KASAI KOGYO CO., LTD. Business Report FY2007
Business Highlights
(in millions of JPY) | FY2007 | FY2006 | Rate of Change (%) |
Factors |
Sales | 144,888 | 134,814 | 7.5 | Sales rose year-on-year due to increased car production volumes at the Company's major customers in Japan and Asia. |
Operating income | 3,894 | 3,272 | 19.0 | Operating income and ordinary income increased year-on-year as a result of rationalization efforts, as well as increased sales. |
Ordinary income | 3,465 | 2,912 | 19.0 | |
Net income | 1,302 | 2,138 | (39.1) | Net income decreased year-on-year due to decline in extraordinary profit. |
Joint Ventures
In Jan. 2008, the Company announced that it and Sanwa Industry Co., Ltd.,
which manufactures automotive interior parts in Hiroshima City, Hiroshima,
will establish joint venture companies to manufacture and sell automotive
headlining products in Japan and China. The Company and Sanwa Industry
intend to expand their ties to North America as well in the future. This
move will allow the Company to increase its competitive edge in the global
market by leveraging Sanwa's advanced technology in the area of car headlining
materials. The joint venture company to be established in Ota City, Gunma
Prefecture, Japan will be called SK Kogyo. SK Kogyo will be capitalized
at 300 million yen, 51.0 percent of which will be provided by Sanwa Industry
and the remaining 49.0 percent by the Company. The new entity in China
will be located in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province; it will hold a
registered capital of 50 million dollars with 75.0 percent invested by
Sanwa Industry and 25.0 by the Company.(From an article in the Nikkan
Jidosha Shimbun on Jan. 29, 2008)
R&D
R&D spending was focused on the Development Division and the Production Division.
The total R&D expenses in fiscal 2007 were 521 million yen.
Major research challenges
-Reduction of weight and costs to win over the competition in the small car sector.
-Eliminate the use of solvent-based mediums and polyvinyl chloride; and switch to non-petroleum materials in response to greater demand for environmental conservation.
-Develop next generation Technology such as modules and crash safety analysis.
Specific activities
(1) Reducing weight of products
The Company developed a new production process, called Kasai Synchro Press (KSP), that reduces weight and thereby contributes to reducing CO2 emissions and fuel consumption. The Company presented this as a solution for producing door trims used on mass-produced vehicles and started to supply the products to its customers. The KSP enabled the Company to reduce the weight of door trims by about 40% compared to door trims with the equivalent shape produced by a conventional process. Also, the Company developed a technology by applying its injection molding process, Kasai Press Molding (KPM) , that does not need any coating in the foam molding for reducing product weight and also ensures good external appearance quality. The Company used the technology in manufacturing doors and luggage trims of commercial vehicles and started to supply the products to its customers. With the foam molding process, the Company succeeded in reducing weight of the products by about 15%.
(2) Safety
2. The Company successfully created injection molded parts that are capable of absorbing energy, thus contributing to safety inside vehicles. These parts, which are characterized by their unique design structure, are being used in mass-produced vehicles. The accuracy of the Company's technology to analyze lateral collisions has reached the stage to where it can be put to practical use. This technology, which uses CAE (computer simulation), was supported by validations conducted on bench tests.
(3) Global environmental protection
The Company is replacing glue and cleaning agents that contain VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds). The Company instead will use standard and water-based adhesives, in addition to materials, that are free of VOCs. As to the use of vinyl chloride materials, the Company is switching over to olefin-based thermoplastic elastomer (TPO) and urethane based thermoplastic elastomer (TPU). The Company also developed an alternative to mineral fiber in order to eliminate the use of glass fiber in ceiling trims, presenting the new fiber as a solution for use in mass-produced models. Also, the Company has been working on developing plant-based materials as alternatives to petroleum-based materials, and has reached a level that the Company can offer them to its customers .
(4) Comfortable interior space
The Company introduced CAE in its development activities to create cabin-interior products that improve anti-noise/soundproofing performance. These products offer a high degree of flexibility in their shape and come in a large selection of materials. They also are high precision, high quality products. The Company is also making sales presentations of products that offer a high level of customer convenience, which were developed and planned based on benchmarking activities.
(5) Quality
The Company developed an applied technology that better stabilizes the final appearance of exterior surfaces of plastic molded products, thus reducing the number of defective products created while being manufactured.
(6) Creating added values
The Company is in the process of developing designing, coloring, and decorating technology for decorative components such as door-waist embellishments. Also, the Company developed and offered the products with decorative touches such as soft and smooth door interior trims.
Investment Activities
8,640 million JPY in capital investments was made in FY2007,mainly going to automotive interior parts, research and development on new parts related to vehicle model changes, quality control and production related areas.
Breakdown of investment by business entity (FY2007 ended March 2008)
-The Company: 4,565 million yen was invested to prepare production facilities for manufacturing remodeled products.
-Mie Kasai Co., Ltd.: 1,635 million yen was invested to construct the Shiga Plant and enhance production facilities.
-KPK Co., Ltd.: 354 million yen was invested to enhance production facilities, etc.
-M-TEK INC. (USA): 1,221 billion yen was invested to enhance production facilities, etc.
-R-TEK Ltd. (UK): 207 million yen was invested.
-Kasai Mexicana S.A. de C. V. (Mexico): 361 million yen was invested.
-Kasai Teck See Co.,Ltd. (Thailand): 120 million yen was invested.
New facilities
Company name Site name |
Location | Type of facility | Planned investment (million JPY) |
Start | Planned completion |
Head Office | Samukawa, Kanagawa, Japan | Quality measurement instruments, inspection tools | 305 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 |
Samukawa Division | Samukawa, Kanagawa, Japan | Facilities to assemble automotive interior parts, tools, and other items | 94 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 |
Yorii Division | Yorii machi, Saitama, Japan | Land, Improvement of buildings | 98 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 |
Facilities to assemble automotive interior parts, tools, and other items | 298 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 | ||
Kyushu Division | Usa City, Ohita, Japan | W/J facilities | 63 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 |
Facilities to assemble automotive interior parts, tools, and other items | 401 | ||||
APM Co., Ltd. | Kanagawa, Japan | Facilities to assemble automotive interior parts, tools, and other items | 10 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 |
Mie Kasai Co., Ltd. Head Plant |
Hisai City, Mie, Japan | Facilities to assemble automotive interior parts, tools, and other items | 198 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 |
Mie Kasai Co., Ltd. Shiga Plant |
Shiga, Japan | Facilities to assemble automotive interior parts, tools, and other items | 30 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 |
Mikuni Seisakusyo Co., Ltd. | Nitta machi, Gunma, Japan | Facilities with urethane ceilings, Improvement of buildings | 485 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 |
Facilities to assemble automotive interior parts, tools, and other items | 50 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 | ||
KPK Co., Ltd. | Oura gun, Gunma, Japan | Facilities to assemble automotive interior parts, tools, and other items | 360 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 |
Iwatekasai | Kitami-shi, Iwate, Japan | Facilities to assemble automotive interior parts, tools, and other items | 4 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 |
Kasai-Tec Co., Ltd. | Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka, Japan | Facilities to assemble automotive interior parts, tools, and other items | 195 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 |
M-TEK Inc. | Tennessee State, USA | Facilities to assemble automotive interior parts, tools, and other items | 1,548 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 |
R-TEK Ltd. | Tyne and Wear, UK | Facilities to assemble automotive interior parts, tools, and other items | 189 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 |
Kasai Mexicana S.A. de C. V. | Guanajuato, Mexico | Facilities to assemble automotive interior parts, tools, and other items | 125 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 |
Guangzhou Kasai Automotive Interior Trim
Parts Co., Ltd. |
Guangzhou, China | Addition of buildings | 210 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 |
Facilities to assemble automotive interior parts, tools, and other items | 50 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 | ||
Kasai Teck See Co.,Ltd. |
Ayuttaya, Thailand |
Facilities to assemble automotive interior parts, tools, and other items | 63 | 2008.4 | 2009.3 |