Hamamatsu Photonics has constructed a new building for its R&D activities and customer service for electron tubes at its Toyooka plant in Iwata City, Japan. It is called "Building No. 5", has about 18,000 square meters and replaces the previous building of the same name, which is very old, the company reports. Hamamatsu has invested around 59 million euros in the new building, which is scheduled to open in September this year.

The new building will concentrate the design and development activities for electron tubes. Currently, they are spread over several buildings at the site. In addition, the total laboratory space is growing. Among other things, this area conducts research on microfocus X-ray sources, which are used for the non-destructive X-ray inspection of electronic components and printed circuit boards, and supercontinuum light sources, which are used for the measurement of semiconductor microstructures. At the same time, the sales and quality control departments will be merged. In addition, the reception area of the new building will be approximately 1.5 times larger than the current building No. 5.

Tube production will be expanded

By merging currently scattered departments, Hamamatsu will also be able to expand the production area for X-ray sources, photomultiplier tubes for in vitro diagnostics and related products, and the shipping area for electron tube products. This is because merging the departments in the new building will create free space in the existing ones.

Hamamatsu recently built a new production building for opto-semiconductors and X-ray sensors.