Omron expects revenue growth in China
By Zhang Yu'an (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-11-06 09:33

Omron Corp, Japan's leading sensing and control technology provider, expects China to become a powerful engine that will help drive up its global sales in the coming few years.

Hisao Sakuta, president and CEO of Omron, said on Thursday that by the 2007 fiscal year which ends in March 2008, Omron will have quadrupled its 2003 fiscal year sales revenue in China to hit US$1.33 billion.

By then, sales revenue from the Chinese market will account for about 20 per cent of the company's global total, surpassing that from the European Union and US markets and making the country Omron's largest source of sales revenue in the world, Sakuta announced in a briefing at the ongoing Shanghai International Industry Fair.

Satuka's optimistic view is backed by the company's newly-launched strategy of "shifting to high gear" development in its business expansion in China and its pledged further investment.

The "shifting to high gear" development strategy requires the company to register an annual growth rate much higher than the average of foreign companies, expand its production capacities and sales as well as its after-sales service networks and enhance local design.

Omron will invest about US$300 million in those areas by the end of the 2007 fiscal year.

The company is seeking Chinese partners that have unique, supplementary competitive advantages to jointly tap the great potential of the Chinese market.

Sakuta said that his company is currently negotiating with Beida Founder, a leading Chinese electronics company headquartered in Beijing, on establishing a partnership.

The co-operation with Beida Founder will focus on developing automatic ticketing systems for the rapidly expanding Beijing subway and light rail systems through making full use of the advantages from both sides, Sakuta said.

Omron holds a large share in Japan's automatic ticketing systems industry.

As Beijing accelerates its pace to prepare for the 2008 Olympic Games, subway and light rail construction is developing rapidly, therefore creating automatic ticketing systems business opportunities.

Omron has pledged to bring its most advanced technologies to, and enhance its research and development (R&D) efforts in, China.

For instance, the company's industrial automation business sector is building a large China Business Centre Tower in Shanghai , which is designed for customer support, R&D and training purposes.

It has also launched a massive localization programme in almost all sectors of its businesses, such as production, R&D, and management.

A special committee will be set up to help train and foster young Chinese management talents to support the company's sustainable growth in the Chinese market.

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