Advance Riken, Inc. (President: Yasuhiko Tsuji) is now enjoying good export business in the small-sized nitrogen PSA and expects shipments of 50 units this year which is more than double than last year. The destinations of the export are mainly China and Taiwan, where most of the products are delivered to universities or the research institutes of private industries. The actual sales activities in the business are carried out locally by Tung Ju Electric of Taiwanese machinery trading company who represents Advance Riken under the agency agreement.

In the Chinese and Taiwanese markets, most competitive two products are “High Performance THP Series” and “Micro Mini Series”. The THP Series is a nitrogen PSA which employs a built-in oil-free mini compressor made in Japan, having the feature that the function is simply controlled by microcomputer maintaining the same performance as that of the up-graded type. The Micro Mini Series, on the other hand, is an ultra-small PSA of desk-top type in nearly square shape, and having a target at the supply of carrier gas (N2 or O2) used for liquid/gas chromatography. It has a built-in type air pump made in Japan like THP, enabling to generate nitrogen just with a power source available, and is characteristic in its low noise, less consumption of electricity and longer life expectancy.

According to President Tsuji, although there are competitive manufacturers of small-sized analytical PSA working in the Chinese market like British Peak Industrial and American Parker, higher evaluation is now gathering on the Japanese products with respect to their low-noise, longer durability and higher discharge pressure. Tung Ju Electric, therefore, is now trying to get more orders, appealing to the fore “Made in Japan”. Under these circumstances, Advance Riken started OEM production for Tung Ju Electric from this year. In this contract, shipments will be made in 10-unit lots so that Tung Ju Electric can quickly respond to customers’ requirements. President Tsuji said enthusiastically, “This year our export will account for 15% of our sales amount. We would like to attain a constant export business with a target of 100 units per year at an