Elcoteq’s home communications business area is expanding

The nature of the acquisition – complete FTV assembly – makes the improvement in this sector quite clear, and the move also meets strategic goals. By acquiring Philips’ plant in Juarez, Elcoteq also won a new Japanese customer: Japan-based Funai, a manufacturer of audiovisual equipment. Philips is one of Elcoteq’s Home Communications Business Area’s biggest customers in addition to Thomson. As well as assembly of flat panel TVs, Elcoteq manufactures set top boxes, other home connectivity products such as sub-assemblies and printed circuit boards (PCBA) for these products. To manage total cost of ownership, production resources are located in low-cost regions and focused on Home Communications, Elcoteq’s fastest growing segment. The market situation in the flat panel TV sector looks promising. Mr. Vesa Keränen, President of the Home Communications Business Area, sees a great future: “The flat panel TV market is growing very rapidly and the fact that this deal opens up opportunities for us to speed up our business development to win more FTV brand OEMs as customers.” Mr. Keränen is pleased for a very good reason. “This deal really brings us new competencies as we now have the capability of fi nal assembly for fl at panel TVs. We will start providing fl at panel TVs for Philips’ hotel TV business and South American markets, so this deal also strengthens our global partnership with them. And Funai as a new customer is a very welcome addition to our customer portfolio.” The Juarez acquisition accelerates the development of Home Communications’ business and service offerings. “Our cooperative relationship with Elcoteq has now been running successfully for the last 12 years and we are confident that Elcoteq will be an excellent partner as we continue to streamline our global supply chain for FTV products,” said Mr. Rob de Ridder, Senior Vice President for Philips. “Our move to transfer the Juarez operation to an experienced and leading EMS company in this field was a logical step in optimizing our supply base in the FTV business.” “We look forward to working with Elcoteq to secure the high-quality and cost-competitive supply of products to our customers in the region. With its flexible global operations network and comprehensive service offering, we believe Elcoteq is good EMS partner,” said Mr. Tomonori Hayashi, President and CEO of Funai Electric Co., Ltd.