[Invest Seoul CEO Interview] Tanaka, Hiroyasu, CEO of JATCO KOREA Engineering Corp
JATCO is aming to be the No.1 automatic transmission manufacturer in the world!
Therefore, JATCO extablished an overseas facilities in Korea!
And we got a chance to hear the company's mission and vision stories from CEO of JATCO KOREA Engineering Corp.
1. Please briefly introduce yourself to our readers, and tell us about what you do and about your company.
JATCO develops and supplies automobile transmissions, and therefore, its major industrial sectors are development and manufacturing. To provide a simple explanation of what
transmission is, it is a component which connects the engine to the wheels and transmits the power generated from the engine to the wheels. JATCO supplies transmissions to Renault
Samsung and GM Korea, and also to Dongfeng Yulon of China as an OEM.
2. What would you identify as the key success factors in becoming a leader in the automobile engineering industry?
Selection and concentration are the top priority. As JATCO was not the biggest OEM maker, the resources we could invest in development were restricted. This is why we selected CVT
as the field we should focus on, in order to become the best in the world. To earn the recognition of customers around the world, we developed our technical abilities and the
competitiveness of our products, and that’s how we became the number one transmission developer in the world.
3. What were the key factors JATCO considered when deciding to enter the Korean market?
JATCO decided to enter the Korean market mainly because Korea had similar engineering and development conditions to Japan’s. Korean workers have a similar mindset, characteristics,
and sense of responsibility and pride to Japanese workers. So, JATCO found Korea the most appropriate place in Asia – in fact, in the world – to establish an organization that meets
Japanese standards. Also, the company thought it would be beneficial to establish another organization outside of Japan and gain various viewpoints from around the world. If I were
the CEO of JATCO, I would have made the same choice.