NGK to Establish Powder Production Facility in Ishikawa Plant for Asia Base Response to Increased Demand Towards Ceramics for Purifying Automotive Exhaust

NGK INSULATORS, LTD. (President Taku Oshima; Headquarters: Nagoya, Japan; "NGK") today announced that it has decided to install a new powder production facility that will prepare raw materials at the Ishikawa Plant in Nomi City, Ishikawa Prefecture, which is a production base for ceramics for purifying automotive exhaust. With this facility, NGK will construct a raw materials supply system that can respond to increasing demand focused in Asia.

The powder production facility weighs and mixes powdered raw materials to produce prepared raw materials (powder). Currently, NGK produces powder at the Nagoya Plant and two overseas bases (Belgium and the U.S.), and supplies them to its bases worldwide. NGK has decided to invest about 7 billion yen and construct a powder production facility in the Ishikawa Plant in anticipation of increased demand exceeding its production capacity going forward. NGK also aims to strengthen its supply system to the Asian region centered on China as well as its business continuity planning (BCP) initiatives.

With this investment, NGK will construct an additional building on the site of the Ishikawa Plant, and install powder production equipment with high productivity through automation and labor-saving measures. By doing so, Ishikawa Plant will carry out the integrated processes from accepting raw materials for powder production, to the production and shipment of finished products, while also supplying powder to production sites in Asia.

Demand for ceramics for purifying automotive exhaust is steadily increasing due to an increase in the number of automobiles produced and the tightening of exhaust gas regulations. Particularly in Asia, rapid expansion is expected to be centered around diesel particulate filters (DPFs), which remove particulate matter (PM) from specific special vehicles and trucks for construction machinery in China and India, and gasoline particulate filters (GPFs), which are used in gasoline vehicles in China and fall under the strict China 6 standards for exhaust gas regulation that will go into effect in 2020.

NGK currently produces ceramics for purifying automotive exhaust at 11 production sites in 9 countries around the world^*. In 2019, the second plant is planned to start operations in China: a production site for gasoline particulate filters (GPFs). Looking ahead, NGK will continue to build an efficient and stable production and supply system in order to meet the demand for ceramics for purifying automotive exhaust.