EJOT (Germany) celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. EJOT Japan (Saitama Prefecture) in Japan proposes unique and advanced fastening technologies mainly for the automotive industry under the theme of "joining dissimilar materials and weight reduction.

EJOT, a major German fastener manufacturer, was founded in 1922 with the manufacture of nails. The company is expanding globally with offices in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. The group has a total of 3,900 employees, and sales in 2021 were 620 million euros. This year, the 100th anniversary of the company, commemorative events are being held mainly at the head office.

EJOT Japan, established in 2016, is responsible for the global development of Japanese customers. Targeting complete vehicle manufacturers and Tier 1 and Tier 2 users, the company has set a clear goal for the current fiscal year: to propose fastening technologies for "joining dissimilar materials and weight reduction. The company has an in-house development lab, which serves as a technical center capable of providing test results according to customer specifications.

The company is proposing the FDS to the automotive industry as a technology that contributes to joining dissimilar materials and weight reduction, which is a one-sided construction fastening using the self-forming method on thin sheets, and the EJOWELD, which achieves dissimilar material joining by friction element welding.

FDS is EJOT's world-first plastic forming of aluminum-aluminum or aluminum-iron sheet assembly, which enables high-strength screw FDS is the world's first high-strength screw fastening system. It can be joined from one side, and can be firmly fastened without pre-drilling or punching. No chips are generated during the pre-hole and female thread forming process.

EJOWELD is a technology for joining dissimilar materials, mainly aluminum and steel, by rotating friction of rivet-shaped parts called elements. The friction causes plastic deformation of the element. Friction induces plastic deformation of the element, which is then joined to the ultra-high strength steel of the lower plate. EJOT Japan can perform tests using the joining machine.

The company sees the shift to EVs in the automotive industry as an opportunity to expand sales of these fastening technologies, and is aiming for full-scale adoption in battery cases and other components.