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Ube Industries and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to merge injection-molding machine businesses

| By Mary Bailey

Ube Machinery Corp., a group company of Ube Industries, Ltd. (Ube; Tokyo, Japan; www.ube-ind.co.jp) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Plastic Technology Co., a group company of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan; www.mhi-global.com), concluded an agreement on the transfer of shares relating to their respective businesses in injection molding machines.

Under the newly concluded agreement, Ube Machinery will acquire the management rights to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Plastic Technology. By pooling the respective strengths of the two companies, Ube Machinery will strengthen its sales and servicing capabilities through enhancement of its product lineup and sales network, reduce production costs, and improve development capabilities by integrating the two companies’ technologies in a quest to cope with the increasingly severe environment surrounding the injection molding machine business environment both in Japan and abroad. The company’s aim is to achieve business expansion within the global market for injection-molding machines by providing new value anticipating customers’ increasingly diversified needs.

Ube Machinery will acquire an 85% equity stake in Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Plastic Technology in order to secure the latter’s worldwide business in injection molding machines.

The scope of the agreement also includes the transfer of MHI’s injection molding machine sales bases in the core overseas markets: North America, China and Thailand. Other overseas sales bases will remain under MHI’s oversight, and efforts will be made to enhance their customer services.

Plans also call for the establishment of a sales company (to be a wholly owned subsidiary of Ube Machinery) to handle the injection molding machines marketed by Ube Machinery and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Plastic Technology.