Japan makes Southeast Asia its manufacturing hub

Located in the industrial estate in Rayong Province, about 120 kilometers south of Bangkok, Thai KOBELCO Construction Machinery has been producing hydraulic excavators in Thailand since 2008.

The company manufactures KOBELCO Acera Geospec series of hydraulic excavators.

SK200 is a representative model of mid-size machines which have found popular application in Southeast Asia.

Kazunori Yamashita, Managing Director, Thai KOBELCO Construction Machinery Ltd, said, "In Thailand, we are producing KOBELCO hydraulic excavators utilizing our epoch-making technology, with highly regarded for economic efficiency."

The demand for hydraulic excavators is increasing remarkably in Asia, along with the substantial growth of the region.

Thai KOBELCO Construction Machinery was formed in February 1996 to manufacture and market the KOBELCO brand of construction machines in Thailand - the largest market in Southeast Asia for excavators.

KOBELCO excavators are now exported to the Southeast Asia market. These versatile construction machines are actively used for a wide range of construction, logging and, agriculture jobs, contributing to build the infrastructures and business, close to the citizens.

Yamashita further said, "Our KOBELCO brand delivers customers great satisfaction which comes from the high quality and performance. This quality has achieved by our Thai staff utilizing their skills for machinery works, earned by eagerly learning Japanese techniques."

Pipat Kongtek, an instruction supervisor, MFG Pluakdaeng Factory, Thai KOBELCO Construction Machinery Ltd., said, "I received welding skill training for four months at our parent company KOBELCO mother factory in Hiroshima. I'm authorized as an instructor by KOBELCO. Now, I give our employee welding skill as an instructor to produce high quality excavator for our customers, providing under the slogan of "Made by KOBELCO".

The growing use of energy around the world causes various impacts on climate.

However, Kyocera Corporation's Kagoshima Kokubu Plant has been carrying out various measures to address climate change and received the Environment Minister's Award in Japan last year, making it the fifth consecutive year for the company to be recognized by this annual award.

Takeshi Okabe, Manager, Environment and Safety Division at Kyocera's Kagoshima Kokubu Plant, said, "This is the equipment to incinerate confidential documents. It utilizes the heat caused from the incineration process to dry sludge generated from wastewater treatment."

By utilizing this equipment, the weight of the sludge can be reduced to less than a third, simultaneously cutting costs for sludge treatment at the plant.

Okabe further said, "We raise fireflies within industrial wastewater generated at the plant. At Kyocera Corporation, we have been operating our plants based on the idea of purifying discharged water to a state cleaner than the natural water system into which it is to be released. As a result of these efforts, we have been able to keep our wastewater very clean, and thus are able to foster fireflies within the wastewater - it is believed that fireflies can only live in fresh water."

During the years of rapid economic growth in the past, Japan experienced environmental pollution issues caused by wastewater from manufacturing plants.

With these experiences ingrained, there is a strong association between water pollution and people's health and living environments in the country.