Chida Precision Products of Maesawa, Oshu (President Fujio Chida) will expand its Maesawa Factory and up a precision washing department within this fiscal year. On September 22nd, a ridgepole-raising ceremony was held on location as those involved prayed for a safe construction. The additional building will be finished by mid-November. President Chida, on venturing out into a new business with the ILC in mind, said, “I want to improve the skills of our workers so that we can be of service at any time.”
The company headquarters and enjoining Maesawa factory are in Motsugi Industrial Park. In March this year Chida Precision Products bought an approximately 2700 square meter plot of land next to the Maesawa factory from Oshu city for the new construction. This new steel one-story building will be built on the south side of the existing factory and have a total floor space of 776.56 square meters. The facility will be a clean room for precision machinery, with equipment including those for large precision cleaning.
Currently Chida Precision Products sends the semiconductor production equipment it manufactures to Kanto or Kansai to be washed, but with the addition of this new department, it will be able to follow the process of manufacturing to washing from start to finish. In addition to reducing expenses, it will allow for thorough quality control.
Construction work started last month (August) and is aiming to end on November 20th. It will be an investment cost of 200 million yen for Chida Precision Products (not including the land purchase) as it received support from Iwate prefecture, which is promoting capital investment. The company is considering adding 5 or 6 new employees for the new precision washing division.
Around 60 employees and those affiliated with the factory attended the ridgepole-raising ceremony. After the Shinto ceremony finished, President Chida gave a speech, saying “We want to expand our horizons with this new division. When the ILC dream comes true, I want to connect that with what we do here, growing to a business that is stable and protects the livelihoods of our employees.”