OMRON DMS Company consolidates development functions to cut development time in half

Promote concurrent development

Masahiko Ezaki, president of DMS Company, said, “We will promote concurrent development, in which all divisions work on development in parallel, with the goal of cutting development time in half.

OMRON’s Device & Module Solutions (DMS) Company, which handles OMRON’s electronic component business and develops and manufactures various relays, switches, sensors, and other products, consolidated its development functions at the Okayama Plant in December 2022. The company has invested approximately 1 billion yen in relocating engineers and equipment, as well as renovating the Okayama Plant. At a strategy briefing on June 1, Masahiko Ezaki, president of DMS Company, stated, “We aim to cut development time in half by having product planning, design, quality control, and other departments work on development at the same time.” 

OMRON achieved its second consecutive year of sales and profit growth in FY2022, and its best performance ever. The DMS Company accounted for 138.9 billion yen of total sales of 876.1 billion yen. Together with the Industrial Automation Company, which handles control equipment and other products, the DMS Company recorded the highest sales ever for a business division, supporting OMRON’s profit growth.

 For sustainable growth 

The development site is located on the first through third floors of the Okayama Plant’s 2nd Building, which has a total area of approximately 9,000 m2. The third floor is a “co-creation area” where product planning and other discussions are held, the second floor is a “laboratory area” where specific product designs are examined, and the first floor is a “quality verification area” where evaluation tests are conducted. Joint development partners sometimes also participate in this area. 

The third floor is a “co-creation area” where product planning and other discussions take place.

The company invested approximately 1 billion yen in renovating the Okayama Plant by consolidating engineers and test facilities from the six existing development sites across Japan into the Okayama Plant. The Okayama Plant already has a module that has been prototyped through concurrent development and installed for demonstration testing. 

Masaharu Tsujimoto, General Manager of the Product Development Division of DMS Company, commented, “The starting point for development is not products, but solutions. We look at social issues, not just products”. By shifting to solution-oriented development, the company aims to achieve sustainable growth.