NGK to set up ceramic products plant in Thailand to cater to Asian markets

Earlier this month, NGK Insulators of Japan announced that it has decided to establish a new production base in Thailand to manufacture ceramic products for purifying automotive exhaust. The base will be built to expand and enhance NGK's global production system and ensure the stable supply of the ceramic products in response to growing demand in the emerging markets of Asia over the medium to long term.

Demand for ceramic products used in exhaust gas purification is expected to grow in Southeast Asia, India and the other emerging markets of Asia in step with an increase in automobile production and the tightening of exhaust gas regulations.

NGK is currently producing Honeyceram and large-size Honeyceram exhaust gas catalytic converter substrates at a manufacturing subsidiary in Indonesia. Honeyceram is used as a ceramic catalyst substrate for a catalyst that purifies harmful substances, such as hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxide (NOx), in automobile exhaust gas.

Made of cordierite, large-size Honeyceram is used as a catalyst substrate for an oxidation catalyst that removes particulate matter, and for a selective catalytic reduction catalyst that removes nitrogen oxides in the exhaust gas from diesel engines of large commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses.

The new production base in Thailand will be established to expand and enhance NGK's global production system and ensure stable supply of the ceramic products to the emerging markets of Asia, where demand is expected to grow over the medium to long term.

NGK plans to produce two types of diesel particulate filter (DPF) made from cordierite and silicon carbide (SiC), in addition to Honeyceram and large-size Honeyceram substrates, at NGK Ceramics (Thailand), the new manufacturing subsidiary established in Thailand. Plans call for starting the production of Honeyceram from April 2018 and conducting capital expenditure in stages to successively expand the items produced. Total capital expenditure is projected to reach approximately 50.0 billion yen by 2020.

NGK is currently manufacturing ceramic products used in automotive exhaust gas purification at 9 production bases in 8 countries (Japan, Belgium, the U.S., Indonesia, South Africa, China, Poland, Mexico). A second plant under construction at a manufacturing subsidiary in Poland is scheduled to be completed in 2017, and the plant in Thailand will become NGK's 11th production base in a 9th country.