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Information processing. And environmental control. Those themes--singly and jointly--characterize the value that we create in diversified products. We broaden our earnings potential in new lines of business by asserting special strengths in managing information and the environment. And we use nonautomotive applications to refine technologies that will figure prominently in future automotive systems.
Talking on the run
"Our biggest venture in diversified products is wireless communications," notes Shinichiro Imai, managing director responsible for our operations in telecommunications and industrial equipment. "We began working on that technology several years ago. We recognized that telecommunications would become a core technology in vehicle and highway systems. So we resolved to become a leader in that technology. Soon, we were the world's largest supplier of cellular telephones for installation in vehicles."
We sell wireless telephones in Japan and North America, and our business volume is growing in both markets. Our shipments in the past fiscal year totaled more than 1.7 million units.
In Japan, we make wireless telephones for all the leading providers of cellular and personal handyphone system (PHS) services. PHS employs shorter-range, lower-power--and therefore less-expensive--equipment than cellular systems and is especially popular among young urban users and in corporate, local-area systems.
A tightening of motor-safety rules against using handheld wireless telephones while driving has stimulated demand for hands-free products. We began supplying units to automakers and services providers in February 2000. Also in the past year, we began supplying wireless navigation terminals for pedestrians.
NTT DoCoMo, Inc., Japan's biggest cellular services provider, has named us a partner in developing wide band code division multiple access (W-CDMA) telephony for automobiles. DoCoMo is promoting W-CDMA as a standard for next-generation cellular telephony and is preparing to inaugurate service in that format in April 2001. Code division multiple access already is a popular format for digital cellular service in Japan. And we are a leading supplier of cdmaOne telephones, including models that provide Internet access.
Our North American business in wireless telephones presently centers on supplying telephones to the big telecommunications carrier Sprint. The TouchPoint telephone that we make for Sprint received a product-of-the-year award from Business Week magazine in 1999. We make our telephones for the North American market at a plant in California, and we are doubling capacity there in 2000 to 170,000 units a month to meet surging demand for our products. Also in California, a DENSO telecommunications laboratory handles a lot of our work on wireless technologies for telephones and other applications, including intelligent transport systems (ITS).
And in other information handling...
"Industrial robots are an important line of business for us," continues Imai. "Information processing is the key to competitiveness in factory automation. Our small assembly robots are the best-selling production equipment of their kind in Japan. We have created new value in those robots through advanced programming and wireless control."
We have amplified the value of our robots further by adding a mobility function. Our new line of mobile autonomy robots promises to power a new wave of growth in this product sector.
Our QR Code has become an industry standard for the data-rich format of two-dimensional labeling code. Several industry organizations in Japan and elsewhere have adopted the code. That is fueling sales of our code readers and related equipment. We also continue to supply systems for handling conventional bar code.
In other information processing products, we supply writers and readers for integrated circuit (IC) cards. Companies use IC identity cards for security clearance, cafeteria billing, and other purposes. We also have begun supplying readers for prepaid cards in NTT's growing network of IC-card public telephones. In yet another information technology, we supply programmable logic controllers to Rockwell International Corporation. We have been working with Rockwell, which markets our controllers under its name in various industrial equipment, since 1984.
In environmental control
Technology developed in connection with vehicle air conditioners has spawned successful niche products in nonautomotive applications. We supply kerosene-based heat pumps and other specialty air conditioners for restaurants and other commercial users. We also have begun supplying cooling systems for telecommunications equipment. DoCoMo, DDI Group, and Lucent Technologies are among the companies that have ordered our cooling systems. A decisive strength for us in those products is the superior reliability of our systems--especially important at remote transmission facilities.
We also have developed successful lines of environmental control products for the home. Those products include kitchen water filters, biodisposal units for organic kitchen waste, and space heaters, among others. |
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Value-added display fun
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