TOSHIBA’s VISION. Mr. Hisao Tanaka, President & CEO of Toshiba introduces its vision in a private event on the final day of WEFEA.
Manila— Toshiba Corporation announced through its President and CEO Hisao Tanaka, its vision to create an ideal Human Smart Community, where people live in peace, safety and comfort, at a private reception held on the final day of World Economic Forum on East Asia (WEFEA) at the Makati Shangri-La hotel on May 23. Toshiba’s vision is backed by technology named lifenology, the technology and solutions that make peoples’ lives more peaceful, safer and more comfortable through infrastructure development and provision of innovative digital products.
Mr. Tanaka, who has been heading the company since June 2013, said; “I spent a total of 15 years working overseas and I had the pleasure of living here in the Philippines for 4 years. I was responsible for the start-up of our manufacturing facility in Laguna which is still going strong. I can still remember the opening ceremony way back in 1997 which was attended by then Philippine President, Mr. Fidel V. Ramos. I am very happy to be back in the Philippines once again.”
Mr. Tanaka introduced the companies’ extensive solutions including infrastructure solutions, and shared that among its global turnover of approximately $65B, the infrastructure segments accounts for 55%, whereas consumer products like flat panel TVs, notebook PCs is only 20%. Toshiba’s infrastructure contribution in Philippines started from the Agus6 hydro power project in 1965, and also includes coal-powered and geothermal power generation solutions, to power transmission and distribution equipment for substations.
Mr. Tanaka also highlighted that the Philippines is an important base for the Group as it currently employs over 8,000 in the country and is the largest among 20,000 personnel in Southeast Asia. Toshiba Information Equipment, Philippines in Laguna, has shipped over 400M hard disk drives globally and accounts for 10% of all electronic devices exported from the Philippines.
Toshiba in the Philippines is very active in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. Toshiba employees quickly responded to donate relief goods to 9 affected areas in the Visayas region during the wrath of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), and have been partnering with Ayala Foundation Inc. in the education field, by donating notebook PCs and flat panel TVs to school.
In Southeast Asia, Toshiba provides diverse systems and products that deliver real-world solutions through its 80 affiliates. Toshiba’s recent community infrastructure developments include Bangkok’s Purple Line Railway PJ and Intelligent Transport Systems for Vietnam’s North-South Expressway. It also has radar technologies to detect heavy rains for natural disaster prevention and early evacuation in affected areas. Healthcare also fulfils its vision of creating new diagnostic equipment for the early detection of diseases and its prevention.
A recent opinion poll of 2,000 people in Southeast Asian countries found that 60% of people considered Japan to be ASEAN’s most important partner, and 79% expected Japan’s cooperation with ASEAN in Science and Technology field. “Toshiba wants to meet these expectations by providing solutions that make peoples’ lives more peaceful, safer and more comfortable through infrastructure development as well as by providing innovative digital products,” Tanaka said.
