Located Companies

Fujibo Holdings Co., Ltd. established its foundation as a leading company in the domestic spinning industry during the Meiji period and has deep ties to Oita Prefecture. The company has grown in many different areas while adapting flexibly to changing times, and currently operates in four business areas: abrasives, chemical industrial products, lifestyle clothing, and chemical products. We spoke with Oita Factory Manager Takashi Onozawa about how Fujibo Ehime Co., Ltd., which manufactures abrasives essential to the semiconductor industry, came to establish a presence at Oaza Wharf in Oita City.

Please tell us about the business your company is involved in.

Fujibo Ehime manufactures and sells abrasives for ultra-precision processing and functional nonwoven fabrics. The company is responsible for the "abrasives business," one of the four pillar businesses of Fujibo Holdings Co., Ltd., and has its head office and factory in Mibugawa, Saijo, Ehime Prefecture, as well as its Oyama factory in Shizuoka Prefecture, the birthplace of Fujibo, its Kozakai factory in Aichi Prefecture, and its Tainan factory in Taiwan overseas. The Oita factory began operations in October 2020 as the company's fourth domestic base.

Where are the products made at each factory used?

How did you decide to expand into Oita?

First of all, our clients were increasingly demanding BCP measures for the head office factory. The semiconductor industry is actively promoting BCP to eliminate supply instability due to geopolitical risks and increasing natural disasters, and we urgently needed to establish a new base so that our clients could purchase our products with peace of mind. In addition, as demand for semiconductors is increasing, our clients are planning to build and expand new factories, and we were required to increase our supply capacity to meet the increasing number of orders. Therefore, we quickly began to narrow down the candidate sites from every angle, looking at the status of land that each local government was attracting, subsidy systems for corporate locations, hazard map information, the degree of risk of earthquakes and tsunamis, the distance from the head office factory, transportation systems, and the availability of industrial water required by semiconductor-related companies. After repeated site visits, we decided to expand into Oita.

Please tell us your impressions after actually entering the company.

Are there any other benefits you feel other than the location?

Kyushu has been a thriving semiconductor industry area for a long time, so much so that it has been nicknamed "Silicon Island." With the expansion of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC) into Kumamoto, semiconductor-related companies have been making large investments one after another, and we have high hopes for the expansion of our abrasives business. We have also joined the "Oita Prefecture LSI Cluster Formation Promotion Council," which is organized by industry-related companies in Oita Prefecture, and we hope to contribute to creating regional vitality through active collaboration and competition in the future. In addition to the semiconductor industry, major companies in the steel, petroleum, chemical, electrical, automotive, and shipbuilding industries have also expanded into the prefecture. There is also a monthly meeting held for center managers of companies in the eastern part of Oita City, which provides a place for active information exchange.

What about employment?

As of 2024, the Oita Factory will have 49 employees, and we continue to recruit from local high schools, technical colleges, and universities, as well as from all over Kyushu. Everyone is very capable, polite, and serious, and not a single employee has quit since the Oita Factory started. I think that the salary and benefits are comparable to other local companies, and it seems that many students apply because they see a bright future in working in the cutting-edge semiconductor industry. However, since about 50% of the employees are under 30 years old, we would like to increase the number of middle-aged employees, including mid-career hires who have returned to their hometowns or moved to other areas, and use this to strengthen management. The current work system is a two-shift system, but we are planning to eventually operate 24 hours a day with three shifts to deal with busy times. Of the 49 employees, nine are women, and they are assigned to the inspection process, quality assurance department, and general affairs and accounting department during the day. We are grateful for the support we receive from Oita Prefecture in terms of recruitment.

Please let us know if you have any future plans.

While ensuring that the head office factory in Ehime Prefecture functions as a BCP factory, we plan to gradually expand the factory's size while utilizing the approximately 8 hectare site. In addition to existing clients, we are also shipping samples for CMP (chemical mechanical polishing) applications with the aim of developing new customers, and are working to expand our business in the future. We hope that our expansion into Oita will contribute to the revitalization of the local economy and the expansion of employment.