its findings regarding production capacity for major petrochemical products. According to the findings, the annual production capacity for ethylene at the end of 2016 was 6,155,000 tons, a decrease of 433,000 tons from the end of 2015. The decrease was due to Asahi Kasei Chemicals...
METI Reveals Successful Case Studies in Smart Technology Investment
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has released a collection of early case studies of smart technology investments. The ministry introduced efforts from companies in the fields of oil refining, petrochemical, chemical, electric power, gas and infrastructure. Of these, 21 companies said that smart security investments improved both security and revenue. Many companies...
Life Robotics Supplies Yoshinoya With Dish Washing Robots
Life Robotics Inc., a venture company of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), announced on March 27 that it has begun supplying major beef bowl chain Yoshinoya Co. Ltd. (TYO:9861) with Coro, a cooperative robot that can work side by side with humans. Coro will work as part of the dish...
METI to Launch New Accreditation System Encouraging High-Tech Safety at Petroleum and Petrochemical Plants
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) will launch a new accreditation system on April 1 to promote high-tech safety at oil refineries and petrochemical plants. A ministerial ordinance was issued on March 22 to revise the associated regulations. The new system will encourage the adoption IoT at plants so that facility data can...
METI to Formulate Security Guidelines for Protecting Valuable Technologies
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) plans to formulate guidelines to prevent the drain of valuable technology going overseas. An expert panel will be convened to consider the appropriate ways to manage information and prevent the loss of cutting-edge technology. After being drafted, the guidelines will be tested for effectiveness and improved using...
Japan’s Shipment Value for Paint in 2016 Drops to 673.7 Billion Yen
Japanese paint shipments for January–December 2016 were worth 673.7 billion yen ($5.97 billion), according to full figures from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). It marks eight consecutive years that total shipments have been below 700 billion yen. Although the shipment value of water-based paints increased, solventless paints and solvent-based paints were both...
Printing Ink Shipments Break 300 Billion Yen in 2016, First Time in Six Years
Printing ink shipments rose 1.7 percent year-on-year to 300.6 billion yen ($2.66 billion) in 2016, according to Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) data. This is the first time that shipments have broken the 300 billion yen mark since 2010. The “other inks” category, which includes photoresist, ultraviolet (UV) curable ink and screen-printing ink,...
Domestic Naphtha Price Rises to 34,000 yen in October–December 2016 Quarter
The domestic naphtha price for October–December 2016 rose 2,700 yen ($23.96), or 8.6 percent, to 34,000 yen per kiloliter from 31,300 yen in the July–September quarter. It was the first price rise in six quarters, pushed up by both the Far East Spot Naphtha Price and the foreign exchange rate. According to customs clearance records...
METI to Develop AI Chemical Safety Prognosis Method, Aims to Eliminate Animal Testing
The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) will launch a project to develop a method for using AI to predict the safety of chemical substances. This method could eliminate animal testing in chemical screening, thereby significantly reducing costs associated with safety assessments. The project also aims to drastically shorten the time needed for...
Japanese Government Looks to Big Data for Streamlining Chemical Evaluation Act
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) plans to streamline its future implementations of the Act on the Evaluation of Chemical Substances and Regulation of Their Manufacture, a regulatory scheme for examination of chemical substances. Moving forward, the scheme will make use of big data on no less than 16,000 substances accumulated over the...
Commentary: Trump’s Stance on Iran Nuclear Deal Could Derail Japanese Engineering Projects
Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election is causing pessimism among Japanese engineering companies with regard to business opportunities in Iran. During the election, Trump repeatedly asserted that he would re-examine the nuclear deal with Iran. Last year, Iran agreed with six countries, including the U.S., to end its pursuit of nuclear weapons in...
Industry and Academia Join Forces, Look to Develop Stable Operation Technology for Petrochemical Plants
Some 20 Japanese companies are coming together in the joint development of soft-sensor technology as a new stable operation technology for petrochemical plants. Involving Japanese petrochemical manufacturers and engineering companies among others, the project will deploy the statistical analysis method developed by the University of Tokyo’s Prof. Kimito Funatsu. Soft-sensor technology analyzes information obtained from...
Idemitsu Kosan to Reduce Throughput at Three Refineries
Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd. (TYO:5019) will reduce the throughput for atmospheric distillation (topper) units at three refineries by a total of 55,000 barrels per day by the end of March 2017. The move is being made in accordance with the Second Notice of the Act on Sophisticated Methods of Energy Supply Structures from the Ministry...
METI Eases Rules in High Pressure Gas Safety Act
The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Industry (METI) will partially amend the Order for Enforcement of the High Pressure Gas Safety Act, effective Nov. 1. The amendments will make low-risk products outside the scope of the law. These products are among those that use high-pressure gas in amounts of 150 liters or less. Examples include...
