The future of automotive electronics
Product development leveraging Murata strengths for a fast-changing automotive market
Whether in autonomous or electric vehicles, automotive advances rely on electronics technologies.
Murata pursues a vision essential to tomorrow's vehicles.
* Job titles reflect those at the time participants were interviewed in 2018.
Executive Vice President (Board Member)
Corporate Technology & Business Development Unit
Director
Hiroshi Iwatsubo
Equipping automotives for the 21st century with Murata
In today's developing automotive industry, fresh thinking is needed to meet high standards of compliance while building on the most exciting technological innovations. While regulators continue to demand improvements in automobile safety and electric cars, consumers are calling for enhanced comfort and an ever-wider range of in-car entertainment products.
Building on our specialism in multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) and a history of developing high-spec components for a vast range of products, Murata is positioning itself at the forefront of this space. Our collaborative attitude to innovation and understanding of the industry's changing needs are a key part of our success: together with a range of international partners, we've developed the solutions that will meet the demands for safety, social responsibility and entertainment for the drivers of tomorrow.
Leading the Market
As consumer and market demands continue to change rapidly, we're faced with the challenge of striving to improve the specifications of our products, while also maintaining cost efficiencies and creating environmentally friendly solutions that can lead the way in the automotive components market of tomorrow.
In recent years, consumers have increasingly demanded better electric vehicles packed with high-spec automated safety features. By meeting this need, we have been able to achieve a 10% annual growth in sales, and we anticipate that our automotive domain will achieve revenues of nearly 2 billion USD in 2018. Our ECUs and other highly reliable components and sensors have seen similar achievements: as a company with expertise in electronics, our range of capacitors, EMI filters, ceramic resonators, and other products have stood the test of time in the automotive industry. Looking ahead, we will keep expanding our product line by up-scaling for the automotive industry and our clients, and we expect to achieve even greater success with future innovations.
The Keys to Innovation
In response to market growth and shifting consumer expectations, we need to carefully think about where to invest our resources, selecting the fields, domains, and technologies that have the greatest potential for us to perform at our very best. Talking with Tier-1 companies has become an essential part of our decision-making process: working closely with our clients enables us to understand and share information about their present problems and build future markets in collaboration. Having done this, we can then clearly define the next technologies to target.
Innovation need not only come from within Murata - we are also open to external partnerships with universities and companies that allow us to gain profound insights into new technologies. Considering the rapid and ongoing changes in the market, this policy is paramount. By pooling the knowledge of our partners and our own expertise, we can produce an even wider range of products and a higher level of productivity.
We welcome both domestic and international opportunities for future success. Without external partnerships, it is difficult to survive in the highly competitive global market. So, we use three simple keys to generate technological innovation: first, we share knowledge and assess problems with Tier-1 companies; second, we define the target technologies and their scope, and third, we execute projects and accomplish them through effective worldwide partnerships.
When it comes to developing the technologies of the future, we believe a symbiotic approach works best. Together with our global collaborators, Murata's world-class engineers focus on anticipating the demands of tomorrow: the need for sustainable, safe and ergonomic solutions for all types of automotive vehicle. In a time of increasing regulatory pressure and consumer demands, our impressive growth figures are a testament to our ability to adapt to these challenges and continue to exceed expectations, year after year.