Omron 2013 Annual Report Download - page 21

Asahikawa
Sapporo
Tokyo
Morioka
Sendai
Chiba
Yokohama
Tokyo Call Center
Nagano
Saitama
Hokuriku
Shizuoka
Nagoya
Gifu
Otsu
Kyoto
Osaka
Kobe
Okayama
Hiroshima
Kitakyushu
Saga
Nagasaki Oita
Kumamoto
Miyazaki
Kagoshima
OMRON Field Engineering Kyushu Co., Ltd.
Fukuoka
Osaka Call Center
Hamamatsu
Major base Service base Call center
OMRON Field Engineering
Hokkaido Co., Ltd.
Head office
38 Omron Corporation Integrated Report 2013 39
Where We're Headed
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Omron Corporation
Integrated Report 2013
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Market Environment
and Business Overview
— Please explain your business?
Yukumoto: Trends related to energy usage are un-
dergoing drastic changes in light of progressive glob-
al warming and natural energy resource depletion.
It will grow ever more important for companies to
contribute to the development of a low-carbon
society. Amid such changes in the surrounding
social context, the Environmental Solutions Busi-
ness HQ was established in March 2009. I as-
sumed my position as senior general manager of
this division in April 2012.
Not only does the Environmental Solutions Busi-
ness HQ develop its own business, it also works in
cooperation with other business divisions, such as
IAB and SSB, to advance business operations in
the fi elds of energy saving and energy creation.
In the energy-saving fi eld, one example of our
activities would be the eco-conscious optimization
initiatives conducted at the Ayabe Plant in Kyoto.
In October 2010, the Ayabe Plant launched an initia-
tive to halve its energy usage by March 31, 2014.
The unique environmental information monitoring
system provided by the HQ is helping support
that effort.
While the plant still has a ways to go before ac-
complishing this goal, it has already successfully
halved electricity usage in clean rooms and realized
a reduction of 70% in suspended particulate matter
(SPM). In January 2013, these efforts were recog-
nized and awarded the Minister of Economy, Trade
and Industry Prize in the Energy-Saving Activities
Category of the 2012 Energy Conservation Grand
Prix Program. We plan to apply the expertise ac-
cumulated through this project to the development
of equipment for supporting energy-saving efforts
and addressing environmental issues.
— Why did OFE decide to cooperate in developing
the Environmental Solutions Business?
Echizen: OFE was established more than 40
years ago, when Omron launched AFCs and traffi c
systems, as a company for providing systems
and maintenance related to traffi c signals and
railway facilities.
When the Environmental Solutions Business HQ
was formed, it was assumed that the division
would see support demand over the next 10 to 20
years and that OFE would have a role to fulfi ll in
capturing this demand, which led to our cooperat-
ing in this venture.
Many of our engineers hold qualifi cations for
electrical installation and construction manage-
ment, and we are seeing a rise in the number of
employees that are motivated to take on duties in
new fi elds by taking advantage of these basic skills.
— How is the market for the PV inverter business,
which is central to this cooperative venture?
Yukumoto: In the energy-creation business, we are
experiencing signifi cant increases in installations of
PV inverters, and, in fi scal 2012, the capacity of the
inverters we installed greatly exceeded 650MW. This
brought the cumulative capacity of supplied PV invert-
ers to approximately 2GW, which is roughly equiva-
lent to the generation capacity of two power plants.
On a cumulative basis, our share of the market for
residential-use systems is approximately 30%.
In addition, the 2012 launch of the feed-in tariff
scheme for renewable
energy has driven
strong growth in the
electricity sales market.
Japanese Market Forecasts
In particular, the market for inverter sales to indus-
trial users (over 10kW) has signifi cantly benefi ted
from the introduction of this system.
Presently, the electricity sales market is not only
limited to energy-related companies, but we are
seeing newcomers from different industries, and it
is therefore entirely possible that this market will
grow to a massive scale. While displaying enor-
mous potential for the future, these businesses
must address the task of stabilizing the operation
of solar power generation systems, as these
OFE’s Network
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
2010 2011 2012 2013
(Forecast)
2014
(Forecast)
2015
(Forecast)
Residential Use Small-to-Medium Scale (Several kWs–100kW)
Large Scale (250kW–500kW)
(FY)
(Solar power installations)
PV inverter
Source: Fuji-Keizai Group, 2012 market forecasts
Core Theme
3Environmental Solutions Business
and Social Systems Business (SSB)
Contributing to the Spread
of Renewable Energy Systems
The Environmental Solutions Business is one of the pillars of Value Generation 2020 (VG2020). In this
area, we boast the top share of the Japanese market for residential-use PV inverters for solar power
generation systems, which are the most popular option among renewable energy systems.
Omron offers unique, comprehensive solutions that contribute to the realization of a low-carbon
society while at the same time providing customers with the maximum level of convenience. As one
prime example of these solutions, a coordinated effort is being conducted linking the PV inverters and
other environment-related equipment of the Environmental Solutions Business HQ with the engineer-
ing and maintenance services provided by Omron Field Engineering Co., Ltd. (OFE). We asked senior
managers from each entity about plans to expand the respective operations and to contribute to
society through the Environmental Solutions Business.
Shizuto Yukumoto
Executive Offi cer
Senior General Manager
Environmental Solutions
Business Headquarters
Izumi Echizen
President and
Representative Director
Omron Field Engineering Co., Ltd.
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