January 30, 2007 — Simpson Technologies Corp. reports it has entered into a licensing agreement with Japan's Sntokogio Ltd. which will be the basis for Sintokogio to begin manufacturing "certain important models" of the Speedmullor system.
The Speedmullor is a high-speed batch muller designed by Simpson's Beardsley & Piper unit. Production of Speedmullors in Japan is expected to begin this year.
The new agreement expands a cooperative effort between the two companies dating to 1960. That agreement has been amended and extended several times over the decades, resulting in much commercial success and the sale of "many thousands" of Simpson machines built by Sintokogio for sale in Asia.
Simpson states that the new agreement is a response to Japanese foundries' demand for systems capable of supporting high-volume molding lines. "Simpson Technologies and Sintokogio Ltd. have agreed to extend their partnership and cooperation to provide a sand-preparation plant capable to produce larger volumes of high-quality molding sand from a high-speed, batch muller-based solution," the company announced. In most cases, these systems will be supplied with Hartley automation and on-line control systems, also from Simpson.
Recently, the Simpson/Sinto partnershio has supplied the Speedmullor/Hartley technology package, including model 100B Speedmullors and Hartley controllers, to the Aisin Takaoka foundry in Toyoda City, Kitagawa Iron Works Co. Ltd., and Sakabe Industry Co. Ltd.