Hitachi Spin Off Of CE Business Set For April '02
By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 10/8/2001
TOKYO— Hitachi said it plans to spin off its Consumer Products Group into a 100 percent-owned subsidiary next April.
At the same time, the company said it would also spin off its industrial components division into a separate wholly owned subsidary.
Hitachi president & director Etsuhiko Shoyama said the CE company will "focus solely on consumer electronics from development to manufacturing and sales," and will integrate the previously separate manufacturing subsidiaries, Hitachi Tochigi Technology and Hitachi Taga Electronics.
Details about the new company, such as its name and capital, were not yet determined.
Hitachi executives said a key goal of the effort would be to speed up decision making and product development by better empowering its actual work sites. This is also expected to help Hitachi accelerate its global marketing expansion plans.
In that regard, the company will look to shift production of price-sensitive categories overseas, the company said. It will continue to manufacture products with high added value and new technologies in Japan. This will include network household appliances, the company said.
Hitachi has already made several divisions into independent subsidiaries, including its air conditioning systems and chipmaking equipment divisions, under a restructuring launched in late 1999 after the previous chip sector slump.
