PIONEER EYES BOOST IN PLASMA PRODUCTION TO 500,000 BY 2005
Pioneer factories in Japan could exceed annual production capacity of 500,000 plasma display panels (PDPs) by spring 2005 when 4th production line starts operations, Pres. Kaneo Ito told reporters in Tokyo news briefing last week.
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Ito said Pioneer still was sizing up investment that would be required to add 2nd PDP production line by spring 2005 at plant in Kofu, where company’s first line has been operational since April 1997 and has current annual capacity of 50,000 PDPs. Ito said preliminary estimates were that new Kofu investment would be about ?26-?27 billion. He said it would be far less than ?45 billion investment suggested in recent news reports, and said “production improvements” would account for those savings. Pioneer added 2nd production line at plant in Shizuoka in Oct. 2001 with annual capacity of 100,000 and is building 2nd line there that’s set to start operating next Sept. with similar capacity.
Pioneer goal is to maintain industry leadership in PDP performance and cost reduction, Ito said. He said it was true that Pioneer had lost PDP market share ground in recent months because of entry of many competitors, but its share rose again in Nov. as result of strong brand awareness campaign.
Worldwide market demand is expected to reach 3.5 million PDPs, including 3 million for home applications, by fiscal year ending March 2006, said Akira Niijima, pres., Pioneer Home Entertainment, citing company projections. Japan will account for 1/3 of total home-use PDPs, followed closely by N. America at 800,000 projected, he said. Niijima said PDP production yields on 2nd line at Shizuoka factory reached 85% in June from low of 29% in Nov. 2001, month after operations began.