Omron to close facilities in UK and Japan

As part of its structural reform efforts, OMRON has decided to close two of its 49 production facilities, OMRON AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS UK (in England) and the Minakuchi factory (in Japan). OMRON AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS UK (OUK), which is engaged in the manufacture of automotive electronic components, was established as a subsidiary of OMRON in December 1987 (located at Kingswinford, West Midlands, UK). In recent years the company's performance has been poor amid worsening business conditions brought on by the rapid downturn in the automotive market. OMRON does not anticipate recovery in the foreseeable future and for this reason decided to review its production bases in Europe, coming to the decision to close OUK by the end of fiscal 2010. OMRON's Minakuchi factory was established in 1975 as a specialty semiconductor factory, handling semiconductor design and development as well as production. OMRON is moving to expand IC and MEMS production, but space is limited at the Minakuchi factory, so the company has decided to move the Minakuchi factory's production functions, including MEMS, to its Yasu office in Yasu, Shiga prefecture, which is already producing MEMS and CMOS.