Nikon 2015 Annual Report Download - page 23

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NIKON REPORT 2015
make our production structure more exible and robust poses challenges to further
rises in our competitiveness. In the case of FPD lithography systems, the installation
of the systems—nal assembly work and adjustment—are executed at the customer
production front line, so we are going to promote the streamlining of that manufactur-
ing process. The installation work takes several months, and as customer production
bases are for the most part overseas, employees spend very long periods of time on
duty. I believe shortening the duration of nal assembly and conducting the work with
an efcient number of personnel will enable us to make more effective use of our
human resources.
As I mentioned, a sharp increase is expected in the number of units we sell in the
scal year ending March 31, 2016. If we are unable to secure the personnel necessary
to cope with this increase, we will not be able to meet our customers’ expectations. On
the other hand, demand in the FPD lithography system market is changing, and the
market will be maturing over the medium-to-long term. Under the circumstances, it is
difcult to maintain a permanent increase in xed costs. We are thus classifying busi-
ness tasks and appointing expert human resources from this business unit for work
that carries a high degree of difculty. We will also optimize our business unit struc-
ture to meet decreases or increases in market demand, while curbing any xed increase
in human resources by drawing on resources from outside the Company for tasks with
a comparatively low degree of difculty.
Q Please tell us about the risks and opportunities in the coming years.
In the years ahead, even greater advances will be made in higher-denition for both
televisions and smart devices. It is expected that the standard for televisions will no
longer be full high denition (Full HD) and will move to 8K after the 4K era. At some
point, 4K-class panels are likely to appear on smart devices as well. As the production
of higher-denition panels demands very advanced technologies, these developments
present an opportunity for the FPD Lithography Business. We will further enhance our
lithography systems’ competitiveness to maintain and extend our superiority in higher-
denition. However, as the market will be maturing, this is not a time to rely solely on
new systems. Customer needs are diversifying, and our timeliness in supplying optimal
performance “products” that offer superior cost performance will hold the key to sub-
sequent growth. Therefore, I would like to make changes to the sales, development,
and support departments so they function as more of an integrated tripartite system
than they are at present. To develop new products that fully meet customer needs, it
is necessary to gain more detailed information on the conditions of the systems that
are operated at the customer production bases by not only support representatives but
also sales and development engineers. In this way, we will build detailed accounts of
our customer needs, which are expected to be linked to innovative products and solu-
tions. For example, we will be able to provide systems offering improved productivity
by modifying a part of our existing systems, which I believe will mutually benet both
our customers and us.
We will proactively advance the search for innovative businesses related to existing
FPD lithography systems and make progress toward our aim of remaining an operation
that supports the advances of the display industry.
Business Strategy
FPD scanner FX-86SH2
FPD scanner FX-67S
FPD scanner FX-101S