CONTENT BY THE WORLDFOLIO

How many components are necessary to manufacture a modern smartphone? As incredible as it may seem,
present day cellular phones require
over 200 billion transistors. The devices we casually utilize to call our
loved ones, send an email or snap a
picture have, through time, grown into
an astonishingly complex labyrinth ofsemiconductors, sensors and capacitors. Since their invention, electronic
devices have never ceased to improve,and this observation can be extrapolated to almost all industrial sectors.
From semiconductor and medicalequipment to transportation, humaninnovation knows but two limits: themanufacturing techniques it masters
and the materials it employs. And
while brand names such as Appleand Sony are frequently credited for
new innovations, true improvement
is often found behind the scenes; hidden in the hands of invisible – yetindispensable – manufacturers thatprovide the technologies necessary
to enable creativity and to push theboundaries of the impossible.
Some years ago for example,
an Osaka-based company by thename of Nippon Seisen revolutionized the production of ultrasmall
laminated capacitors, components
crucial to the functioning of modern electronic devices. Led by Mr.
Motoshi Shinkai, an engineer bytrade who today presides over Nippon Seisen, the ﬁrm is pushing theboundaries of the impossible instainless steel wires. The company
successfully developed Super Fine
Stainless Steel Wires that allowed
electronic manufacturers to accurately improve screen printing, a
process that enabled breakthroughadvances in display quality. “Whenproducing laminated capacitors,
component manufacturers cannot
make their screen printing circuitdesign without our Super Fine
Wires,” says Mr Shinkai, President& CEO of Nippon Seisen. To achieve
this technological prowess, thecompany developed Micro & Fine
Technology. Nippon Seisen used thisThinner, Stronger and More
Precise: The Relentlessquest of Nippon Seisen
A global niche leader in stainless steel wires and metal ﬁbres, Nippon
Seisen, an R&D-centred enterprise, has been pushing the boundaries ofstainless-steel wire applications thanks to its Micro & Fine Technology.

Motoshi Shinkai, President,
Nippon Seisen Co., Ltd.

Stainless steel wires

Stainless Steel Fiber NASLON®

NASLON® Filter for PolymerNASclean® for Semiconductor Gas Filter

technology to reduce the diameterof its Super Fine Wires to 11 μm(0.011mm). To properly understandthis engineering miracle, consider
that a normal human hair has athickness of 80μm(0.080mm)…
making Nippon Seisen’s wires up
to eight times thinner than a single
strand of hair.
It is therefore no surprise toﬁnd that since its creation in 1951,
Nippon Seisen has maintained its
position as a global niche leader
in stainless steel and metal ﬁbres.
Thanks to decades of research,the ﬁrm developed its proprietary“Micro & Fine Technology,” a uniquemanufacturing philosophy dedicated to the development of next
generation applications for stainless steel. Today, the ﬁrm uses its
technological acumen to produce
highly functional Spring Wires thatare widely demanded in medical

equipment manufacturing, among
other industries. The developmentof high-function stainless steel
spring wires allows Nippon Seisen
to meet specific requirements.
Their HYBREM-S, for example,
is used in hydrogen atmosphericconditions found inside fuel cells forvehicles, while their TouPH Stainless allows for the optimal balance
between maintaining high levels ofstrength against heat and corrosion
resistances. These applications areexpanding the utility of the company’s products like never before.
By applying proprietary drawing
technologies, Nippon Seisen also
developed its NASLON products.
NASLON is a stainless steel ﬁbrethat allows manufacturers to carryout processing in similar fashion
to synthetic ﬁbres while maintaining the innate rigidity of a metal.
Strong on technical expertise, Nip-

www.n-seisen.co.jp/en

pon Seisen also produces NASclean,a Semiconductor Gas Filter technology used to ﬁltrate highly corrosive
Bulk and Process gases. “Our metalgas ﬁlters are used inside semiconductor production machines,” explains Mr. Shinkai. To match theevolving demands of semiconductor
makers, the company harnessed its
NASLON technology to transform
NASclean products into ultra-precision ﬁltration metal gas ﬁlters.
“The trend in the semiconductor
industry indicates that the current
gas ﬁltering model, which requires
us to ﬁlter out 2.5 nm impurities,
will fall short of expectations. Inthe future, not only will we beasked to develop products thatcan ﬁltrate up to 1.5 nm impurities,
but we will also be asked to supply gas ﬁlters that can withstandhigh corrosive gas and achieve lowpressure loss,” he predicts.
For technology to continue its relentless stride forward, tomorrow’s
manufacturers will be required topush the boundaries of the impossible. But in front of such challenges,
how can success be ensured? “As
the old adage goes: ‘the whole isgreater than the sum of its parts’”
adds Mr. Shinkai. “Japan’s strengthlies in the close-knitted relationshipsthat exist between manufacturersfrom raw materials to end-products. In the future, this collaborative
spirit will remain our guide.”

11 μm

hair