LCD plant for China

LCD manufacturer Varitronix has announced a €19m (US$25m) investment in a new LCD design and manufacturing facility in Heyuan, Guangdong, (PRC). The new, four-floor 31,200m² plant will support design and development, display cell production and LCD module assembly. Two automated production lines employing new Japanese made manufacturing equipment will start production in the spring of 2013. The new factory will provide Varitronix with a 40% increase in production capacity.

The development and construction of the new fabrication facility has been driven by growth in Varitronix's global business across automotive and industrial markets, and the need to reduce product lead-times. Varitronix develops and supplies small to medium size displays (2.5" to 10.4" in TFT and a wide range of passive displays) and is also in the enviable position of having the latest PCap (projected capacitive) touch-screen and optical bonding manufacturing facilities available in-house.

Mike Burke, General Manager TFT division, Varitronix said, "Varitronix currently enjoys strong automotive business in Europe and is keen to migrate the technology and manufacturing skills into the wider and more diverse industrial market. Our challenge and goal for 2013 is to build on our experience servicing the automotive market and provide the same service to new industrial customers who want a high quality product which will be available for five years or more.”

"We do not want to support aggressive, low quality consumer business where displays are often produced in very high volumes for a short period of time and then discontinued. Automotive and industrial markets provide viable, long term business and stable revenue streams. We are keen to develop strategic partnerships and relationships with suppliers and customers, and offer a reliable, long term display solution."

Varitronix supports an expanding range of standard TFT displays derived, predominantly, from its automotive display product portfolio. The latest display technology including FFS (fringe field switching) and MVA (multi-domain vertical alignment) is employed on a number of TFT display modules. New industrial TFT displays feature very high brightness white LED backlights, wide viewing angles and a -30°C to +80°C operating temperature range. Quality is assured with testing procedures that meet full automotive specifications.

One of Varitronix's established strengths is its Passive TN (twisted nematic) display technology. The market for passive display technology is still strong and remains the dominant technology for monochrome display applications. Passive displays are easily driven and provide very cost effective display solutions for use in clocks, meters, timers, white goods and automotive instruments. Varitronix has refined and developed passive display technology to provide positive and negative display modes, contrast ratios of >1000:1, very wide storage and operating temperatures, extremely low backlight bleed-through and the ability to use any colour backlight to provide bright, coloured characters on a black background.