UPDATED: Panasonic Getting Out Of TV Manufacturing Business

Panasonic is set to pull out of the TV business, the move comes after another Japanese TV maker Sharp, was forced to sell their TV business to a Taiwanese Company earlier this year.

Overnight the Company has said that they will close its unprofitable television screen manufacturing business, however it is not known whether the Company will continue sourcing TV panels from LG who is already making panels for Panasonic TV’s some of which are being sold in Australia.

According to Paul Read the CEO of Panasonic Australia, the local subsidary is in the TV business for the “long haul”.

In a statement issued to ChannelNews mid morning, a Panasonic Australia spoksperson said “Panasonic is shifting its LCD panel production towards non-TV component applications, such as automotive and industrial use, and plans to complete this shift by the end of September this year.

Panasonic’s TV business has for many years pursued a multi procurement strategy wherein it has sought out the best panels from multiple suppliers based on performance and cost. Using its own image processing and backlight technologies Panasonic has been able to get the very best out of third-party panels and has been recognised by TV reviewers as consistently delivering superlative picture quality.

Panasonic intends to continue delivering superb TVs as it further increases its competitiveness.”

According to Reuters, a Panasonic spokeswoman said the company will stop producing TV screens at its plant in Himeji, western Japan, by the end of September.

The plant, where production began in 2010, has never logged a profit during years of heavy price competition with South Korean and Chinese rivals.

The decision to close the business comes after Panasonic scrapped a company-wide revenue target of $90.1 billion for the year through March 2019 to focus on profitability.

Its Himeji plant will continue to produce screens for vehicle dashboards and medical equipment, but output will drop to a quarter of the current 810,000 units a month in terms of 32-inch panels, Panasonic said.

The Nikkei business daily reported on the closure earlier in the day yesterday, Panasonic shares closed 3.6 percent higher on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. By comparison, the benchmark Nikkei index ended up 1.0 percent.

More to follow.

About Post Author

David Richards

David Richards has been writing about technology for more than 30 years. A former Fleet Street journalist, he wrote the Award Winning Series on the Federated Ships Painters + Dockers Union for the Bulletin that led to a Royal Commission. He is also a Logie Winner for Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism with a story called The Werribee Affair. In 1997, he built the largest Australian technology media company and prior to that the third largest PR company that became the foundation company for Ogilvy PR. Today he writes about technology and the impact on both business and consumers.