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- Technical Information
- Manufacturing Strong, Lightweight Products to Help People Transcend Social Barriers
Manufacturing Strong,
Lightweight Products to Help People
Transcend Social Barriers
NLM Group Supports
the Japan Wheelchair Rugby Federation
The NLM Group signed an official partner agreement with the Japan Wheelchair Rugby Federation in 2020. This step resulted from our determination to be a company where people are proud to work and to enhance our social contributions. Under the partnership, we promote employee volunteering, offer study sessions on wheelchair rugby, and encourage employees and their families to attend games. One of our initiatives is the development of hand rims for the custom wheelchairs used by wheelchair rugby players.
New Hand Rims Excelling in International Competitions
The hand rim is a metal ring attached to the exterior of the wheels that players use to propel the chair and is essentially the heart of the wheelchair.
Since wheelchair rugby involves intense collisions between players' chairs, the hand rims often become bent and misshapened. Using aluminum, the NLM Group developed lightweight yet highly deformation-resistant hand rims. These first-ever Japan-produced hand rims were provided to the Federation and are contributing to the promotion and popularization of wheelchair rugby.
NLM Group companies* have produced hand rims featuring plates (ribs) inserted into the rim tubing. This increases rim strength while maintaining lightness and successfully suppresses deformation on impact. They have also realized low-cost manufacturing with less material loss by one-piece extrusion-molding of the ribbed tubing and connecting plate (for attachment to the tire).
Rugby chairs equipped with the new hand rims are highly durable and have received praise from players for their ability to withstand full-on collisions during matches, cost, and maneuverability. Used in international competitions since 2021, they are contributing to the success of Japan's national team.
*Nikkei Metal, Nikkeikin ACT, Nippon Light Metal
Recipient of the Japan Aluminium Association Award: Technical Award
Our development of hand rims has garnered recognition from outside the company, and we are proud to announce that we have received the Japan Aluminium Association Award "Technical Award" for the fiscal year 2025 for our "Development of Wheelchair Rugby Hand Rims."
At the award ceremony on May 26, 2026 ▶
(From left to right)
Yoshiya Ota, Nikkei Kamabara Co., Ltd. (now Nikkeikin Aluminium Core Technoligy Co., Ltd.)
Ryo Miikura, Nikkeikin Aluminium Core Technoligy Co., Ltd.
Shuichi Asakuno, President andCEO, Nippon Light Metal Holdings Co., Ltd.
Hayato Sato, Nikkei Metal Co., Ltd.
Takaaki Happoya, Nippon Light Metal Co., Ltd.
Message from the Development Team
The NLM Group has been actively involved in various initiatives related to wheelchair rugby, including cheering, volunteering, and promotional events. We are particularly pleased that we were able to contribute through our core business of manufacturing. In response to the players' concerns--that handrims are prone to breaking yet only foreign-made ones are available--we pooled our resources as the group to take on the challenge of devising solutions, refining our approach, and delivering a product that would truly bring them joy. Moving forward, we intend to continue contributing to our local communities in our own unique way, leveraging the NLMetal Group's strengths and tackling one task at a time.
Hayato Sato, Nikkei Metal Co., Ltd.
We provide an environment where everyone can feel free to give things a try.
In 2021, the NLM Group renovated its gymnasium, Nikkei Arena, located in the Nippon Light Metal Tomakomai Complex, to make it more accessible for parasports athletes. It has now popular as a local base for wheelchair basketball and other parasports.
From making aluminum products leveraging the material's advantages to various other initiatives, the NLM Group is helping to shape a society wherein everyone can thrive and excel.
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