Toyoda Gosei Decides Investment in Slab, a 3D Printer Venture Company
July 29, 2019
Kiyosu, Japan, July 29, 2019: Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. has decided to invest1 in Slab Inc. (Kyoto, Japan), a venture company that develops and manufactures plastic 3D printers for faster speed in product development and greater efficiency in low-volume, high-mix manufacturing.
Today, the automotive industry is going through a time of accelerated change, with intensified competition in the development of new CASE2 technologies. This demands technical innovations in development and production that are not bound by existing frameworks. Plastic 3D printers have begun to be used for this, but applications have been limited due to restrictions in product quality and forming time.
With this investment by Toyoda Gosei, the two companies will work together to raise the precision and speed of plastic 3D printers. This will both speed up product development and advance the development of flexible production technology for the efficient manufacturing of low-volume, high-mix products.
1 The investment amount is 45 million yen, giving Toyoda Gosei a stake in the company of 6.3%.
2 Connected, Autonomous, Shared, Electric. This acronym expresses a key technical trend in the automotive industry in the current age of dramatic change.
Outline of Slab
| 1. Name | Slab, Inc. |
| 2. Location | 74 Takeda Matsubayashicho, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto, Japan |
| 3. Representative | Seiichi Yuyama,President |
| 4. Founded | October 18, 2005 |
| 5. Capital | 34.75 million yen |
