MC News Panasonic and Toray to Build the World's Largest Plasma TV Plant with a Capacity of One Million Units per Month
OSAKA, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic [NYSE
symbol: MC]), best known for its Panasonic
brand, and diversified chemical group Toray Industries, Inc. (Toray),
today announced plans to build a new plasma display panel (PDP)
manufacturing facility in Japan. It will be the fifth PDP plant of their
joint venture, Matsushita PDP Company Ltd. (MPDP), enabling Panasonic to
further step up its PDP production capacity, making it by far the
largest PDP manufacturer in the world.
To leverage concentration of manufacturing facilities to its advantage,
MPDP plans to build the new plant in Amagasaki, Japan near the existing
fourth plant. The construction is scheduled to start in November 2007
and the first phase of the production in May 2009.
With an investment of approximately 280 billion yen, the fifth plant
will have a monthly production capacity of one million units (calculated
based on 42-inch panels) - the largest production capacity of PDP in the
world. The investment efficiency of the new plant will be five times or
greater than that of MPDP’s first PDP plant.
With its overwhelming production capacity and cost competitiveness,
Panasonic will lead the world market of large-screen flat-panel displays.
By introducing the latest facilities as well as MPDP’s
leading-edge processing technologies and production systems, the new
plant will realize as many as ten 42-inch panels, or eight 50-inch
panels, from a single sheet of glass, the world’s
largest number of panels per sheet in PDP production. MPDP will
implement a comprehensive production management scheme to cover all its
factories to realize speedier and more flexible supply of the products.
With the new plant, MPDP will further strengthen its supply system to
meet an ever-increasing demand in the global market.
Panasonic forecasts that with the rapid increase of the demand for
flat-panel TVs due to the global digitalization of TV broadcasts, 65% of
the 200 million world aggregate demand for TVs will be for flat-panel
TVs in 2010. Panasonic also forecasts that the demand for larger-screen
TVs will increase rapidly with the expansion of contents with high
picture quality and creation of smaller footprint flat-panel TVs,
leading to over 30% of the world aggregate demand for TVs occupied by
the 37-inch or larger flat-panel TVs in 2010. Further increase of the
demand is expected in China and other BRICs countries where
infrastructure for digital TV broadcasts will be developed, as well as
in the biggest TV markets such as the U.S. and Europe.
The demand for PDPs with extended lifetime, energy-efficiency and high
picture quality has also been increasing rapidly for business-use as
multipurpose display for business, educational and medical applications
as well as for home-use.
As Panasonic anticipates that the world PDP market will grow to 30
million units in 2010 because of the superiority of PDP TVs to other
flat-panel TVs in terms of production and cost efficiency as well as
picture quality, Panasonic has decided to further expand its production
capacity of PDP panels.
By positioning PDPs as one of their core businesses, Panasonic and Toray
are committed to running MPDP jointly and making a significant
contribution to the progress of the industry of new audiovisual
equipment on a global scale.
Profile of New Plant
Name:
Matsushita PDP Company Ltd. Fifth Plant
Location:
Near the existing Amagasaki plant (under consideration)
Investment:
Approximately 280 billion yen
(including plant construction and equipment cost)
President:
Ken Morita
Senior Vice President, Panasonic AVC Networks Company
Executive Officer, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
Products:
Plasma displays, plasma display modules and
related products
Production Capacity:
One million units per month
(calculated based on 42-inch panels)
Construction:
Groundbreaking in November 2007
Production:
Planned to commence in May 2009
Employees:
T.B.D.
Floor Space:
Approximately 284,000 square meters
Floors:
Six stories and mid-stairs
About Panasonic
Best known by its Panasonic brand name, Matsushita Electric Industrial
Co., Ltd. is a worldwide leader in the development and manufacturing of
electronic products for a wide range of consumer, business, and
industrial needs. Based in Osaka, Japan, the Company recorded
consolidated net sales of US$76.02 billion for the year ended March 31,
2006. The Company’s shares are listed on the
Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and New York (NYSE:MC) stock exchanges. For more
information on the Company and the Panasonic brand, visit the Company’s
website at http://panasonic.net/.
About Toray
Toray, a leading diversified chemicals corporate group, has been
technology-focused since its foundation in 1926. The Company’s
operations are underpinned by technological expertise in organic
synthetic chemistry, polymer science, biotechnology and nanotechnology -
Toray’s core technologies. These innovative
technologies have yielded “advanced materials”
that Toray is now exploiting to provide customers with comprehensive
solutions through Fibers and Textiles, Plastics and Chemicals,
IT-related Products, Carbon Fiber Composite Materials, Environment and
Engineering, Life Science and Other Businesses divisions. In the ended
March 31, 2006, Toray had consolidated sales of US$12.1 billion, and
over 34,600 employees worldwide. For further information, please check
the Company’s website at http://www.toray.com.
