The key of components lies in know-how. Japanese enterprises need good materials and technology for components, and the key lies in the accumulation of know-how
Capacitors, resistors, inductors and other components in principle is not difficult, difficult is the manufacturing process of excellence, need a long time to Know How to accumulate to produce good quality products.Generally speaking, such know-how accumulation is reflected in the three links of materials, equipment and technology.
Good materials make good products.'Good electronic products need good components to support, and good components need good materials to support,' this is Japan murata decades of insistence.Materials are the basis for manufacturing products with good performance. The fineness, uniformity and agglomeration characteristics of materials will affect the size and performance of products, so only good materials can produce good products.
Taking MLCC as an example, ceramic 'formula powder' is made of barium titanate base powder and modification additive.
First of all, barium titanate base powder is very important for the performance of MLCC, and its manufacturing needs to meet the requirements of extremely high fineness and uniformity.In all kinds of preparation methods, hydrothermal method in material particles quality control and stability, market competitiveness than other aspects such as preparation method has the advantage of specific performance in: uniform chemical composition, particle morphology neat, adjustable particle size from tens of nanometers to several microns, stable size uniform, the nature of the product, and is now recognized as to meet the requirements of MLCC development of barium titanate powder preparation method.At present, only murata and sakai chemical in Japan can use hydrothermal method to produce MLCC barium titanate powder on a large scale, murata for their own use, sakai chemical for export.
Hydrothermal method in the Know - How is that: 1) in the hydrothermal system of factors influencing the properties of batio3 is more, the barium titanate phase structure and the property of particles are extremely complex, is usually a kind of properties of barium titanate is affected by multiple factors and process parameters, and a factor or parameter and influence a variety of properties at the same time, they are related to each other, even incompatible, which controls the nature of the barium titanate particles is very complex and difficult;2) aqueous solutions, especially alkaline solutions, are highly corrosive under high temperature and pressure. Meanwhile, the properties of barium titanate particles are very sensitive to the uniformity of reaction temperature and solution state. Hydrothermal reaction equipment should not only meet the requirements of uniform reaction solution temperature and state, but also be resistant to corrosion and wear.
Secondly, modification additives are also important for the performance of MLCC. Modification additives mainly include rare earth elements, such as yttrium, holmium, dysprosium, etc., to ensure the insulation of formula powder.Another part of additives, such as magnesium, manganese, vanadium, chromium, molybdenum, tungsten, mainly to ensure the temperature stability and reliability of the formula powder.
These additives must form a uniform distribution with barium titanate powder to control the microstructure and electrical characteristics of dielectric ceramics during sintering.
Equipment needs to be customized.Since different manufacturers have different understandings of materials and processes, but equipment manufacturers' equipment is indeed standardized products, which requires each component manufacturer to carry out their own transformation of equipment.
Take MLCC for example, the most critical equipment in the MLCC production process is the flow delay machine.The specific technological process of casting molding is to mix ceramic powder with various additives (binder, plasticizer, dispersant, etc.) in solvent to form uniform and stable charge.During molding, the material flows from the material groove to the baseband, and the wet belt is formed through the relative movement of the scraper and baseband. The thickness is controlled by the distance between the scraper and baseband.For dry wet membrane together with the baseband into room, in the process of solvent evaporation, have a certain strength and flexibility of the pill through the role of the film forming binder will ceramic particles bonded together and form, dry element piece together with the baseband or pulled away from baseband scroll to stay with, then according to the required shape punch, cutting, plate or the final sintering to obtain the finished product.
MLCC manufacturers will generally be based on their own Know-How, to improve the flow delay machine, in order to get better results.In the extruder part, the manufacturer will modify the device to adjust the pressure of the extruder more accurately and get thinner media.In the scraper link, the use of air knife instead of mechanical tool, can achieve better uniformity, but the position of the air knife, wind speed and vacuum degree also need to be accurately controlled, too small air volume will make the thickness too large, the Angle is not correct will make the film surface bubbles;The cooling links on the flow roller will affect the uniformity of the film, so the flow roller and the cooling roller are designed as jacket type. The cross flow of cooling water reduces the temperature difference on the surface of the roller and ensures the uniform cooling of the plastic film.
Excellence in craftsmanship comes from the accumulation of know-hows.After the use of good materials and customized equipment, there is still a need to try and accumulate in the specific process, in order to get a better process.
Take MLCC as an example, in the multi-layer co-firing process, the product after rubber discharge is put into the high-temperature sintering furnace, and the curve is set for higher temperature sintering, so that the green body is burned into porcelain, forming porcelain body with certain strength and hardness.In this process, it is inevitable to solve the problem of how ceramic medium and inner electrode metal with different shrinkage rate will not be layered and cracked after high temperature firing, that is, ceramic powder and metal electrode co-firing.Co-firing technology is the key technology to solve this problem. Good co-firing technology can produce MLCC with thinner media (less than 2 microns) and higher layers (more than 1000 layers).At present, Japanese company leads other countries in MLCC special sintering equipment technology, not only has all kinds of nitrogen atmosphere kiln (bell jar furnace and tunnel furnace), but also has obvious advantages in equipment automation and precision.
The excellence of Japanese companies fits well with the key capabilities needed by the components industry
Japanese people naturally pursue perfection, preciseness, persistence and perfection, and this craftsman spirit is respected in Japanese society.
The craftsman spirit of Japanese companies ensures that their products are highly competitive and thus have a long corporate life.According to the statistics of the research institute of commerce and industry in Tokyo, by 2016, there are 33,069 old shops and enterprises with a history of more than 100 years in Japan, and 7 enterprises with a history of more than 1,000 years. The oldest enterprise in the world is the 'king kong group' in the wood construction industry, which has a history of 1439 years.Japan has 3,146 companies with a life span of more than 200 years, the largest in the world, followed by Germany with 837, the Netherlands with 222 and France with 196.
As we have analyzed before, the difficulties in the component industry lie in the three links of materials, equipment and technology. It takes a long time to accumulate know-how to break through these three links.The craftsman spirit of Japanese companies fits this characteristic.
In the material link, it is difficult to determine the production process, formula and performance of the material in advance, so it is necessary to constantly try and improve in the actual production link. This process takes a long time to accumulate, and it also requires continuous improvement of the state of mind, so as to make continuous progress in the performance of the material.
In the equipment link, the standardized equipment does not meet the personalized needs of enterprises, so enterprises need to transform the equipment according to their own understanding of materials and processes.The plan of equipment transformation can not be determined in advance, which requires workers to make continuous improvement in the process of trying, which requires a long time and an excelsior mentality.
In the process, a large number of manufacturing methods and precision control can not be obtained through theoretical planning in advance, but can only be constantly tried to improve in the practical application process and achieve better results through gradual progress.
In general, materials, equipment and technology, the three most critical links, need a lot of trial and improvement, need to continue to explore, such characteristics just in line with the Japanese enterprises generally have the spirit of excellence craftsman.
◆ murata: focus on core technology components of diversified components, manufacturing top small
Murata is mainly engaged in the research, development, production and sales of electronic components based on functional ceramics. The product line can be divided into five categories: components business including capacitors, piezoelectric devices and other components, and module business including communication modules, batteries and other modules.From the research and development of materials to the processing technology, murata always adheres to the craftsman spirit of keeping improving, and constantly makes every item of the technological process such as the preceding technology, product design technology and analysis technology better, which is also the gene of murata's success.
In the 2018 fiscal year, muramura's operating revenue reached 1371.84 billion yen, up 20.81% year-on-year, operating profit was 162.15 billion yen, and net profit was 146.09 billion yen. The key growth points are the demand driven by automobile electronization and smartphone upgrading, as well as the company's acquisition of secondary lithium battery business.Tian's components business accounted for 67.6 percent of the company's revenue, of which capacitors accounted for 32.9 percent, making them a key advantage for the company.
Kyocera: the king of electronic ceramics, creating a country of ceramic products
Kyocera, with ceramic technology as its core, continues to spread into semiconductor, electronics, solar energy and other fields, becoming the 'king of electronic ceramics'.At present, kyocera has formed six sub-businesses including automobile and other industrial parts, semiconductor parts, electronic equipment, information communication, office document solutions, life and environmental protection.Under the leadership of kazuo inamori, 'the sage of management', kyocera practices the principle of ameba management, adheres to technological innovation and market innovation, and gradually builds up a country of ceramic products.
From the perspective of product structure, kyocera's components (including industrial components such as automobiles, semiconductor components and electronic components) accounted for 53.9% of the revenue and 71% of the operating profit, which was the main source of profit contribution.To the components business, kyocera's related products mainly include capacitors, SAW components, crystal components, power components, connectors and so on.In fiscal year 2018, kyocera's component business revenue was 305.145 billion yen (about 18.5 billion yuan), up 26.7% year-on-year, and operating profit was 47.285 billion yen (about 2.9 billion yuan), up 54.7% year-on-year, which was the fastest growing business of the company.
◆TDK: the world's leading manufacturer of magnetic technology electronic components
TDK is a Japanese company specializing in magnetic materials. Its product group mainly covers four categories: passive components, sensor application products, magnetic application products and thin film application products.In the long-term development process, TDK has gradually established five major technical cores, including material technology, processing technology, evaluation & simulation technology, product design technology and production technology. Through these technical cores, TDK has built a huge layout covering 15 major businesses and become the world's leading manufacturer of magnetic technology electronic components.
In the 2018 fiscal year, TDK's operating revenue was 1.27 trillion yen, with a year-on-year growth of 7.93% and a net profit of 63.5 billion yen.From the perspective of product structure, the revenue of passive components accounted for 34.4%, the largest proportion, focusing on capacitor products in the field of automotive and industrial control;Thin film application products accounted for the next largest proportion, about 29.2%, and the business grew rapidly, with a year-on-year growth of 49.8%.Magnetic application products accounted for 26.2%. Driven by the increasing demand for industrial equipment, magnet and power products performed well.Sensor application products accounted for the smallest but fastest growth, accounting for only 6.1%, with 80.9% year-on-year growth, mainly due to acquisition of InvenSense. In the future, TDK will actively develop customers in new areas such as IoT.