ICHITAN CO., LTD. Business report FY2006
Business Highlights
Financial
overview
Challenges for FY2007
Under the aim of becoming one of the best suppliers of forged products with a solid business structure, the Company is committed to:
1. Drastically improving its production efficiency, while reducing overall costs
2. Reforming the level of its quality assurance system
3. Strengthening its sales and marketing structure
4. Enhancing both its core and proprietary technology
5. Maintaining its human resources and providing a safe working environment in a systematic way
In Million yen | FY2006 | FY 2005 | Rate of change (%) | Factors |
Overall | ||||
Sales | 10,969 | 10,417 | 5.3 | - Overall sales grew year-on-year, thanks to increased sales of automotive components. |
Operating Income | 383 | 198 | 93.4 | - The Company's income was higher year-on-year, as a result of its efforts to improve productivity and reduce costs. |
Ordinary income | 249 | 179 | 39.1 | - |
Current net income | 168 | 83 | 102.4 | - |
Automotive components | ||||
Sales | 10,305 | 9,727 | 5.9 | - |
Challenges for FY2007
Under the aim of becoming one of the best suppliers of forged products with a solid business structure, the Company is committed to:
1. Drastically improving its production efficiency, while reducing overall costs
2. Reforming the level of its quality assurance system
3. Strengthening its sales and marketing structure
4. Enhancing both its core and proprietary technology
5. Maintaining its human resources and providing a safe working environment in a systematic way
R&D
Development
Structure
R&D expenses in fiscal 2006 were 22 million yen.
- Number of R&D staff : 18 people
Research and Development Activities
-The Company is working on developing new technologies and new production engineering, improving the quality of existing products, and making efforts to reduce the cost of goods.
- The Company researched on near-net-shape and net-shape products. Also, it researched new manufacturing methods as well as worked on improving manufacturing processes, both by using 3-D simulation.
- To tackle environmental issues, the Company worked on developing more compact and lighter forged products by enhancing precision, in order to respond to customer demand to lighten the weight of automobile parts.
Activities in FY 2006 are as follows;
1. Development of net-shaped transmissions (for automobiles) manufactured by using cold forging
2. Development of forged products with net-shaped teeth manufactured by using cold closed forging
3. Development of near net-shaped auto parts by using cold molding
4. Basic research to extend the product life of forging dies
R&D expenses in fiscal 2006 were 22 million yen.
- Number of R&D staff : 18 people
Research and Development Activities
-The Company is working on developing new technologies and new production engineering, improving the quality of existing products, and making efforts to reduce the cost of goods.
- The Company researched on near-net-shape and net-shape products. Also, it researched new manufacturing methods as well as worked on improving manufacturing processes, both by using 3-D simulation.
- To tackle environmental issues, the Company worked on developing more compact and lighter forged products by enhancing precision, in order to respond to customer demand to lighten the weight of automobile parts.
Activities in FY 2006 are as follows;
1. Development of net-shaped transmissions (for automobiles) manufactured by using cold forging
2. Development of forged products with net-shaped teeth manufactured by using cold closed forging
3. Development of near net-shaped auto parts by using cold molding
4. Basic research to extend the product life of forging dies
Investment Activities
The
total capital investment in fiscal 2006 was 555million yen.
The focus of investments was to build lines for conducting visual appearance inspection and upgrade heat treatment facilities.
- The Company built a new distribution center, and a new office for its Production Department, in addition to refurbishing aging manufacturing facilities at Kyushu Ichitan.
New facilities
The focus of investments was to build lines for conducting visual appearance inspection and upgrade heat treatment facilities.
- The Company built a new distribution center, and a new office for its Production Department, in addition to refurbishing aging manufacturing facilities at Kyushu Ichitan.
New facilities
Company name Business establishment |
Type of facility |
Planned investment
amount (total) (thousand JPY) |
Construction start date | completion | Production capacity upon completion |
Ichitan Head office/ Plant (Gunma pref., Japan) |
Forging facilities | 1,304,497 | 2007.03 | 2008.05 | Increased productivity |
Kyushu Ichitan Head office/ Plant (Oita pref., Japan) |
Forging facilities | 378,845 | 2006.09 | 2008.02 | Increased productivity |
Daiichi Forging Dalian
Co., Ltd. Head office/ Plant (Dalian, China) |
Forging facilities | 47,463 | 2007.11 | 2007.12 | Increased productivity |