Leader Talk

With a New Nationwide Sales & Marketing Organization, Murata Is Set to Approach Automakers Aggressively

With the recent organizational change, Murata has established the Sales & Marketing Dept., Automotive. The new integrated nationwide sales structure with its focus on automobiles represents further development of the previous area marketing organization. It responds flexibly to business customs in the auto industry in terms of quality, reliability, cost, and delivery. By gathering information from a global perspective and actively making plans and proposals for automotive customers, the new sales organization enables Murata to respond to their confidence and requirements.

Motokuni Aramoto
General Manager, Sales & Marketing Dept., Automotive, Japan Sales Division, Sales & Marketing Unit

After joining Murata Manufacturing in 1984, Aramoto worked as a sales engineer, organizing exhibitions and creating summaries of technical information. In 1989, he was appointed to a position responsible for customers in the Japanese market for mobile phones. From 2003, he was mainly responsible for customers in the market for in-vehicle equipment. With the establishment of the Sales & Marketing Dept., Automotive, he took his current position in October 2012. Aramoto loves golfing and watching movies (classics in particular) .

While retaining the advantages of area marketing, the new sales organization is expected to create synergy as the first of its kind at Murata to be established with a focus on a specific category of applications (for the automotive market) .
In which direction will cars develop in the future? What kinds of functions are expected from electronic components? Serving as a bridge to connect customer needs with new technologies, we maintain good communication with both automakers and internal development departments.
We aim to develop a new market in keeping with the further growth of the automotive industry.

Sales & Marketing Dept., Automotive Has an Integrated Nationwide Structure to Meet Automakers' Requirements

In October 2012, Murata changed its domestic sales organization. The previous area marketing organizations each responsible for East Japan, the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, Central Japan, and West Japan were replaced by 2 sales & marketing departments for East and West Japan. At the same time, these were supplemented by the Sales & Marketing Dept., Automotive, the first sales organization to be established by Murata with a clear focus on a specific category of applications. The third department represents a nationwide structure that addresses automotive customers to market Murata components in their market. While retaining the advantages of the area marketing approach, the new single sales organization is responsible for all sales operations related to automotive applications. The previous division between automotive and consumer-product components has thus been made even clearer. With these 3 sales and marketing departments, we aim to create synergy. Automakers have unique business customs, under which suppliers are required to provide very high product reliability. Automakers assume 10 years of vehicle use, but not all drivers switch to new cars after 10 years. Some of them use their cars longer. We are thus required to ensure continued supply of components during the vehicles' service lives. Also important is efficient control of component production and delivery in keeping with the production system — most typically the "just-in-time" production system — specific to the auto industry. What's more, we need to develop our sales activity with a broad range of knowledge unique to automobiles — knowledge of engine and other mechanisms, interior equipment, emissions, and legal regulations. Here we need to respond in a manner and operate with a cycle specific to the auto industry. The new automotive department is the first sales organization at Murata to be established with a focus on a specific category of applications. We aim to differentiate ourselves from the competition by fostering a team of specialists that are not only versed with the market and products, but also boast a broad knowledge of in-vehicle applications in such aspects as quality and supply chain.

Marketing Murata Products in the Growing World Market for Automobiles

Under the Sales & Marketing Dept., Automotive, the Business Development Sec. performs three functions. First, it aims to develop marketing on a global basis. Until 2020, the world vehicle fleet is expected to grow by 4% every year. In-vehicle components will grow even faster as more electronics is used in each car and the number of electronic components will increase with the introduction of new features. From the expected increase in fleet and the use of electronics, we anticipate an annual market growth of 7 to 8%. We will thus have an opportunity to contribute to this growth. With its capacitors and other products in the general-purpose category, Murata wins great trust of in-vehicle equipment manufacturers. In the area of communication, we expect to collaborate with in-vehicle equipment manufacturers with our technology, as mobile phones and smartphones are now increasingly linked with vehicle equipment. The Sales & Marketing Dept., Automotive will gather and analyze relevant information to develop global marketing activity for international automakers.

The global fleet will increase, while increasing use of information technology will increase the use of in-vehicle electronics. These trends will combine to give us great opportunities.

Environmental Protection, Infotainment, and Advanced Safety Technology Deploying FAEs for In-Depth Marketing

Second, we are developing in-depth marketing activity by deploying so-called field application engineers (FAEs) to each of the three promising vehicle functions: 1. environmental protection, 2. infotainment (fusion of information and entertainment) , and 3. safety (advanced safety technology) . In environmental protection, we will strengthen our lineup of large capacitors with high capacitance in keeping with the progress being made in technologies such as EVs (electric vehicles) , HEVs (hybrid electric vehicles) , and stop-start systems. In infotainment, we will facilitate integration of mobile phones and smartphones with in-vehicle communication systems. We will replace the previous cable connections with wireless connections by use of our short-range wireless communication modules. When it comes to safety, modern vehicles are fitted with new assistance systems with intelligent features such as collision prevention and lane keeping. We will propose attractive solutions by understanding the functionality necessary to improve road safety even further. FAEs use their technical expertise to provide support for sales and marketing activity. They are versed in both automotive engineering and circuit board technology. We will also work with general salespeople, who need broad knowledge on products.

Understanding the Technical Trends of Automakers Identifying New Promising Technologies in Collaboration with Internal Development Departments

Third, we will gather information about advance development at automakers to understand how and in which direction they aim to develop their technologies for the future and what kinds of functions they plan to expand. In doing so, we will be able to provide new values for Tier 1 suppliers with whom we have direct transactions. In addition to marketing existing products, we aim to work with internal development departments to identify new promising technologies to be proposed to automakers to meet their needs. Developing a new vehicle model is a long process. We will strengthen our cooperation with internal development departments while looking ahead 7 to 10 years. Murata development engineers have already completed a wireless communication module that can transmit not only audio signals, but also large data sets such as images. Data transfer without wire harnesses is expected to create new demand since it improves the convenience of in-vehicle equipment, especially infotainment systems. Murata has many other promising technologies including lithium-ion batteries, DC-DC converters, and thermal solutions. The Sales & Marketing Dept., Automotive will aggressively approach the promising market for automobiles.

Infotainment

Infotainment is a word made up of "information" and "entertainment." It represents features and services providing fun of accessing information. For automobiles, infotainment makes fun activities and entertainment available, such as enjoying movies, games, TV programs and Internet on the back seat, or operating car navigation system, positioning information service and mobile equipment in vehicle. Connections and information transmission formerly available by wire are expected to become wireless, attracting attention to Murata's wireless communication and sensing technologies.

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