OMRON's Industrial Automation Business Establishes Global Service Center.

Tokyo, Japan, Mar 29, 2006 - (JCN Newswire) - OMRON Corporation's (TSE: 6645; US:OMRNY) Industrial Automation Business Company ('IAB'; President: Fumio Tateisi) has announced that it will establish a new Global Service Center to serve as the headquarters of its customer support services. The move is part of a global plan to centralize services currently managed separately by sales and product divisions in order to ensure that customers receive consistent, rapid, first-class service wherever their operations are based. Beginning operations from April 3, 2006, and based in Mishima, Japan, the new Global Service Center (GSC) will combine customer support and contents functions. Over the next few years, IAB plans to roll-out regional customer support centers modeled on the GSC customer support division and customized to match local needs.

This Global Service Center concept is just one way in which IAB is seeking to put its 'Customer's Perspective First' policy into action. In addition to offering greater convenience for customers, IAB is committed to listening to their needs and reflecting them through enhanced service and improved products.

IAB offers an extensive product range through approximately 250 offices located in 60 different countries, and roughly half of its revenues are generated overseas (Sales for fiscal year 2004 - Japan: 130.2 billion yen, Overseas: 120.1 billion yen). By boosting the levels of service provided through this worldwide sales network, IAB is determined to forge even stronger relationships with its global customers.

Goals of the Global Service Center

Major manufacturers around the world are currently making aggressive advances into overseas markets. For such companies, reliable access to the same high levels of service that they enjoy in their home market is essential.

Until now, IAB has been providing individual services on a country-by-country basis. However, as a result, service content and support levels vary from country to country. Functioning as the world-wide headquarters of customer support services, the GSC represents IAB's first step to standardizing service levels across markets.

1) "A One-Stop-Shop for Customers" plus "Enhanced Services"

The GSC concept will offer customers greater convenience by providing seamless touchpoints for technical support, repair, sales and enquiries in each region, coordinated centrally from the Global Service Center in Mishima, Japan. By analyzing customer feedback and enquiries, and using this to enhance promotional tools, product instruction manuals, troubleshooting services, seminars and web-based support, IAB aims to realize even higher levels of convenience for customers. Naturally, customer feedback will also be incorporated into future product development and sales activities.

2) Innovating Business Processes by putting the "Customer's Perspective First"

'Customer satisfaction' has been set as the standard for evaluating the GSC's operations, and global CS research will be conducted on a regular basis. IAB is ready to reform its business processes on the basis of these results, to meet customer needs as fully as possible.

Customer Support

The Customer Support Center will provide complete and centralized support for customers from pre- to post-purchase, and will be used as a model for future customer support centers overseas.

- Pre-purchase: Technical support, renting test/sample machines, consulting, web-based information, sales advice etc.

- Post-purchase: Seminars, training, dispatch of field system engineers, product replacement, 24hour emergency shipping etc.

Contents

Working closely with the customer support team, the Contents Center will manage the wealth of expertise and knowledge resources that IAB has amassed internally. It will share this knowledge throughout the company and, ultimately, with end-users too, by producing both internal education and promotional materials to ensure touchpoints with customers are of consistently high-quality.

Future Plans

New customer support centers, modeled on the GSC's customer support function and customized to accommodate clients' local needs, will be rolled out globally over the next few years to provide a high level of service wherever customers are based.

About OMRON

Headquartered in Kyoto, Japan, OMRON Corporation is a global leader in the field of automation. Established in 1933 and headed by President Hisao Sakuta, OMRON has more than 25,000 employees in over 35 countries working to provide products and services to customers in a variety of fields including industrial automation, electronic components industries, and healthcare. The company is divided into five regions and head offices are in Japan (Kyoto), Asia Pacific (Singapore), China (Hong Kong), Europe (Amsterdam) and US (Chicago). The European organisation has its own development and manufacturing facilities, and provides local customer support in all European countries. For more information, visit OMRON's Web site at www.omron.com.

Source: OMRON

Contact:

OMRON Corporation
Corporate Brand Communications Department
James Seddon ([e-mail])
Takayuki Nakamura ([e-mail])
Telephone: [phone]
Facsimile: [phone]

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