Tokyo, April 23, 2001---
Minolta Co., Ltd. and Fujitsu Limited today announced that they have agreed to establish a new joint venture company, to be called F&M Imaging Technology Co., Ltd., that will focus on development of color laser printers.
The market for laser printers, which is primarily geared toward business users, has been steadily growing, with worldwide sales of color printers reaching approximately 600,000 units in fiscal 2000. Advances in the speed and functionality of color laser printers are expected to lead to a large increase in the scale of this market, which is estimated at over 2 million units for fiscal 2004. It is to meet this large increase in demand for business-use color printers that Minolta and Fujitsu decided to establish the joint venture. Specifically, the two companies plan to pool their respective technology resources to speed development of color printers using tandem print engines(*1), and, using their respective sales channels, make a full-fledged market entry in the spring of next year.
Up until now, Minolta and Fujitsu have each pursued independent business activities in the printer field. Minolta has leading edge technological capabilities in such areas as electrophotography, image processing, toners, and high performance optical heads, and it has a well established sales and distribution network concentrated in Europe and the U.S. Fujitsu, in turn, has excellent system control, controller development and circuit design technologies, as well as top-notch technological know-how behind its broad product line-up, which includes system printers. In addition, Fujitsu has especially strong sales channels in Japan.
The impetus behind the joint venture is the desire to combine the above-mentioned strengths of the two companies to increase the speed of product development efforts and expand sales and distribution channels. By so doing, the two companies aim to be among the global leaders in the field of tandem printers, which are expected to be the major segment of the color laser printer market.
Through this joint venture in the growing printer market, Minolta and Fujitsu intend to offer high-speed, high-quality products that are reasonably priced. Moreover, by vigorously promoting the development of this business, they aim to expand the use of color in business documents in offices.
Profile of the Joint Venture
| Corporate Name | : | F&M Imaging Technology Co., Ltd. |
| Office Location | : | NS Takanawa Building, 2-19-13 Takanawa, Minato-ku, Tokyo |
| Shareholders | : | Minolta Co., Ltd. and Fujitsu Limited |
| Capital | : | Y 400 million |
| Shareholding Ratio | : | 60% Minolta, 40% Fujitsu |
| President | : | Norio Uryu [currently Director of Minolta Co., Ltd. and President of Minolta Industries (HK) Limited] |
| Number of Employees | : | approximately 120 initially |
| Date to be Established | : | May 16, 2001 |
| Date to Start Business | : | June 1, 2001 |
| Business Description | : | Development, manufacture and sales of color laser printers |
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| *1 | The tandem color print process uses a drum with four colors to print in four colors simultaneously in one process. A normal color printer using four colors applies one color at a time, making it four times slower than a monochrome printer; however, the tandem color print process prints as fast as a monochrome printer. |
About Minolta
Minolta Co., Ltd. (TSE 7753) is a leading manufacturer of image information and optical products having operation bases in 33 countries worldwide. The Minolta Group consists of 95 companies with a total of 24,000 employees. Group sales for the period ended March 2000 totaled 480 billion yen, 80% from overseas sales. Placing major emphasis on the business of photocopiers and printers, especially in the field of color output, Minolta acquired US-base printer manufacturer QMS, Inc., and is strategically promoting the alliances with other industries. With a strong core of optical technologies developed over many years as a camera manufacturer, Minolta aims to be a corporation that offers products and services that are indispensable to all aspects of the digital imaging field.
Internet: http://www.minolta.com/
About Fujitsu
Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) is a leading provider of Internet- based information technology solutions for the global marketplace. Comprising over 500 group companies and affiliates worldwide -- including ICL, Amdahl and DMR Consulting -- it had consolidated revenues of 5.26 trillion yen ($49.6 billion) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2000. Fujitsu's pace-setting technologies, world-class computing and telecommunications platforms, and global corps of over 60,000 systems and services experts make it uniquely positioned to unleash the infinite possibilities of the Internet to help its customers succeed. Altogether, the Fujitsu Group has 188,000 employees and operations in over 100 countries.
Internet: http://www.fujitsu.com/
| Press contacts: |
Kanji Wada, Ichiro Shirai
Minolta Co., Ltd., Corporate Communications Division
Tel: +81-3-5423-7556 (Tokyo)
Fax: +81-3-5423-7559
E-mail: webmaster@minolta.co.jp
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Naomi Ogawa, Bob Pomeroy
Fujitsu Limited, Public Relations
Tel: +81-3-3215-5259 (Tokyo)
Fax: +81-3-3216-9365
e-mail: pr@fujitsu.com
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