27/06/2023
Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
President: Norio Nakajima
Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter, “Murata Manufacturing”) established its Tokyo Logistics Center in Nagareyama city, Chiba prefecture, in December 2022. Together with the existing Osaka Logistics Center in the Kansai region, the establishment of this new logistics center in the Kanto region means that Murata now has two logistics centers in Japan, which will enable us to ensure the smooth supply of products to customers and stable distribution in the event of a natural disaster or other misfortune.
Background to the establishment of the Tokyo Logistics Center
With 50 production sites worldwide, Murata makes a total of 25,000 shipments a day, and handles 13,000 tons of cargo a month.
In 2011, we opened the Osaka Logistics Center to consolidate the storage of finished products, which had previously been stored at each individual plant, into one warehouse, and undertake shipping operations from this central location. To prevent shipping operations from being disrupted by recent unforeseen circumstances such as natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic, the decision was made as a business continuity measure to establish the Tokyo Logistics Center in Nagareyama, Chiba Prefecture, as a second warehouse in Japan.
The Tokyo Logistics Center is a seismically isolated structure like the Osaka Logistics Center, and in the event of a power outage, shipping operations are able to continue thanks to emergency power provided by a generator installed at the warehouse facility. This way, if one of the logistics centers is affected by a disaster, inventory can be transferred to the unaffected logistics center, or shipments from plants can be diverted to the unaffected warehouse, with the aim of restoring shipments to original capacity within a week. For this reason, 2-base arrangements and systems are becoming commonplace. Furthermore, by using two different airports—Kansai International Airport and Narita International Airport—we can take business continuity measures in the event of an airport disaster.
Features of the Tokyo Logistics Center
① Achieving labor saving through the promotion of digital transformation in logistics
In logistics warehouse operations, there is a lot of work that is dependent on people, but it is predicted that it will become increasingly difficult to secure labor in the future. To address this issue, the Tokyo Logistics Center has implemented robotics and automation. For example, product pallets received from plants are unloaded by a robot called a depalletizer. Then, unloaded products are stored in, and retrieved from, the warehouse by an autonomous case-handling robot (ACR). This not only saves labor, but also ensures quality and safety.
ACR
② Utilization of in-house technology
We utilize Murata’s RFID*1 (MAGICSTRAP) and id-Bridge*2 when inspecting received goods. This means that when received goods are unloaded from the truck by forklift, the receipt process can be completed by simply passing through a gate that reads the attached RFID tags. As id-Bridge is simple to expand, we plan to implement it at overseas logistics bases in the future. Murata Manufacturing not only is involved in selling electronic components, but also we put efforts into utilizing them in our solutions business, and we are starting to offer these solutions outside the Murata group as well.
*1 RFID: Radio-frequency identification is a tool used to wirelessly identify and manage objects via the IC tags attached to them
*2 id-Bridge: Software for RFID systems that improves the efficiency of logistics management operations
An RFID gate (RFID/id-Bridge)
Overview of the Tokyo Logistics Center
| Location: |
Nagareyama city, Chiba prefecture |
Structure and scale:
|
Precast concrete construction (seismically isolated) with a steel section, 4 stories above ground (leasing the 4th floor)
|
Total floor area:
|
155,093.14㎡
|
Building area:
|
39,512.70㎡
|
Start of operation:
|
December 2022
|
Role:
|
Storage and shipment of products mainly produced at Murata plants in the east Japan area
|
(Reference) Overview of the Osaka Logistics Center
| Location: |
Osaka city, Osaka prefecture
|
Structure and scale:
|
Reinforced concrete construction (seismically isolated), 8 stories above ground (leasing the 1st, 3rd, and 4th floors)
|
Total floor area:
|
168,913.43㎡
|
Building area:
|
22,905.02㎡
|
Start of operation:
|
December 2011
|
Role:
|
Storage and shipment of products mainly produced at Murata plants in the west Japan area
|
Related sites
Murata in Brief
Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and sale of ceramic-based passive electronic components & solutions, communication modules and power supply modules. Murata is committed to the development of advanced electronic materials and leading edge, multi-functional, high-density modules. The company has employees and manufacturing facilities throughout the world.
For more information, visit Murata's website