Yamaha 2006 Annual Report Download - page 33

Yamaha Annual Report 2006 33
Automobile interior wood components
Magnesium parts used in mobile phones
Precision Machine (Trim Puncher)
Market trends and business strategy
Golf products
Yamaha uses its ownership of the
championship course at the Katsuragi Golf
ClubTM as a point of contact to large
numbers of golfers. The development and
manufacture of these products exploit the
materials processing technology that the
Company has cultivated over its many years
in the production of musical instruments.
Amid a depressed market for golf
equipment in Japan in fiscal 2006, Yamaha
launched the latest fruit of that technology:
its inpresTM X range of clubs. These clubs
conform to the new standards limiting the
allowable coefficient of restitution for driving
clubs that are due to come into force in
2008. Yamaha expects high replacement
demand for clubs in 2006 and 2007 ahead
of the introduction of the new standards.
The impending retirement of the baby
boom generation is also forecast to boost
the number of people who can enjoy golf in
their leisure time. Yamaha aims to raise
brand awareness while expanding market
share so that it can exploit replacement
demand and tap new users.
Automobile interior wood components
Yamaha’s business in wood components
for automobile interiors, like its business in
golf products, involves the application of
technologies developed in musical
instrument production, such as wood
processing, fabrication, bonding, and
staining. Yamaha supplies interior
components for luxury automobiles to
automakers in Japan and abroad. Amid
fierce global competition and downward
pressure on prices during fiscal 2006,
Yamaha found its wood components in
strong demand for their superior
technology. Included in that demand were
inquiries from Europe.
To meet rising demand, Yamaha
invested in new manufacturing processes
and higher capacity ahead of the launch
of luxury models by Japanese automakers
from mid-2006 onward. Yamaha plans
continued investment to upgrade its
product development, manufacturing,
and supply capabilities to maintain its
competitive edge in the market for
automobile interior wood components
and to ensure stable earnings from this
product line.
Metallic molds and components and FA
equipment
Yamaha has utilized its long-standing
original design concept to develop a design
and production system for metallic molds
using 3-D solid models. A system that
realizes the rationalization of the press line
enables production to be tailored to
customer needs.
Yamaha anticipates that demand for
magnesium parts will remain buoyant due
to rising demand from the mobile phone
sector and as demand for single-lens
reflex digital cameras increases along
with the customer base of makers of
these cameras.
Yamaha’s FA equipment operations
supply precision machines for fabricating
and testing electronic circuit boards.
Shipment levels have recorded steady
growth as a result of favorable conditions in
the flexible printed circuit industry. Such
circuits are used in many digital consumer
electronic products, including flat-screen
televisions, mobile phones, digital cameras,
and portable audio players. Strong demand
in the automobile parts industry has also
supported sales of other of the Company’s
FA equipment products, such as leak
testers and finishing robots. Yamaha,
however, expects competition to intensify.
Efforts are under way to reinforce the
competitiveness of the Company’s
operations in FA equipment.