2000

Dec.7, 2000

 Integration of the Ichinoseki Factory with the Technical Center in Yamanashi Prefecture

Our Ichinoseki Factory has been manufacturing and selling various types of transformers for a long time including those days of Higashiyama Factories. Nowadays we are putting up a hard fight in price competition and are unable to put a brake on a decline in orders that we secure. This is because transformers made in China and Southeast Asian countries are imported and sold aggressively to our customers at lower prices.

In the meantime, we have taken several countermeasures to cope with the plight that we are in. Such measures include establishment of the fully integrated production system by consolidating two factories in Higashiyama into the Ichinoseki Factory, development at the Ichinoseki Factory of the products that we are able to secure orders for, and production shift of unprofitable items to a mass-production plant overseas. In spite of these measures, we find it hardly possible to maintain production at the Ichinoseki Factory, because prices of transformers continue to fall faster that we anticipate.

For fear that we may end up losing our transformer business itself, we have decided to implement a reorganization plan as shown below in order to improve the performance of our transformer business.

Under this plan, we are going to shift within this December the greater part of production at the Ichinoseki Factory to our overseas manufacturing plant and to focus on small-volume production, at the Technical Center, of only those items that call for domestic production. In this connection, we will transfer as many Ichinoseki members as possible to the Technical Center and assign, where feasible, part of the workforce to Thai and other overseas plants as production supervisors and to small-volume production facilities or other divisions in Japan.

However, we estimate the majority of Ichinoseki members will be unable to move to other places of assignments for a variety of personal reasons. To such members, we are planning to offer not only favorable retirement conditions based on retirement on the company initiative, but also our full support for outplacement, including our filing requests with administrative agencies concerned for their assistance. We are presently under negotiation with the labor union for final agreement to start the integration.

With regard to the cleanup of the soil and groundwater contamination that has begun in the current fiscal year, we will continue the cleanup, with responsibility, both at the Ichinoseki Factory and at the municipally owned land in Kanegasaki even after integrating the factory with the Technical Center. Until the integration is completed, Mr. M. Ujiie, Plant Manager, and Mr. M. Sakaki, Manager of the General Affairs Department, will be in charge of all matters concerning the cleanup. After the integration, we will appoint certain members at the Technical Center to be in charge of this matter. 

For further information and inquiries, please contact:

Mitsuru Ujiie Plant Manager, Ichinoseki Factory
Tel : 0191-31-3400 Fax : 0191-31-3425
Minebea Onkyo Co., Ltd.
2-12-9 Yamame-cho, Ichinoseki, Iwate 021-0011

Minebea Onkyo Co., Ltd.

Date of Establishment : July 1, 1991

Main Businesses : Manufacture and sale of transformers and speakers

Capital : ¥481 million

Net Sales :
¥8.7 billion in fiscal 2000 including ¥1.8 billion at the Transformer Division
(out of which ¥0.7 billion is from the production at the Ichinoseki Factory)

President and Representative Director :  Toshifumi Fukawatase

Head Office : 1-8-1, Shimo-meguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8662

 Place of Business :

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