Topics & News Release

Toyo Advanced Technologies Co., Ltd., (head office: Minami-ku, Hiroshima, Japan; President: Yasuto Tatsuta; hereafter referred to as "Toyo") has licensed its unique "Inspiring-TiC" coating technology for dramatically extending the life of press dies, and will be deploying this service domestically within China. A new company has already been established in China to act as the licensee. A plant and its equipment were completed in January of this year, and the facility recently began full-scale coating operations.

A company called Orient Trading Co., Ltd. (head office: Kita-ku, Osaka; President: GUO YUE YUE; hereafter referred to as "Orient Trading") was licensed by Toyo to use the technology. The Tianjin Orient Metalworking Surface Coating Co., Ltd., (President: GUO YUE YUE; hereafter referred to as "Orient Metalworking") was established in Tianjin, China as a new company to perform the actual coating, and the company has installed a large PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) furnace made by Toyo and adopted Inspiring-TiC and other PVD treatment technology. Using this new plant, Orient Trading will develop coating as a new business in China, and expand sales of Inspiring-TiC in China.

The equipment installed by Orient Metalworking is a PVD furnace developed by Toyo for Inspiring-TiC. This furnace is based on a compact PVD furnace developed in June 2008, which was scaled up in size to increase treatment capacity. Specifications are the same as the furnace installed at Toyo's Tokyo Plant. This furnace can also be used as a nitriding unit for performing surface hardening as pretreatment for PVD, and thus this single unit can be used for treatment ranging from nitriding to Inspiring-TiC and other PVD treatment. For the time being, Orient Metalworking will start coating with a single PVD furnace and incidental equipment, and they will consider increasing their equipment when the business gets going.

In China, there has been remarkable growth in the automobile industry and a corresponding increase in the production and usage of dies. However, there are still few companies engaged in the coating business, and dies with demanding processing conditions are generally coated in Japan and other countries. In any case, as production of automobiles rises, there will be an increasing need to perform recoating of the dies currently in use, and the coating business inside China is expected to grow in the future. Inspiring-TiC is a coating positioned as a strategic product for expanding sales of Toyo's PVD. Since Inspiring-TiC was launched in April 2007, it has been well-received by the market due to its dimensional stability and exceptionally hard wearing performance, and there has been steady growth in demand. This technology license will enable recoating with Inspiring-TiC inside China, and Toyo expects it will lead not only to increased sales in the Chinese domestic market, but also increased sales of dies for export to China.

◆Overview of Orient Trading Co., Ltd.

Location	:Nishi-Temma, Kita-ku, Osaka
Established	:January, 1990
Capital	:¥50 million
Business description	:Trade with China

◆Overview of Tianjin Orient Metalworking Surface Coating Co., Ltd.

Location	:Tiedong Rd., Beichen District, Tianjin, Hebei Province, China
Established	:December, 2007
Capital	:$2.5 million
Number of employees	:9
Business description	:Development and sale of coating treatments and related products

◆Description of large PVD furnace

Model	:Toyo TF-778 (arc ion plating)
Coating types	:Inspiring-TiC, TiN, TiCN and Nitriding
Maximum treatment dimensions	:φ700 mm (diameter) x 700 mm (height)