2018_4q_omron_e

23/45 Enhance Total Solution Capabilities (Code Readers)

Our first example is FA-use code readers. Over the last few years, product quality has become a major social issue. We have seen an increase in health damage as a result of fraud in the food, beverages and drug industries. There have been serious issues related to product quality in smartphone handsets and a rising number of vehicle recalls. OMRON seeks to resolve such social issues and to create a society where consumers can feel safe and secure. We specifically propose to mark ID codes on everything down to the level of individual components, no matter how small or what shape. 2D code markings can be reduced to several tenths the size of conventional barcodes while still being capable of containing up to a maximum of 7,000 characters. This makes it possible to have an automated process with full traceability down to each individual component. This is why we made the acquisition of the leading code reader company, Microscan, last year. With this acquisition, we have been able to enter the traceability market in a timely manner as the market opportunity expands. We chose Microscan because we were very keen to have its sophisticated technological expertise, given strong global superiority in key features. We were specifically interested in Microscan’s capability in reading super-fine codes and reading codes on rough or curved surfaces. By packaging the fully harmonized combination of this superior reading technology with OMRON’s strengths of ILOR+S, supported by dedicated control application software, our customers are able to easily adopt OMRON’s traceability systems in their manufacturing lines. We have already initiated field testing of this new technology in several applications with a number of our major customers. These new systems make it possible to have full traceability down to individual components, something our customers had believed to be impossible. We believe the traceability opportunity will expand significantly going forward. We aim to capture this demand to grow our business as well as contribute to solving this important social issue. Next, I will talk about the robotics opportunity.