For the interim period ended in June, Iwaki Glass of Japan reported an almost three-fold increase in current profit to JPY 294 million. Interim sales rose 3.7%, with glass headlamps for automobiles do…
For the interim period ended in June, Iwaki Glass of Japan reported an almost three-fold increase in current profit to JPY 294 million. Interim sales rose 3.7%, with glass headlamps for automobiles down 8.6% due to heavy competition from plastic products. But, industrial glass including glass powder and glass for PCs was up 11.3%, and chemical and pharmaceutical products were up 9.4%. The operating deficit in automobile glass continued but with cuts in distribution costs and improved export profitability due to the depreciation of the yen, overall operating profits almost tripled to JPY 323 million. No interim dividend was paid and sales rose from JPY 13.07 billion to JPY 12.60 billion. For the year ending in December, the company expects sales to be up 1.8% with current profit up 42% to JPY 560 million. The Japanese glassworks has also begun manufacturing glass for automobile lighting fixtures in Thailand. Concomitant with the overseas transfer of production by automobile car manufacturers and the diminishing domestic demand, automobile lighting glass manufacturers are also facing intensifying competition from plastics. For this reason Iwaki Glass will attempt to raise cost competitiveness by transferring the division“s main axis overseas. It will manufacture glass for headlights and other automobile lighting fixtures on a scale of 3.5 million units a year. Over half of the manufactured glass will be re-imported to Japan in addition to being distributed to Thailand“s headlight makers. After 1997, Iwaki plans to double production and utilise its manufacturing centre to export to other regions.