South Korean plasma display panel (PDP) manufacturers LG Electronics and Samsung SDI are consolidating production processes as part of moves to boost production efficiency and price competitiveness.
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South Korean plasma display panel (PDP) manufacturers LG Electronics and Samsung SDI are consolidating production processes as part of moves to boost production efficiency and price competitiveness. LG Electronics plans to improve efficiency in PDP manufacturing and distribution by integrating processes for PDP rear panels and green sheets in its 4th-phase lines. The company has been manufacturing PDPs in its first, second and third-phase lines by assembling rear panels and green sheets made separately by LG Micron and its DRM division, respectively. “Since manufacturing of key components of PDPs such as rear panels and green sheets in separate processing lines proved to be inefficient and more costly, the company decided to consolidate their processing facilities into single lines in 4th-phase plant,” said a manager at LG Electronics. Samsung SDI also decided to integrate the indium-tin-oxide (ITO) film coating process into its third-phase lines. ITO film coating was processed at Asahi Glass, a PDP glass substrate maker. “We could cut PDP module prices only by 5 to 10% since last year, retarding the expansion in demand for PDPs, and we expect to further reduce prices by improving manufacturing processes,” said a manager at Samsung SDI. Meanwhile, Samsung SDI has reportedly asked its component suppliers to reduce prices of their products by up to 30% in order to increase demand for PDPs.