Toshiba to strengthen battery and building solutions businesses

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On April 1, 2019, oversight of the businesses will be transferred from Toshiba Infrastructure Systems & Solutions Corporation (hereinafter “TISS”) to Toshiba by absorption-type company splits. The SCiB™ rechargeable battery business will become an independent business unit within Toshiba, which will also take on oversight of Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corporation, Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corporation and Toshiba Carrier Corporation, the three companies promoting the building solutions business.

The reorganization advances the strategy of the Toshiba Next Plan, announced on November 8, which positions the battery business as a new growth business, and the building solutions business as one of the Group’s focus business domains. The new organization will allow better utilization of Toshiba Group’s resources and will promote faster decision making and accelerated growth.

1. Battery business
On its transfer from TISS, the battery business will form an independent business unit within Toshiba, with Masayasu Toyohara Toshiba’s Corporate Executive Vice President. Positioning the business as an independent operation will remove layers of management and allow for more rapid decision making. TISS will continue to handle business operations related to using the SCiB™ as a storage battery system in sectors including rail transport, defense and power transmission substations.

Toshiba has manufactured and sold SCiB™, the lithium-ion rechargeable battery that features high security, long life, low-temperature operation and rapid charging since March 2008. Its versatility has found broad application in hybrid electric vehicles, automated guided vehicles and energy storage systems for rolling stock. Now, by fully utilizing its technologies and development resources, Toshiba is advancing the development of higher energy density batteries with titanium niobium oxide anodes, for use in electric vehicles.

Demand for SCiB™ is growing fast, and Toshiba is expanding production capacity through capital investment and alliances. In Japan, the company will construct a new production facility in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture, and reinforce the current manufacturing facility, Kashiwazaki Operations in Niigata prefecture. Separately, in 2017, Toshiba, Suzuki Motor Corporation and Denso Corporation agreed to establish a joint venture company to produce automotive lithium-ion battery packs in India, and Toshiba will also collaborate with Johnson Controls Power Solutions in the U.S.

Moving forward, and drawing on management expertise and know-how in mass production cultivated over the years, Toshiba will proactively channel resources into expanding the battery business. The company’s own wide ranging businesses allow promotion of opportunities beyond TISS’s scope of operations, with a focus on growth markets where SCiB™’s characteristics can be used to the full. By promoting expansion of business opportunities Toshiba aims for sales of 400 billion yen in 2030.

2. Building solutions businesses
Absorption-type company splits will bring the elevator and escalator business, lighting business and air conditioning business operated by Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corporation, Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corporation and Toshiba Carrier Corporation, respectively, directly under the control of Toshiba. The companies will be organized into a “Group Relations Division,” a dedicated management organization and  Shinichiro Akiba, Toshiba’s Corporate Senior Executive Vice President will oversee the building solutions businesses.

This new structure is expected to stimulate intensified collaboration amongst the three companies, and to reinforce management of the building solutions business by accelerating decision making. TISS will continue to focus on business operations related to substation systems and IoT solutions for buildings and facilities, in collaboration with the three companies.

The global market for elevators and escalators is growing steadily, and demand for building equipment replacement and renewal is expected to show particular growth, in Japan and overseas. Toshiba will boost sales by strengthening strategic alliances in overseas markets and reinforcing the replacement business in mature overseas markets and the domestic market. It will also increase wins of new orders by providing an environment where lifecycle of elevators and escalators can be planned, operated and managed with cloud-based services using data from Building Information Modeling (BIM) ahead of competitors, including future use in maintenance and renewals.

The lighting business will improve management efficiency and reinforce manufacturing capabilities by restructuring manufacturing sites. It will also concentrate resources in areas where it has a competitive advantages: lighting for facilities, where it has the number two share in Japan; lighting for the stage and studios, where it is one of the market leaders in Japan; and automotive lighting, where it is one of the global leaders by market share; and growing socket type LED market, to strengthen the business.

As worldwide awareness of the need to conserve energy rises and many countries strengthen energy-saving regulations, the air-conditioning business will increase overseas sales by expanding a product line-up centered on commercial-use air-conditioning; strengthening collaboration with Carrier Corporation; and reinforcing sales in China, where it already has a strong sales network. A proactive approach to investment for growth will guide investments in a new technology facility to enhance product development at its Fuji Operations facility in Shizuoka, Japan; and new production facilities in China and India that will boost capacity.

Toshiba Group will continue to review and execute the organizational structure necessary to realize the Toshiba Next Plan, reinforce business management and accelerate decision making.

3. Related personnel changes
With the reorganization above, Toshiba Group will make new personnel appointments on April 1, 2019.

(1) Battery Division
Responsible executive: Masayasu Toyohara,
Corporate Executive Vice President
Vice President             : Shun Egusa

(2) Group Relations Division
Responsible executive: Shinichiro Akiba,
Corporate Senior Executive Vice President
General manager        : Masahiro Horiguchi

(3) Head of Infrastructure Systems Business
Takayuki Konno : Corporate Senior Vice President,
President and CEO, Toshiba Infrastructure Systems & Solutions Corporation