Hitachi to Close Storage Factories In France and USA

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Hitachi to make controller boards in Japan – Nikkei
Hitachi Ltd plans to produce controller boards for data storage devices only at its plant in Japan to improve manufacturing efficiency and hone its market competitiveness, the Nikkei business daily reported. Up until now, it had also made the boards at bases in France and the United States, the business daily said. Overseas sales account for more than 80 percent of this business for Hitachi, the daily said.

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Total storage solutions revenues from Hitachi in Japan and HDS outside this country represented ¥304 billion in 1Q10 ending March 31, 2010, a figure decreasing by 11% compared to 1Q09. And the company was forecasting sales down by 4% for 2Q10.

Outside Odawara, Japan, Hitachi is manufacturing controller cards and assembling storage subsystems for HDS companies at subsidiaries named HICEF (Hitachi Computer Products (Europe/France) S.A.) in Olivet, near Orléans, France for Europe and HICAM (Hitachi Computer Products(America) Inc.) in Norman, OK for Americas.

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HICEF was created in 1991 and employs 245 people. Last time we visited this 17,500 square-meter French plant in which Hitachi invested €43 million, HICEF was assembling some one hundred storage systems per month. The disk controller cards were manufactured entirely on site, which accounts for most of the factory's activity.

Manufacturing controller cards is an expansive business and most of the competitors of HDS (EMC, IBM, NetApp) subcontract this activity. Hitachi will continue but will totally concentrate the production in Japan.