Leaders' Ambitions

    As a Global Player, Murata Faces New Challenges Head On The EMI Filter Division Is Opening up a Whole New Chapter in Its History, Bringing Changes in Both Production and Marketing

    Toshiyuki Sato General Manager, Planning Dept., EMI Filter Division, Components Business Unit

    Since joining Murata Manufacturing, Sato worked in different sales/marketing positions. His 14 years of work experience outside Japan include various locations such as Singapore, the Philippines, China (Shenzhen) , and Taiwan. In Taiwan he not only engaged in sales and marketing, but also worked at the plant. This is one of the reasons that he desired to move to a product division with manufacturing functions. Sato has held his current position since October 2012.

    Operating in a fast-growing market, the Murata EMI Filter Division aims to upgrade its product lineup even further and establish globally-oriented sales strategies.
    He faces these challenges by drawing on his many years of experience in sales and marketing in Japan and abroad. The time is ripe.
    Murata aims to achieve overall growth of the EMI Filter Division operations —
    And to become the trailblazer in noise filter/inductor technology in the future.

    Acclaimed in the Mobile Device Market, Murata Now Aims to Strengthen Operations in the Markets for Automotive and Industrial Electrical Equipment

    In the world market, products from the Murata EMI Filter Division are highly valued, especially in the field of mobile devices such as smartphones, PCs, and tablet computers. Customers in the so-called commodity market use many compact, high-precision and high-performance components. These products represent the field where Murata is strongest. By contrast, we still don’t have much presence in the markets for automotive and industrial electrical equipment. We have yet to expand our lineup of larger products that can accommodate high power (large current) . Here, we have been left in the dust by the competition; they have strengthened their portfolios by purchasing businesses they want.

    Against this backdrop, Murata in 2012 formed a capital and business alliance with Toko, Inc., a manufacturer strong in inductors for large currents. Both companies have already started joint product development. We aim to create new attractive products, for example, inductors that are a size smaller than existing products yet deliver the same levels of performance. From this point on, we will combine Toko’s material technology with Murata’s micro-fabrication technology to extend the EMI Filter Division’s product lineup and increase our presence abroad.

    Meeting Requests for Cost Reduction Helps Us Win the Fierce Competition

    In the commodity market, we fiercely vie against foreign suppliers and therefore permanent cost reduction is the key imperative there. This pursuit is driven by a cross functional team (CFT) consisting of members from production, development, sales engineering, and planning departments. The team employs a so-called “integral” approach, and we aim to develop it as a new strength of the EMI Filter Division. Instead of leaving all cost reduction efforts up to plants, our development people are to design easy-to-produce products and consider ways of cost reduction right from the development phase. Even after the start of mass production, they work together with plant staff to develop cost-saving measures. All team members share the cost targets and formulate measures from different perspectives. They work as one to achieve the target costs and increase sales opportunities. We have full confidence in our quality, but we are now working hard to win customer satisfaction in terms of cost as well.

    The commodity market is our major battlefield. It is hard for us to meet the cost requirements here, but we must not give up. Struggling in a difficult market increases our cost competitiveness. It helps us develop know-how for making good products at low costs. I believe this expertise will also help us develop and produce high-value products for markets like in-vehicle systems and industrial electrical equipment. We will enhance our fundamental strengths to win the competition.

    Product Overview

    Murata ceramic capacitors, our core product category, account for 35% of the world market. A mobile phone incorporates some 200 of them, a PC uses 700, and a flat panel TV set contains as many as a thousand. Numbers are not so large for EMI-suppression/inductor products, but even then a smartphone has at least a hundred of them in total, comprising 30 to 50 noise suppression components and 50 to 100 inductors. Both categories of components are indispensable for the proper function of electric and electronic devices. Without them, no mobile phones, PCs, home electrical appliances, and cars could work. These electronic components have now become an integral part of life throughout the world

    Struggling with stringent cost reduction requirements increases your price competitiveness. I’m convinced that know-how for making good products at low costs will also be useful in markets for high-value products.

    Shift from Mass to Low-Volume Production, Marketing Differs From Region to Region

    As additional pillars of our business, we will also focus on the markets for in-vehicle systems and industrial electrical equipment. These markets require different methods of development, manufacturing, and marketing compared with those we employ in the commodity market. Our development engineers will be expected to work on a greater number of application-specific and customized components as well as highly reliable products. In the area of manufacturing, we will be required to make a shift from mass production to low-volume production. Our marketing will need reviewing where quality assurance and data provision for customers are concerned. In short, we will need to strengthen our marketing in a way that allows us to identify customers’ technical needs more accurately. This requires a more careful approach. We therefore put more business resources such as personnel, materials and equipment, and funds here. As far as manufacturing is concerned, relevant plant managers and relevant general managers have gathered for panels set up for individual production processes to start discussing new approaches.

    The markets for automotive and industrial electrical equipment differ from the commodity market in terms of keiretsu (business grouping), specific business custom, and the need to build relationships with system integrators. We are intent on expanding our business by leveraging Murata’s worldwide networks of marketing channels, supply chains, and distributors and partners. In conducting marketing activities for identifying customer needs in overseas markets, we not only send resident sales engineers there, but we also train local sales engineers. Assistance from local employees is indispensable for gauging the real needs of local customers. Looking back on my 14 years of working overseas, I often found myself more useless as I got closer to the front line. Business goes more smoothly when local employees communicate with local customers in local languages. Increasing human diversity and training diverse business talent is one of the challenges we aim to tackle in the long term.

    Enhancing Capital Investment to Upgrade the Product Lineup

    We have two goals to achieve in the future. One is advance capital investment. Several years ago we made a mistake in forecasting demand. We then turned around and increased production, but it was too late. Our mistake ended up causing our customers some trouble. To avoid such problems in supply, we will take a risk of making advance investments in products that are in the introduction and growth phases of their lifecycles.

    The other goal is to expand the lineup of EMI Filter Division products. As I said earlier, Murata has yet to offer more products for power lines in its lineup in order to enter the markets for in-vehicle and industrial electrical systems. In addition to the alliance with Toko, we seek various forms of partnerships, such as collaboration with outside players and concluding patent agreements. In the commodity market as well, we aim to establish Murata products as industry standards. Here we will try to keep updated about noise regulations to ensure successful market launches, and conduct exchanges with IC manufacturers. Having a more complete lineup will make us more attractive to customers. The overall growth of the EMI Filter Division operations can be described as our grand design for the coming decade. We aim to become the trailblazer in noise filter/inductor technology in the future.

    EMIFIL®

    Noise suppression components and EMI filters from Murata have been awarded the “EMIFIL” registered trademark. This brand was introduced in 1980, following the launch of Japan’s first three-terminal capacitor and ferrite bead in the previous year. The three-terminal capacitor, which was to play the key role in noise suppression in later years, could suppress noise with higher frequencies compared with the conventional two-terminal type. The company also commercialized ferrite bead with lead wires passed through them, consolidating the foundation of Murata noise suppression technology. The EMIFIL® name is used even today as a collective name for EMI suppression filters from Murata.(According to accounts published in metamorphosis No. 7)

    EMIFIL® is a registered trademark of Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

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