EarthTechnica to Become Kawasaki Subsidiary
Jan. 31, 2008
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Tokyo, January 31, 2008 — Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. and Kobe Steel, Ltd. announced today that they have reached an agreement whereby Kobe Steel will sell all of its shares in EarthTechnica Co., Ltd. to Kawasaki as of April 1, 2008. EarthTechnica was formed as a 50/50 joint venture between Kawasaki and Kobe Steel, two Japanese crushing equipment industry leaders. It began operations in July 2003 after the two crushing equipment businesses agreed to merge their marketing and design divisions. The two companies transferred their manufacturing operations to EarthTechnica in April 2005. Since the merger of the Kawasaki and Kobe Steel divisions, EarthTechnica has worked on strengthening its operational foundation. It has been implementing measures aimed at integrating the operations of the two former divisions in order to enhance its sales networks and product lines, develop new products with its combined technological capabilities and increase efficiency by streamlining production lines to eliminate overlapping products. EarthTechnica has also strengthened and expanded operations in the area of resource recycling and environmental engineering, which is expected to take off in the near future. Working under the Global K medium-term business plan adopted in September 2006, Kawasaki has implemented a group-wide initiative to develop energy and environmental engineering into a business that will serve as new pillar for the group. Kawasaki proposed this recent deal with Kobe Steel in line with this plan. EarthTechnica will play a key role in Kawasaki’s energy and environmental engineering business. Kawasaki will actively invest its management resources in the marketing, technical and financial operations of EarthTechnica to further strengthen and expand its environmental engineering business. Kawasaki will also work to effectively restructure EarthTechnica’s sales, engineering, development and manufacturing operations with an eye to boosting its bottom line and strengthening its operational foundations. About EarthTechnica |
