Manufacturing Industry
Fluoroware in joint Korea venture
Electronic News, March 3, 1997
Chaska, Minn.--Fluoroware entered into a joint venture, dubbed F.J.V. Korea Ltd., that will target the Korean semiconductor industry. Fluoroware and its joint venture partners, JeIl Chemical Co., Ltd. and Nippon Valqua Industries, will jointly manufacture material handling products in Korea.
To illustrate the soundness of such a venture, Fluoroware noted the analysis of Calvin Chang, analyst at San Jose, Calif.-based market research firm Dataquest: "The wafer fab equipment market in Korea was $3.1 billion in 1995, representing an impressive 84 percent growth in the year. At more than 60 percent of the Asia/Pacific market, Korea is unquestionably the most important market in the region."
Richard LaBute, Fluoroware's VP, Asia/Pacific operations, said the venture is part of Fluoroware's global manufacturing strategy. "To better serve our growing worldwide customer base, we are establishing direct manufacturing capability in key regions worldwide. This serves a dual purpose, namely reducing product leadtimes for our regional customers and boosting manufacturing capacity.
"The increasing prominence of semiconductor manufacturing in Korea warrants direct manufacturing in this region. By entering into a joint venture with these partners, we can leverage JeIl's existing manufacturing capability, as well as our already strong licensing relationship with Valqua."
Currently, Fluoroware manufactures its products for the Korean market in the U.S. and Japan, with sales to Korea accounting for $5-7 million annually the company said. Fluoroware will own 30 percent of the joint venture, with Valqua and JeIl owning 30 percent and 40 percent, respectively.
Fluoroware will manufacture wafer carriers of carbon fiber-filled polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and other materials, as well as additional material handling products for the semiconductor industry, at JeIl's 18,000-square-foot facility in Yongsan, Korea. Valqua will manufacture its PTFE and PFA-lined tanks at the facility.
Fluoroware selected JeIl, a manufacturer of PTFE gaskets and compression molded products for the chemical industry, due to its solid reputation for manufacturing quality products, including Valqua's licensed products. JeIl is also qualified by many of Fluoroware's major Korean customers.
JeIl was established in the 1960s and is 20 percent owned by Valqua. JeIl has annual revenues of approximately $30 million and currently manufactures Valqua's PTFE and PFA-lined tanks for Korean customers.
Valqua, Fluoroware's Japanese licensing partner since 1978, will have primary responsibility for manufacturing in the new Korean joint venture and will have staff on-site at the Korean facility. In August of last year, Fluoroware and Valqua further solidified their relationship by forming a joint venture in Japan to offer the semiconductor and microelectronics industries factory direct sales, marketing, technical support and service of the companies' material handling product lines.
More recently, Fluoroware announced a joint venture with First Engineering Plastic to manufacture products for the semiconductor, data storage and assembly, packaging and test markets in Singapore. European manufacturing is in Germany.
- 5 Rules for Immediate Annuities
- Death in the Family: 12 Things to Do Now
- Dumbest Things You Do With Your Money
- 6 Online Networking Mistakes to Avoid
- 401(k) Mistakes to Avoid
- 5 Economic Scenarios to Keep You Up at Night
- The Real ‘Best Places to Retire’
- Best Credit Cards for You
- 12 Tough Questions to Ask Your Parents
- The Real ‘Best Colleges’
- Home Buyer Tax Credit: How to Cash In
- Why You Shouldn't Bash Cash
- 8 Phony 'Bargains' and Better Alternatives
- Danger: 3 Debit Card Scams to Avoid
- 6 Myths About Gas Mileage
- 29 Fees We Hate Most
- Quick and Easy Ways to Boost Returns
- Best Stocks to Buy Now
- Lower Your Taxes: 10 Moves to Make Now
- New Jobs: 8 Lessons from Real-Life Career Switchers
- The New Job Market: Who Wins and Who Loses?
- Health Care Reform's Public Option: Everything You Need to Know
- Volunteer Work When Unemployed: Should You Work for Free?
- Whose Recovery Is This?
- Long-Term-Care Insurance: 4 Biggest Risks to Avoid
Content provided in partnership with
Most Recent Business Articles
- Multiple criteria evaluation and optimization of transportation systems
- Multi-criteria analysis procedure for sustainable mobility evaluation in urban areas
- A two-leveled multi-objective symbiotic evolutionary algorithm for the hub and spoke location problem
- Multi-criteria analysis for evaluating the impacts of intelligent speed adaptation
- The development of Taiwan arterial traffic-adaptive signal control system and its field test: a Taiwan experience
Most Recent Business Publications
Most Popular Business Articles
- 7 tips for effective listening: productive listening does not occur naturally. It requires hard work and practice - Back To Basics - effective listening is a crucial skill for internal auditors
- LIFO vs. FIFO: a return to the basics
- FAS 109: a primer for non-accountants - Financial Accounting Standards Board's "Statement 109: Accounting for Income Taxes"
- Too Young to Rent a Car? - 25-years-old the minimum age for car renting - Brief Article
- Design a commission plan that drives sales - Sales Commissions



