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4. Formerly Alpine Electronics, Inc.
5. Formerly Alpine Electronics, Inc. Business Report FY ended Mar. 2018

Formerly Alpine Electronics, Inc. Business Report FY ended Mar. 2018

Factors

1)Car-audio business

-Deliveries of factory-installed Alpine car-audio products to OEMs increased 17.5% year-over-year, as a result of the Company’s winning greater orders for speakers and amps that were developed under the pursuit of achieving high audio quality designed for high-end vehicles that excel in quiet rides; thin and lightweight speakers and amps that contribute to improving fuel efficiency and reducing environmental impact; and layout-free speakers that offer greater freedom in terms of where and how they can be mounted, by making them smaller and lightweight, in response to changes in the design of car interior.

2)Information/communications-equipment business

-Sales of factory-mounted Alpine displays to some OEMs, which came as standard equipment on high-end vehicles, fell in the slow season. However, sales in China of car navigation systems to European OEMs were strong.

Management consolidation

Consolidation with Alps Electric Co.

-Alps Electric and Alpine announced in February 2018 that they would introduce the company system in regard to their decision July 2017 to consolidate their businesses. All common functions such as management and planning will be consolidated into Alps-Alpine, the name that Alps Electric Co. adopted. They set up Alps Company that will be in charge of the electronic-parts business and Alpine Company that will be in charge of the automotive information/communications equipment business. In addition, both companies signed a business-partnership agreement in July. Next January Alpine will be turned into a wholly owned subsidiary. Under the aim of creating synergy effects, both companies will sell their respective products that don’t compete with each other to common customers, conduct joint development activities, use each other’s evaluation facilities, and standardize procurement.

Awards

-Big X Series ranked first place for the sixth year in a row by JD Power

-"Rear Camera de Anshin Plus 2" won the Honda Access Appreciation for Excellence Award for the third year in a row.

-Won GM’s Supplier of the Year Award for the fourth year in a row.

>>>Financial Forecast for the Next Fiscal Year (Sales, Operating Income etc.)

研究開発活動

ｰBy using carbon fiber reinforced thermo plastics (CFRTPs) in the speaker diaphragm, the degree of audio quality and heat resistance that was achieved had never been achieved before in conventional diaphragms. The Company is aiming to develop and commercialize a genuine Alpine-brand speaker diaphragm that makes use of the characteristics of internal loss and deformity, which surpasses the scope of metal-alternative technology

-The Company plans to apply Komica Minolta’s proprietary technology, the first of its kind in the world, to automotive uses, under a joint development project with the company. The technology can display and at the same time superimpose the dept of any position of the focal point through the front windshield, from close distances to far distances.

-The Company succeeded in validating and testing the beauty of images taken from an automated tracking flight of an overhead transmission line by a drone, under a joint development project with Toshiba Digital Solutions arranged under the cooperation of Kansai Electric Power Co. The Company’s high-precision honing technology (mapping information) and sensor technology succeeded in achieving automated tracking or honing, in spite of harsh conditions such as swinging and movements caused by high winds. The Company plans to use this latest technology for IoT and AI applications.

-Karamba Security announced that it will be part of a collaboration of global automotive players to secure connected and autonomous vehicles. US-based Honeywell, Japan-based Alpine, Germany-based IAV and Israel based Karamba Security are partnering to create multi-layered solutions to secure cars. The Collaboration will feature preventing cyberattacks on vehicles, with zero false positives, provided by Karamba Security and reporting the attack attempts to an OEM Security Operations Center (SOC), provided by Honeywell. Alpine will secure infotainment systems, according to factory settings and preventing changes. Engineering and integration services provided by IAV demonstrating a driving car secured by Karamba Security software, with reports and alerts transmitted to a SOC managed by HP Enterprise. (From a press release on December 18, 2017)

-The Company announced that it will increase its stake in C's Lab Co., Ltd. (C's Lab), a software developer. Alpine holds a 22.5% stake in C's Lab. Alpine will make C's Lab a subsidiary by increasing its stake in C's Lab to 51%. By doing so, Alpine will strengthen its development capacity for car navigation system application software to prepare for the age of autonomous driving. As an Alpine Group company, C's Lab will be in charge of development in areas including artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies, cloud computing software and server related systems, and next-generation navigation system software. (From an article in the Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun on June 23, 2017)