UNIPRES CORPORATION Business report FY2005
Business Highlights
In million yen | FY2006 | FY2005 | Rate of Change (%) | Factors |
Sales | 165,827 | 161,315 | 2.8 | Sales and profit both increased, thanks to brisk sales of new cars in Mexico and China. These were partially offset by weakened production in Japan, the U.S. and the U.K. |
Operating income | 6,978 | 6,520 | 7.0 | Operating income and ordinary income rose as a result of brisk sales at Unipres Mexico and Unipres Guangzhou, as well as groupwide rationalization initiatives including UPS activities |
Ordinary income | 7,261 | 7,037 | 3.2 | |
Net income | 3,479 | 4,547 | (23.5) | Net income was down because this year the Company did not transfer the portion of the employees' pension fund, which it paid on behalf of the employees as it did last year, recording the amount on its books. |
Reinforcing the Chinese site
The Company will start in-house production of dies at its new machinery plant at Unipres Guangzhou Corporation in China. This is the first time for Unipres to manufacture dies outside Japan. Starting out by making simple ones, the company intends to expand in steps the range of dies it manufactures at the Chinese subsidiary, viewing the possibility of exporting the dies made in China to Japan and other countries in the future. Plans are to achieve in-house production of dies it uses at all of its plants in China over the next three years. Unipres Guangzhou manufactures automotive stamping parts mainly for Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. - a joint venture between Dongfeng Motor Company and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (From an article in the Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun on Aug. 28, 2006)
R&D
The Company has
technological expertise in stamping and molding.
It conducts its businesses
by cooperating with automakers and steel makers while promoting efficient manufacturing
processes based on
the UPS policy. Over the past few
years, the Company
has been
promoting efficiency in its development
activities by utilizing computer-aided engineering
(CAE).
The Company has 125 R&D staff at present.
R&D costs for the
reporting period
ended March 2007 stood at 1,600 million yen.
The Company has 98 industrial property rights as of March 31, 2007.
R&D activities in the automotive parts business
Product Development
-Optimizing
the strength and rigidity of products
-Developing products that are more compact and lighter in weight
-Designing products in
which stamping technology
can be applied
-Shortening development periods
Material Development
-High-strength steel plates
-Highly rigid plastic materials
Process Development
Stamping process for super high-strength steel plats
Precision metal stamping
Stamping process for light-alloy materials
Welding process for light-alloy materials
Processing of high-strength pipes
Stamping process for high-strength plastics
Compound molding process for plastic composites.
Investment Activities
In FY2006, capital expenditure totaled 20.1
billion yen.
As for auto parts, 19.9 billion yen was invested mainly to remodel auto
parts production facilities to deal with the customers' global expansion
activities and model changes.
New Facilities
Plant (Location) | Business | Expected Investment (millions of yen) | Started in: | Expected to Complete in: |
UNIPRES Corporation | ||||
Headquarters & Offices |
Measures against earthquakes, etc. | 1,200 | April, 2007 | March, 2008 |
Kanagawa Plant and Tochigi
Plant (Kanagawa Pref., Japan) Tochigi Pref., Japan) |
Development of production technologies and remodeling of production facilities to deal with model changes | 3,900 | April, 2007 | March, 2008 |
Fuji Plant and
Yamanashi Plant (Shizuoka Pref., Japan) (Yamanashi Pref., Japan) |
Improvement in production operations and remodeling of production facilities to deal with model changes | 2,300 | April, 2007 | March, 2008 |
UNIPRES Kyusyu Co., Ltd. | ||||
Headquarters and Plant (Fukuoka Pref., Japan) |
Renewal of production facilities to deal with increased volume and model changes | 1,300 | April, 2007 | March, 2008 |
UNIPRES U.S.A. INC | ||||
Headquarters and Plant (USA) |
Renewal of production facilities to deal with model changes | 650 | April, 2007 | March, 2008 |
UNIPRES Mexicana S. A. De C. V. | ||||
Headquarters and Plant (Mexico) |
Renewal of production facilities to deal with model changes | 400 | Jan., 2007 | Dec., 2008 |
UNIPRES Southeast U.S.A. Inc. | ||||
Headquarters
and Plant (USA) |
Renewal of production facilities to deal with model changes | 100 | April, 2007 | March, 2008 |
UNIPRES (UK) LIMITED | ||||
Headquarters and Plant (UK) |
Renewal of production facilities to deal with increased volume and model changes | 800 | Jan., 2007 | Dec., 2008 |
UNIPRES Guangzhou Corporation | ||||
Headquarters and Plant (China) |
Production facilities to deal with new vehicle models | 2,000 | Jan., 2007 | Dec., 2008 |