Presentation Transcripts

The measures we have implemented and aggressive investments we have made over the years are now paying off. Assuming that the global economy will stay on track, we are now at a point where we have to develop a growth strategy that looks two years ahead. We recently made a company-wide announcement of our strategy dubbed the "Five Arrows," which is incidentally in no way related to the Japanese government's three arrow strategy.

The first arrow concerns ball bearings. Back in January, we set a monthly external shipment target of 150 million units. In fact, some of our employees doubted we could make this target given the tough market conditions at the time, but external shipment has already hit 143 million units a month. Rising living standards in emerging economies, etc., will buoy the demand for ball bearings. Demand for products like air conditioners, vacuum cleaners, ATMs, etc. will grow as the emerging economies of Southeast Asia, India, and China grow richer. Continually on the lookout and ready to seize the opportunity wherever consumer demand is on the rise, we set our average monthly external shipment target at 150 million units. Since average monthly sales reached a little over 130 million units this year, we will work to boost sales by 20 million units on average. Right now shipment of ball bearings used for HDD pivot assemblies, which account for the bulk of internal shipment, are steady. However the HDD market is at risk of gradually shrinking, so we will continue to focus on increasing external shipment of ball bearings to hedge future risks.

The second arrow is related to hybrid components. We opened the Tokyo Research & Development Center (TRDC) with an eye to developing and marketing hybrid components.
When I took the company reins as president, Minebea already had an extensive array of technologies at its disposal. Working to provide customers with solutions that combine these technologies, we trademarked Electro Mechanics SolutionsR in Japan. We look forward to working harder than ever to bring these solutions to the market.

The third arrow concerns LED lighting devices. The light that's shining above my head has motors inside that make it move or swivel sideways. It's these kinds of LED lighting devices that we will be focusing on from now on.

One of the products of our measuring component business is load cells. These are strain gauges that electronically measure strain and weight. Annual sales for these devices are currently around 10 billion yen, but we plan to double that figure. We are on the cusp of a new era in sensor technology. This is the technology to watch out for in the future.

I have also taken on the challenge of bringing sales and profits for our aircraft components business up higher. Currently our offices in Karuizawa, Thailand, the U.K. and the U.S. operate independently, but I intend to use the reins I've been handed to maximize the synergy among them.
Over the next two to three years I intend to drive home the points of the Five Arrows with every Minebea employee across the globe as we work to implement the investment strategies to make them fly.