Taking Root

From Synthetic Quartz Crystal Fabrication to Device Manufacturing

Crystal devices employ the inverse piezoelectric effect to generate an oscillation, but controlling the excitation to yield only the necessary oscillation mode within the required specification scope calls for detailed attention to design conditions and fabrication precision. To satisfy various specifications, we repeat the process of design simulation, sample prototyping and evaluation several times. Fabrication of highly precise quartz crystal blanks, device manufacturing, and fast evaluation feedback are therefore critical. The requirements become all the more challenging to satisfy for high-precision products for communications infrastructure (such as base stations) or industrial-grade wireless applications and for increasingly compact modular products. Unlike some of our competitors that externally source fabricated quartz crystal blanks and have to endure long waits before finalizing their designs, our integrated production system at the Kuji Plant enables quartz crystal blanks fabrication that starts the device manufacturing process. Owing to our system, we have led downsizing in the industry, for example with a 1612 size product. Our goal going forward is to popularize our unique products that are being jointly developed. To achieve this goal, we will expand into the high-precision crystal device market by leveraging our repository of crystal fabrication technologies, while we also build a mass-production structure underpinned by Toyama Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (our mother plant) and increase sales. 

Contributing to Regional Revitalization

The plant, situated in Kuji City (population: 37,000), is small by Murata Group standards. Even so, the plant is one of the largest commercial employers in the region in terms of number of people hired and has garnered the region's attention regarding employment. With a high employee retention rate, every year we are honored with the Excellence in Working Youth Award, an award with the purpose of encouraging the revitalization of the region by fostering the local youth and helping them stay in the region. We also have an ongoing international exchange initiative. When the city participated in the project conducted for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) under the supervision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, the Kuji Plant enthusiastically served as the venue for the portion of the program that introduces Japan's advanced industry. The young delegates from the four South Asian nations who visited the plant were clearly impressed with Japan's monozukuri (manufacturing craftsmanship) capability. Environmentally, we have also been recognized as an earth-friendly place of business in Iwate due to our immediate proximity to residential areas. Communication is a priority in our initiative to assure the community of our commitment to the environment. One example is our invitation to all members of the community to visit our factory where we explain our approach to caring for the environment.

Commemorative photo with friends from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

Career Education Support for Children and Educators

With the importance of career education—education to aid the career development of each individual child through the development of the necessary foundation (capabilities and attitudes) for the child to attain social and professional independence—being stressed in recent years, children are now going on tours of places of work. Teachers and instructors are also visiting businesses as part of career education training, observing company training and various business activities, and listening to employees talk about their work values, all in an effort to apply it in their teaching. So it is no surprise that the Kuji Plant fields many requests for a site tour, which we enthusiastically support. Then MURATA BOY and MURATA GIRL traveled to Iwate for the first time to present visiting lectures, a visit that finds its origins in the November 2014 courtesy visit by the mayor of Kuji City to Murata headquarters. Discover your dreams! The thoroughly enjoyable program, which presented stories on development and included demonstrations, inspired the children to have dreams about their future careers and goals to become engineers. Just thinking about how the students reacted to the visiting lecture makes us happy. We, the employees at the Kuji Plant, are happy to help children take the time to think about their future careers. It also brings us joy to contribute in whatever way we can to the community.

Grade school students on tour

Surrounded by the Sea and Mountains―a Town Brimming with Natural Beauty

Kuji City is said to be the northernmost location in the world to boast ama divers (women free-divers). While the men were away for extended periods on the open sea, the women would free-dive to catch sea urchins and abalones to support the livelihood of the family. The area became immediately famous as the location for the NHK serial drama, "Amachan." In the mountains lie fossilized tree resins in the form of amber, a product of the region. When polished, amber gives off a mystical shine and is used as accessories and decoration for pen barrels. However, the method to process amber takes time and negatively impacts the yield since the method requires milling the amber into a powder, thermal compaction to a solid form, and then cooling. So, to create a local specialty product, an industry-academia-government research program has been conducted to improve the productivity of amber powder compaction molding.

In the fall, Kuji City holds a historically rich 600-year old festival, one of the largest in northern Iwate Prefecture. Mikoshis (shoulder-carried shrines) and parade floats grace the festival route as an expression of thanks and prayer to the gods for an abundant harvest and the fortune of being protected from disaster. There are eight handcrafted parade floats that are built over the course of a year. The highlight for many parade watchers, these floats feature karakuri (crafted mechanical) gimmicks that delight the crowd. Bustling crowds from both within and outside the prefecture come to the festival, tripling the city's population.

Kuji amber

Kuji Autumn Festival

2014-15 Murata World Firsts Announced in News Releases