On January 1, 2003, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. launched the ME Company, an in-house company for the marine engine business, which mainly focuses on outboard motors -- the power source for watercraft including pleasure, utility and fishing boats. The change aims to strengthen market competitiveness and product development capability by ensuring that marine engine operations respond quickly to rapidly changing business conditions. To this end, Yamaha Motor has given the ME Company greater autonomy and authority than its conventional business divisions.
The core of the ME company is formed by Marine Engine Operations, which is responsible for the product planning and sales of marine engines, and Sanshin Industries Co., Ltd., a Yamaha Motor subsidiary for marine engine manufacturing (located in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan; Representative: Shinya Sato). This synergy enables the new organization to flexibly but consistently respond to changing business conditions by completely integrating operations, including manufacturing, sales, development and purchasing. The ME Company will incorporate Yamaha Motor Personal Watercraft Operations as a unit within the in-house company organization, while setting up Yamaha Kumamoto Products Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of small outboard motors, as its subsidiary. When these changes are complete and the ME Company becomes a Yamaha Motor in-house company, it will have annual sales of 120 billion yen, a staff of 1,709 employees, and annual shipments of some 320,000 units.
In converting Marine Engine Operations from a conventional corporate division into an in-house company, Yamaha Motor is granting it more decision-making authority, and therefore greater autonomy, in areas of its business including capital investment, expense control, financing, personnel, and organizational and operations management.
Worldwide demand for outboard motors is expected to remain unchanged for some time. Against this backdrop, adopting the in-house company system for Marine Engine Operations will contribute to speedier decision-making, manufacturing innovation, and, in conjunction with the SCM project, cost reduction -- thus enhancing market competitiveness, product development capability, and profitability.
From the time Yamaha Motor produced its first 7-horsepower outboard motor, the P-7G/K, in 1960, the Company has focused on developing and improving marine engines, creating products capable of extended deployment in harsh seawater environments. Yamaha Motor now boasts a product lineup of 26 rustproof, anticorrosive and highly durable 2-stroke outboard models, ranging from 2 to 250 horsepower, with another 16 models in the 4-stroke category, with 2.5 to 225 horsepower.
Today, amid increasing environmental regulation, Yamaha Motor is developing large-sized outboard motors, such as the Z200N, F200A and F225A, which already meet 2006 U.S. Environment Protection Agency emissions standards. Meanwhile, Yamaha Motor has expanded production capabilities at manufacturing subsidiaries Sanshin Industries and Yamaha Kumamoto Products in Japan, and MBK Industrie in France. These positive factors have made a significant contribution to the Company’s business performance. Thus, Yamaha Motor has achieved remarkable gains in units shipped, even in the sluggish global market. |
