News

– Advancing Development for Application of SustainaCircuits® Technology in Mass Production of Multilayer PCBs –

Sumitronics Corporation (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Motonari Ueki; hereinafter “Sumitronics”) has purchased the first unit of the ELP04 series industrial inkjet printing system, the “ELP04 PILOT 600R” from Elephantech Inc. (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Shinya Shimizu; hereinafter “Elephantech”), which is capable of supporting the manufacturing of general-purpose multilayer printed circuit boards (PCBs).

Elephantech has commercialized SustainaCircuits® (Note 1), an innovative PCB manufacturing technology that leverages inkjet printing to reduce copper usage by up to 70%. Initially, development efforts were limited to relatively niche applications such as single-sided flexible PCBs. However, through continued technological advancement, Elephantech has enabled the development of general-purpose multilayer PCBs—particularly those compatible with rigid substrates and multilayer structures—making it possible to address a large portion of the global PCB market.

Sumitronics will lease the ELP04 PILOT 600R to a major domestic PCB manufacturer and install the system at the manufacturer’s production facility. Through this initiative, Sumitronics, Elephantech, and the PCB manufacturer will jointly promote development aimed at applying SustainaCircuits® technology to mass production processes for multilayer PCBs.
By combining Elephantech’s advanced technology with the manufacturer’s production capabilities under Sumitronics’ business development framework, the three companies will accelerate the social implementation and practical commercialization of next-generation PCB manufacturing technologies that achieve both reduced environmental impact and higher value-added manufacturing, thereby contributing to the realization of sustainable manufacturing.

(Note 1)
SustainaCircuits® is Elephantech’s proprietary low-environmental-impact PCB manufacturing technology. Unlike conventional subtractive processes, it adopts an additive manufacturing approach in which metal is printed only where required. This method significantly reduces environmental impact, including CO2 emissions, while also enabling substantial resource savings and cost reductions—most notably by reducing copper usage by up to 70%, which traditionally represents a major cost component in multilayer PCB manufacturing.
SustainaCircuits®　integrates Elephantech’s inkjet equipment, copper nanoparticle ink and optimized workflow. It replaces the core step in PCB fabrication while keeping subsequent steps unchanged, allowing minimal process disruption and seamless implementation.