2019_4q_omron_e

18/39 Strategic Investments to Enhance Business Foundation

There are 3 major strategic investments. The first is the roll-out of a new global core IT system. In order to further improve our competitiveness as the market continues evolve, we are upgrading our core IT system on a global basis. This will allow us to standardize our operational processes and improve productivity. We also aim to further accelerate our decision-making speed. This will require investments over several years, but we recognize it represents an important component of the infrastructure needed to support sustainable growth; we are committed to completing these investments. The second is further enhancements to the production and R&D facilities for IAB. We are expanding production and development space in anticipation of medium- to long-term growth. As an example, we will be converting the Kusatsu Plant, which currently manufactures products for multiple businesses, to a dedicated IAB development and production facility. This will increase the current space allocated to IAB by 1.5-fold. The third is the creation of a base to promote open innovation. We will add an open innovation center at Katsuragawa, Kyoto, where HCB has facilities. Additions to domestic facilities and increases to IAB headcount will be fully completed by the end of this year. Next slide please.