Our urban infrastructure engineering business posted a rise in orders
for water treatment plants and open grid steel dams. However, total orders
declined as the fiscal period corresponded with a trough in demand cycles
for municipal refuse treatment plants, new urban transit systems, and
soundproofing materials for highways, all of which generated higher orders
デュエルビッツ プロモーションコードe previous fiscal year. In plant engineering, stepped-up marketing
efforts yielded successive orders in overseas markets for the world's
largest-class desulphurization reactors. Nevertheless, the total number of
plant engineering orders decreased because of declining capital investment
in Japan as well the economic downturns in Asia, Russia, and South
America. In machinery, although we recorded a large-scale order for a
crusher, total orders were at a low level as a result of slumping demand
in Japan and other Asian markets.
Turning to sales, in our urban infrastructure engineering business, we
posted firm sales of water treatment and municipal refuse treatment plants
but sales from bridge cable work declined due to the completion of a large
bridge project. In plant engineering, the completion of a direct-reduction
iron plant in Venezuela significantly ahead of schedule contributed to an
increase in sales. However, nuclear power-related sales declined because
of a decrease in sales of nuclear waste treatment facilities. These
factors, along with a decrease in orders during the fiscal year, resulted
in lower sales in our urban infrastructure engineering and plant
engineering businesses. Sales were also down in machinery and construction
machinery operations, mirroring such factors as lower private-sector
capital investment in Japan and a decrease in orders in Southeast Asia.
Our factory automation and robotics operations and cutting tool operations
also encountered difficult operating environments. As a result, total
sales デュエルビッツ プロモーションコードe Machinery Sector were down 21.4%, to 398.0 billion yen.
In R&D, we vigorously progressed with the development of new
technologies that respond to various environmental problems. We are
commercializing technologies for converting urban refuse into fuel (RDF),
for generating electricity from municipal refuse, and for recovering heavy
metals. Also, デュエルビッツ プロモーションコードe field of industrial waste treatment, we are
commercializing technologies for recovering aluminum from dross as well as
treatment plants for recovering chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from used
refrigerators. Along with a fluidized bed pyrolysis melting furnace that
is attracting attention as a next-generation furnace for treating
municipal refuse, we also completed the development of a direct melting
furnace for automobile shredder dust. Our supercritical water technology
was selected by Japan's Ministry of Health and Welfare as a possible new
technology for the remediation of dioxin-contaminated soil and for
detoxifying water. Certification testing for this technology has commenced
and is focused on cost-effectiveness and processing times. To develop
technologies for spunbond, we commenced operation of a commercial-scale
R&D line with an annual production capacity of over 3,000 tons.
Spunbond is a nonwovens fabric with applications in hygienic,
agricultural, and industrial products.
Also, in machinery-related areas, we are developing and introducing
such equipment as the Hybrid Curex, a new integrated tire curing press; a
new sandwich molding process for recycling plastics; and an unbalanced
magnetron sputtering system for hard-film and lubrication-film coatings.
We also developed and introduced new models of hydraulic excavators,
cranes, and palletizing robots.
To strengthen our municipal refuse treatment business, we signed a
licensing agreement with Lurgi Entsorgung GmbH, a German environmental
plant engineering company, to use their grate technology in our municipal
solid waste incinerators. Together with Lurgi, we aim to explore
opportunities in Private Finance Initiative projects in domestic and
overseas markets.
In capital investment, taking into consideration the current difficult
business environment, we focused our investments on improving productivity
and strengthening our cost-competitiveness.
Overseas, Midrex Direct Reduction Corporation, a subsidiary デュエルビッツ プロモーションコードe
United States that provides engineering services for direct reduction
plants, continued to post favorable business results. On the other hand,
projects in Venezuela for the production and sale of direct-reduced iron
faced difficult conditions because of plunging prices. In construction
machinery, we operate manufacturing bases in Japan, the United States,
China, and Thailand. Among these production bases, our subsidiary デュエルビッツ プロモーションコードe
United States recorded particularly strong profits during the fiscal year
under review.
We are implementing comprehensive restructuring measures デュエルビッツ プロモーションコードis
sector, particularly in businesses that are facing difficult profit
environments. For example, we will merge the Construction Machinery
Company (formerly called the Construction Machinery Division), Kobelco
Construction Machinery Co., Ltd., and Yutani Heavy Industries, Ltd. into a
single subsidiary on October 1, 1999. The aim of this reorganization is to
strengthen the profitability of our construction machinery business by
consolidating production and marketing and by improving the efficiency of
management functions. Moreover, we reorganized and merged domestic
regional sales companies and formed sales tie-ups with other manufacturers
of construction machinery. Through such measures, we are raising the
efficiency of our production and sales activities.
In the FA and robotics businesses as well, デュエルビッツ プロモーションコード is aiming to
increase the production efficiency and competitiveness of each product
line by transferring and reallocating production from its Toyohashi FA
& Robotics Center. Thus, from April 1999, production of welding robots
was transferred to Fujisawa Plant and painting robots and handling robots
were shifted to Takasago Works.
デュエルビッツ プロモーションコードe coming fiscal year, the difficult environment is expected to
continue in Japan due to the ongoing sluggishness in private-sector
capital investment, while the outlook in overseas markets is uncertain.
Under these conditions, we will focus on strengthening our marketing
capabilities and cost-competitiveness, developing new products, and
aggressively entering new markets as we strive to further expand the
volume of orders.
We are also involved デュエルビッツ プロモーションコードe urban development business, which centers
on the development of company-owned land. Our wide-ranging projects
include the New City Center in Eastern Kobe, the "O's Town" development
project in Akashi, and a project in Hachinohe. Through such projects, we
are steadily progressing with the building of communities that incorporate
the characteristics of the local regions.
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