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Tunneling Machine Help Cut Sewage Spills During

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 18:57:32 +0900

It will eventually stretch longer than a football field and, when finished, will have burrowed through four miles of clay beneath the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, leaving behind a tunnel so big it could hold two tractor-trailers stacked on top of each other.The enormous tunnel-boring machine, nicknamed “Lady Bird,” made its debut Tuesday at the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant, where DC Water officials heralded it as part of a plan to significantly reduce the amount of raw sewage that flows into local rivers and basements during rainstorms.The four-mile tunnel will start beneath the Potomac at the treatment plant just north of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and then dig beneath the Anacostia, ending near Nationals Park. It will become part of a 12.8-mile tunnel, scheduled for completion in 2022, that will serve as an enormous holding tank during rainstorms.

The rain-sewage mixture that now overwhelms older sewer pipes and overflows into waterways and basements will instead be held in the big tunnel. Once the storm subsides, the rain-sewage mixture will flow downhill to the treatment plant.“We’ll capture all of it,” said George S. Hawkins, DC Water’s general manager. “This is the most significant improvement in water quality in the Anacostia, Potomac and Rock Creek in a generation.”DC Water officials say it will be the largest tunneling effort in the District since the Metrorail system was built. The work is part of DC Water’s $2.6 billion “Clean Rivers Project” to cut sewer overflows by about 96 percent by 2025.The problem stems from the fact that, as in some other older cities, one-third of the District’s sewer pipes also carry rainwater runoff.

(In the rest of the city, stormwater is carried away in pipes separate from the sewer system.)The District must reduce the sewer overflows as part of a 2005 consent decree related to a federal environmental lawsuit. The rain-sewage mixture also contains animal feces, oil, pesticides and other pollutants that run off lawns and roads, DC Water officials said.The first four-mile section is scheduled to operate in 2018. DC Water officials said the entire 12.8-mile tunnel will extend from the treatment plant to Sixth and R streets NW. They said it will provide permanent relief for neighborhoods such as Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park, where raw sewage has flooded into basements for decades.The gee-whiz enormity of the project wasn’t lost on the dignitaries and hard-hatted utility crews who attended the tunnel-boring machine’s unveiling.Standing in front of the circular “cutter head” spanning 26 feet in diameter, Mayor Vincent C. Gray told the crowd: “When you’re talking about a piece of equipment that’s longer than a football field, it’s just hard to fathom something of that magnitude. . . . It’s just an unbelievable engineering feat.”The tunnel-boring machine was named after Lady Bird Johnson as a tribute to her environmental activism. But the machine also has a notably modern flair.

Smart Machine Technology Growing Bigger Farms

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:52:05 +0900

Nowadays,highly advanced machine tech is growing bigger farms. Users are mostly beneficial from it.
Below info is mainly cited from Dr.Terry Kastens.

Dr. Terry Kastens is an Emeritus Professor from Kansas State University. He’s back to farming now and spoke during a Learning Center Session at Commodity Classic sponsored by John Deere. The session topic was “Better Data, Better Decisions: the ROI of Smart Machine Technology.

One of the first points Dr. Karstens makes is that every new technology requires an investment. That provides an opportunity for larger farms who can spread their investment out over more acres, or units of production. It’s the age old economy of scale thing.

So, for this reason you would expect larger farms to adopt new technology quicker than smaller farms. That is in fact the case and he says that we can expect to see more consolidation in row crop farms analogous to what we’ve seen in the livestock industry.

Another point made in the presentation was that some technologies are adopted at a rapid rate and others at a much slower rate. In the precision ag sector an example of quick adoption is the use of yield monitors. But he says that making sense out of yield monitor data and actually varying rates of fertilizer as one example are being adopted much slower.

Concern after washing machine explosion

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 18:32:49 +0900

A Northampton mother suffered a massive shock when her washing machine exploded with a loud bang in her kitchen.

Anne-Marie Lake, aged 43, of Hardingstone, was washing clothes in her Hotpoint machine last Thursday evening, when the explosion happened.

Mrs Lake, who lives with her husband, Malcolm, and their eight-year-old daughter, Kelly-Marie, said she was in another room when she heard a loud bang from the kitchen.

She said: “It sounded like a massive explosion. It was like a bomb going off.

“My mum was stood next to the washing machine at the time, but luckily she wasn’t hurt.”

Mrs Lake said the explosion broke the seal on the drum of the washing machine and cracked its casing.

She said debris from the explosion flew around her kitchen and broke crockery on a worktop.

She said: “It was so dangerous. The explosion reached the worktops and broke cups, my breadbin and plates.

“At first we didn’t know what had happened because all the lights went off aswell.

“It was only when we got the power supply back on that we saw it was the washing machine.”

Mrs Lake, who said her clothes were also damaged in the washing machine, added: “I dread to think what could have happened if my daughter had been in there or if this happened to a family with a young child.

“It was really scary. I was petrified.”

A spokeswoman for Indesit, which manufactures and supplies Hotpoint washing machines, said: “We are sorry to hear that Mrs Lake has experienced an issue with her machine and our customer service team is currently working with her to resolve the matter.

“We take all customer inquiries seriously and deal with each on a case-by-case basis.

“Mrs Lake’s machine is currently being examined by our engineers and for that reason we are unable to comment any further at this point in time.”

The incident at Mrs Lake’s home is not the first explosion to be reported involving a Hotpoint washing machine.

BBC One’s Watchdog programme publicised a report at the end of last year involving a number of washing machines, maufactured by Indesit, which had exploded.

The report said that when Watchdog received a complaint from an Indesit washing machine owner about an explosion, they assumed it was a one-off incident, until the number of complaints started rising.

The Watchdog report detailed incidents when explosions caused the top of the machine to be raised, the front dials to be pushed out of the machine, the door to be blown open, the drum had come loose and things shaking on the kitchen cabinet.

Other incidents saw the dials and drawer on the machine shatter and fly across a room due to the force of the explosion and people told how they came home to find debris all over the floor.

Indesit agreed with the analysis, apologised to all of Watchdog’s contributors and paid for replacement machines and damage to their kitchens, but they did not recall the washing machine models.

Tunnel machine damage could delay dig

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:07:10 +0900

The mammoth Highway 99 tunnel machine will start its journey under Seattle a few weeks late, after workers at the Japanese assembly site found damage to the rotary drive that spins the cutter head.

Instead of a June 3 launch, the boring machine will embark from Sodo to South Lake Union sometime this summer, said Chris Dixon, project manager for Seattle Tunnel Partners.

“It doesn’t affect the overall schedule, as far as completion and turning it over to traffic in December 2015,” Dixon said Wednesday.

Testing was to be finished Dec. 25. As of this week, Hitachi-Zosen crews in Osaka are disassembling and diagnosing the drive system.

The world-record 57½-foot-diameter drill must be reassembled and retested before shipment to Terminal 46 in Seattle.

Workers had heard sounds indicating a problem, which went away, before a completion ceremony Dec. 20, said Dixon.

Shortly after, the team discovered some parts were one-fifth of an inch out of alignment, he said.

Linea Laird, project administrator for the state Department of Transportation, notified a legislative committee of the problem Wednesday.

Dixon said he was glad to find the flaw now, instead of in the ground.

The team has at least a three-month cushion, and many chances to recover lost time, Dixon said.

This is because an innovative design allows workers to replace worn-out cutting tools from inside the 300-foot cylindrical machine — reducing the need for divers to work from outside at several times atmospheric pressure.

The $2 billion tunnel is the largest piece of a $3.1 billion replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct, built in the 1950s.

From textile machines to smartphones

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 17:32:28 +0900

To workers being pushed out of jobs by today’s technology, history has a message: You’re not the first.

From textile machines to the horseless carriage to email, technology has upended industries and wiped out jobs for centuries. It also has created millions of jobs, though usually not for the people who lost them.

“People suffer — their livelihoods, their skills and training are worth less,” says Joel Mokyr, a historian of technological change at Northwestern University. “But that is the price we pay for progress.”

A look at breakthroughs that made the goods we buy more affordable, our lives more comfortable — and our jobs more precarious:

THE FIRST INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

For most of history, people made many goods themselves. That changed with the First Industrial Revolution, which began in England in the mid-18th century and lasted about 100 years.

New mechanical devices that allowed one man to do the work of several flooded the market with products, most notably textiles. Using cords, wheels and rollers, inventors sped up the twisting of threads to make yarn and the weaving of yarn to make cloth.

Next, steam was used to free the new machines from the limits of man’s muscle and make them run faster. The new machines produced so much, so fast and so cheaply, more people could afford to buy textiles. Demand soared and so did jobs manning the machines and doing other work.

In America in 1793, Eli Whitney freed slaves from the laborious work of picking sticky seeds from cotton bolls by inventing a cotton gin that did that automatically. It led to widespread planting of cotton — but even more work for slaves.

Whitney also is credited with another invention: interchangeable parts. At a workshop he ran for making firearms, he had his staff make the same part many times so that his guns could be assembled quickly. It worked, and industries such as watch makers copied his method.

In 1831, Cyrus McCormick invented a reaper that cut wheat stalks as it was pulled by horses and piled them on a platform. Farmers could harvest faster.

In 1837, John Deere stuck the blade of a steel saw onto a plow and invented the steel-edged plow to replace cast-iron ones. Farmers could cut a furrow in the earth more easily and sow faster.

And so began a series of inventions that made farming efficient, and began to drain farms of people. In 1800, two-thirds of Americans worked on farms; today, 2 percent do.

THE SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Life sped up more in this second period of innovation, from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, an age of steel and electric power, expanding railroads and the automobile.

In 1856, an Englishman discovered a way of making steel fast and cheap, and other inventors soon improved the process. Railroad companies started using steel for their rails instead of wrought iron, which bent easily and needed to be replaced often. Trains could carry heavier loads, which meant businesses could send more products to distant markets. Sales increased, and so did jobs.

farm machinery makers predict flatter sales

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:57:36 +0900

Farm machinery manufacturers are expecting sales to flatten in the coming year after having achieved stellar results in 2012.

Unit sales of all tractors climbed more than 10 percent in 2012, with large machines seeing the biggest surge, according to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.

The rate of growth surpassed the expectations of manufacturers, who predicted increases of about 0-4 percent at the beginning of 2012, depending on tractor size.

Farmers had very low debt-to-asset ratios and robust incomes last year, convincing them to buy machinery despite the drought, said Charlie O'Brien, agriculture sector leader for AEM.

Finances among crop growers remained in good shape due to federal crop insurance payments, he said. "They still had money they were able to use."

The association's annual survey of manufacturers indicates that they generally expect similar sales in 2013, which would be welcome, said O'Brien. "For the most part, a flat year is a good year because of the level we're at."

Unit sales of self-propelled combines declined roughly 1 percent in 2012, less than the 5 percent drop that manufacturers had been expecting at the start of the year.

"The bottom line is the combine market remains healthy," said Eli Lustgarten, analyst at the Longbow Research firm.

The demand for combines initially seemed to plummet more steeply than forecast, with sales down 23 percent as of mid-2012. At the time, experts attributed the decrease to an oversupply of machinery in the combine market.

In response, manufacturers curtailed production to ease the overall amount of machinery available, said Adam Fleck, farm machinery analyst for the Morningstar investment research firm.

Deere & Co. also backed away from incentives for farmers to trade in combines purchased in the last two years for newer models, intending to reduce the surfeit of used machinery on the market, he said.

The large number of combines sold in recent years could still portend a lack of demand for new machinery several years down the road if the agricultural economy stagnates and growers are less eager to buy, Fleck said.

"There's still potential for inventory overhang going forward," he said.

Machinery sales may weaken in early 2013 because farmers had expected the expiration of tax deductions for machinery purchases, Fleck said. For that reason, some sales that would have occurred this year likely got pulled into late 2012.

The amount of machinery purchases that can be deducted from taxable income was scheduled to drop from $139,000 in 2012 to $25,000 in 2013.

As part of the recent "fiscal cliff" deal, Congress retroactively raised that deduction level to $500,000 in 2012 and extended it through 2013.

Whether that change will prolong farmers' appetite for machinery remains to be seen, said Fleck.

Such tax deductions make investments in machinery easier to justify, so it certainly can't hurt, he said. "It only helps buoy the market."

Japanese firms seek sites outside China

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:47:25 +0900

Rising tensions between Japan and China are having a knock-on effect on industry as Japanese companies look for new factory locations outside China to reduce their risk.

The result has been a dramatic upsurge in demand for industrial machinery, as witnessed at Metalex, the region’s largest international machinery trade exhibition and conference, held annually in Bangkok.

Order volumes at the most recent edition of Metalex, late last year, were up 42% from the year before. Exhibitors pointed to three factors driving new demand: Japan-China tensions, the higher minimum wage in Thailand, and further integration of Asean economies.

Many Japanese companies operating in China last year began contemplating relocating production, as tensions mounted between the two countries the islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

Sales of Japanese goods in China have plunged, with automobiles down as much as 70%, and some Japanese factories were damaged by angry Chinese protesters.

Asean countries seem to be the preferred destinations for those Japanese companies that want to move out of China. Japanese businesses can have the best of both worlds because Asean and China have a free trade agreement, while the formation of the Asean Economic Community will make doing business in the region easier.

Soichiro Goto, a representative of the overseas sales section with Horkos Corp, a Japanese manufacturer of machinery for the automotive industry, said many Japanese auto companies wanted to avoid risk from China. At Metalex he saw many Japanese companies seeking new machinery to install in new factories outside China, and Asean countries were their targets.

According to Reed Tradex, the organiser of Metalex 2012, the event attracted 65,216 visitors, an increase of 16% from the previous year. Orders surged 42% to 8.5 billion baht.

Mr Goto said that China had become the most important market for many Japanese companies, overtaking the United States and Europe. However, if the conflict in the East China Sea cannot be resolved, Japanese businesses have to be prepared to change their strategy.

"Now times have changed. Although Japanese companies still believe that China is the most important market for them, they have to diversify risk from this country and focus more on Asean in order to save their business," he said.

According to the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing, foreign direct investment by Japanese companies totalled US$460 million in October 2012, a decrease of 32% from the same month in 2011.

However, Mr Goto is still optimistic that the dispute between China and Japan will be short-lived. China will remain a high-potential market for Japanese companies, while Asean also offers good opportunities for machinery sales.

In any case, he said, Asean was a fast-growing market for the automotive industry given rising urbanization and affluence. More Japanese companies are pouring investments into the region to meet demand.

Horkos, for example, plans to start operating a factory in Chachoengsao province this year to support its customers, which are leading carmakers.

Jakapoom Pungvirawat, general manager for industrial sales of Apollo (Thailand), the manufacturer of Idemitsu automotive and industrial lubricants, said his company had noted the trend of Japanese factories, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), relocating from China to other Asian countries. Their aim, he said, was not only to reduce political risk but also to tap into fast-growing Asean markets.

Increasing wage costs are another factor driving machinery sales in Thailand, one of the industrial centres in the region.

Theerapat Songlerk, product manager of T.N. Metal Works Co, the distributor for Hyundai Heavy Industries of robots and automation machinery, said the company attracted a lot of interest at Metalex from visitors seeking to automate factories and reduce human labour.

"After the government announced the rise in the minimum daily wage to 300 baht nationwide, starting from Jan 1, 2013, we got a lot of feedback from our clients, asking for new machinery to replace workers," he said. "Robots and automation will gain more attention over the next few years."

Automation has been used in Thailand for years, but robots are not yet widespread. The use of robots will reduce production losses usually made by human errors and avoid risk from increasing wage costs, Mr Theerapat added.

Hyundai Heavy Industries only introduced robots in Thailand last year and has yet to receive many firm orders, as prospective customers are weighing the cost and payback period before making decisions, he said.

About protein transport machinery

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:50:12 +0900

How the protein transport machinery in the chloroplasts of higher plants developed Moss Physcomitrella patens is an evolutionary intermediate stage

Together with colleagues from Sweden, RUB researchers have studied how the protein transport system of bacteria developed over time to form the system in the chloroplasts of higher plants. They explored the so-called signal recognition particles (SRP) and their receptors. Bioinformatic and biochemical analyses revealed that the moss Physcomitrella patens has evolutionarily old and new components of the SRP system, and thus represents an intermediate stage in the development from the bacterial transport system to the chloroplast system in higher plants. The international team led by Prof. Dr. Danja Schünemann and Dr. Chantal Träger from the Working Group Molecular Biology of Plant Organelles at the Ruhr-Universität reported in the journal The Plant Cell.

The SRP system guides new proteins to their place of work

In the cell fluid, a special transport machinery conveys proteins from their origin to their place of work, for example in the cell membrane. The decisive factor is the so-called SRP system. It binds itself to the protein to be transported, travels with it to the cell membrane and interacts there with the SRP receptor (FtsY). If the SRP system binds to the receptor, cleavage of the energy storage molecule GTP triggers further processes which ultimately anchor the protein in the membrane.

From cyanobacterium to chloroplast

In the cell fluid of bacteria, animals and plants, the SRP system consists of two components: the protein SRP54 and the ribonucleic acid SRP RNA. Several years ago, researchers found that the chloroplasts of higher plants, i.e. the photosynthetically active cell components, possess their own SRP system. It is very different from the system of the cell fluid because it has no SRP RNA. However, alongside SRP54 it also contains the protein SRP43, which occurs exclusively in chloroplasts. Scientists assume that chloroplasts originated from cyanobacteria, which initially lived in symbiosis with plant progenitor cells and were ultimately integrated into the plant cells. The scientists have now explored how the RNA-free SRP system of the chloroplasts originated from the RNA-containing SRP system of the bacteria.

Plant kingdom bioinformatically examined

With the aid of bioinformatics, the Bochum biologists and Dr. Magnus Rosenblad of Gothenburg University first examined which representatives in the plant kingdom have which components of the SRP system in their chloroplasts. "We were surprised that many organisms from unicellular green algae to mosses and ferns possess the gene for the SRP RNA in their chloroplasts", says Danja Schünemann. "The only exceptions are the higher plants, which have lost this gene". For them, the SRP system consists solely of the proteins SRP54 and SRP43. Interestingly though, SRP43 also occurs in the chloroplasts of lower plants, which are still equipped with SRP RNA.

SRP RNA in moss has partially lost its function

In collaboration with several groups of the Collaborative Research Centre SFB 642 at the RUB, Dr. Chantal Träger investigated the biochemistry of the moss Physcomitrella patens, which is among the lower plants. Physcomitrella has all the conceivable components of the SRP system in its chloroplasts: both the evolutionarily old components SRP54 and SRP RNA, as well as the more recent evolutionary protein SRP43. However, the SRP RNA of the moss chloroplasts forms a longer loop than the bacterial SRP RNA. This altered structure apparently prevents it from regulating the cleavage of GTP. Physcomitrella patens thus contains the evolutionarily old SRP RNA, which has largely lost certain functions. The SRP system of the chloroplasts of Physcomitrella patens therefore represents the transition between bacteria and higher plants. An X-ray structure analysis also revealed that the SRP receptor (FtsY) of the moss already has properties of the protein of higher plants.

Demand Rises, So Will Equipment Lead Times

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:22:46 +0900

It's no secret that construction equipment dealers were especially hard hit during the recession, with profit margins declining as much as 60% at its peak. Dealers desperate to unload inventory collecting dust on their lots were willing to cut deals – even to the point of losing money – just to get the equipment off their books.

Such is no longer the case. The construction equipment market has seen a resurgence, as rental companies and construction firms alike moving to replace aging equipment fleets. Forecasts indicate ongoing growth in U.S. equipment sales, with wheel loaders, backhoe-loaders and rubber-tracked loaders leading the charge.

Global demand for construction equipment is expected to continue its upward momentum, as well. A recent report predicts the market to reach $192.3 billion by 2017, up from $143.6 billion in 2012. Continued economic expansion in Asia (led by China, of course) and South America will push global demand to heightened levels over the next five-year period.

Construction equipment manufacturers are currently addressing this demand utilizing their existing production capacity and workforce where possible. But as orders continue to grow, it will be increasingly difficult for manufacturers and their suppliers to keep pace. With few ready to commit to expanding either their capacity or employee base, lead times for equipment orders will lengthen, hindering the ability to get new equipment onto jobsites in a timely manner.

Costs for equipment will also migrate upward, stemming from the expanding demand, the introduction of more advanced technology (including Tier 4 Final solutions) and rising steel, rubber, fuel and other material prices. The bargain basement prices of the recession are history, and fewer and fewer "deals" will be had in the months ahead.
Evaluate Equipment Acquisition Options

So where does this leave contractors looking to replenish their equipment fleets?

At this point, equipment prices are more likely to go up than down, and availability of new machines will start to shrink. With interest rates still at extremely low levels, and Congress including a $500,000 asset write-off in its fiscal cliff legislation, construction firms seeking to add equipment within the next 12 months need to evaluate the best timing, and manner, to obtain it.

If capital allows, consider moving new equipment purchases forward to maximize availability and avoid future increases in pricing and/or interest rates. If availability of capital is uncertain, consult your local dealer about financing options (e.g., rent to own) that could make a particular unit more affordable, yet still enable you to take advantage of the tax write-off down the road.

The used equipment market continues to be a viable option to obtain newer units at a reduced cost. However, demand has driven up used pricing for certain equipment types to levels that flirt with the line between new and used. As such, it's important to compare the costs of new vs. used carefully – particularly given that buying used carries the risk of inheriting problems not readily visible at the time of sale.

Rental is an effective alternative for non-staples in your fleet, or to fill a temporary need for a particular size class or type of machine. As rental companies renew their inventories, the availability and reliability of rental units is improving, enabling you to obtain the newer equipment you need without the much larger expense of a purchase. You also eliminate the cost to maintain the machine. On the other hand, rental rates are also rising steadily. Contracting with your rental supplier as soon as possible will ensure both availability of equipment and steady rental rates.

As the economy improves and your business expands, securing the right equipment at the right time is essential to maintaining project timetables and profit margins. To guarantee the tools you need are there when you need them – and at a cost your business can afford – evaluate whether you should take the plunge in the near term, or take your chances on pricing and availability in the months ahead.

Japan Machine Orders Rise

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:48:23 +0900

Japan’s machinery orders rose more than expected in November, suggesting that companies were optimistic about the economic outlook as the yen weakened.

Orders, an indicator of capital spending, climbed 3.9 percent from the previous month for the second straight rise, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of 24 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 0.3 percent increase. Large orders can cause volatile results.
Enlarge image Japan Machine Orders Rise More Than Expected in November

An excavator operates as a worker labors on a construction site in Tokyo. The yen has fallen amid expectations the central bank will increase cash infusions to jump-start growth and defeat deflation. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
Jim O'Neill on Yen, Bank of Japen Inflation Stance
5:25

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Jim O'Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, talks about the yen, Bank of Japan monetary policy and the Swiss franc. O'Neill speaks with Tom Keene and Sara Eisen on Bloomberg Television's "Surveillance." Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, also speaks (Source: Bloomberg)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week unveiled a 10.3 trillion yen ($116 billion) stimulus package that Nomura Securities Co. forecasts will help deliver real annualized growth of 3.5 percent in the April-June quarter. Prospects for exporters may improve this year as the yen has fallen about 10 percent against the dollar since mid-November.

“Orders from non-manufacturers continued to increase, providing considerable support,” said Junko Nishioka, chief economist at RBS Securities Japan Ltd. and a former BOJ official. “Capital spending will probably recover gradually this year.”

Orders from manufacturers rose 3.9 percent from a month earlier, while those from non-manufacturers rose 6.2 percent for the fourth-straight gain.

Japan’s GDP shrank at an annualized 3.5 percent pace in the third quarter after contracting in the three months through June, meeting the textbook definition of a recession. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News is for a 0.6 percent contraction in the three months through December 2012, with growth in the three months to March seen at 1.6 percent.
Short Recession

“The current recession may end up being very short,” said Hideo Kumano, chief economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo and a former central bank official. “The rapid depreciation of the yen may make companies more inclined to invest in the coming months.”

The yen has fallen amid expectations the central bank will increase cash infusions to jump-start growth and defeat deflation. The currency was at 88.23 per dollar as of 11:12 a.m. in Tokyo.

The Bank of Japan (8301) will adopt a 2 percent inflation target advocated by Abe at its Jan. 21-22 meeting, according to people familiar with officials’ discussions.