It’s a name change and so much more…

Hiroyuki Nishiuma, Panasonic Connect Europe CEO

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It’s a name change and so much more…

“What’s in a name?” famously wrote Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet but Hiroyuki Nishiuma, CEO at Panasonic Connect Europe says so much more. He explains that the new Panasonic organisation announced today has been specifically structured to address the business and sustainability challenges of the modern European business.

What’s in a name? A rose still smells like a rose even if given another name, argued the tragic heroine Juliet in the famous Shakespeare play but Juliet, our latest name change means so much more. Today sees the renaming of Panasonic’s European Business organisation to Panasonic Connect Europe but it’s not just the name that has changed.

Designed to meet business needs

The organisation has been restructured from top to bottom to specifically address the business and sustainability challenges facing today’s European businesses. And what a challenging past 24 months it’s been. The business world continues to become ever more complex. Supply chains are becoming more integrated and time pressured to deliver. Manufacturers are required to adapt, develop and introduce new product lines at an ever-increasing pace. Workforces in the public sector and service companies are asked to increase productivity and carry out a wider range of tasks – often all while on the move.

Add to this the challenges of the pandemic and it’s easy to see how business leaders are searching for solutions…and that’s where Panasonic Connect Europe comes in.

Our diverse organisation has been designed to support European B2B organisations – not just with technology – but now with solutions, products and services. It’s an organisation that specialises in B2B - in Supply Chain, the Public Sector and Entertainment industries,

backed by the strength of the wider Panasonic corporation and its philosophy to make a positive contribution to society but able to make independent decisions and react quickly to changes in the B2B market.

New ways of working

It’s an organisation dedicated to helping business and public sector to redefine and optimise the way they work to deliver savings, increased productivity and new competitive advantages. In addition, these new ways of working can also address the sustainability challenges that many organisations are grappling with today.  As an organisation that was founded on the principle of improving the lives of people and society, Panasonic Connect Europe is also committed to using its business understanding and technology know-how to help businesses address sustainability issues. For example, by optimising logistic routes we can reduce emissions. With demand accuracy systems and shortening supply chain lead times, we can reduce retail waste.

 

Bringing GEMBA Process Optimisation to Europe

Our solutions team draws upon Panasonic’s 100-year experience of building and optimising our own manufacturing operations and supply chains and using its GEMBA Process Innovation approach to help European businesses redefine and optimise business processes. The GEMBA is the physical site where value is created. This Japanese word literally translates to "the actual place". For example, in the supply chain the GEMBA is where things are made, moved, or sold; the site where value is generated and problems must be confronted: the factory floor, the warehouse, or points-of-sale; these are referred to as the GEMBA. 

In manufacturing, GEMBA Process Innovation can accelerate automation with the use of technologies such as robotics. In logistics, it can provide the ability to sort, schedule, track and monitor the condition of goods using Deep Learning and sensor technologies connected via the Internet of Things. In the retail sector, it can be used to adopt AI and camera technology to drive personalised digital marketing, as well as automated stock re-ordering to optimise product availability on the shelves.

The organisation also has the benefit of drawing upon Zetes, a wholly owned Panasonic business, which specialises in supply chain software and solutions; and Blue Yonder, which Panasonic recently acquired, the world leader in digital supply chain platform and omni-channel commerce fulfilment.

 

Backed by our innovative products

Alongside this service offering, we will of course continue to deliver our B2B technology products. These range from our rugged mobile notebooks, handhelds and tablets that help improve productivity in mobile workforces, to professional broadcast camera and AV equipment, including projectors and interactive displays for the entertainment, corporate and education markets, through to the latest smart factory solutions for manufacturers.

In addition, we will continue to innovate with our maintenance and service. The Internet of Things has provided massive opportunities to become more proactive. For example, we can monitor usage of products such as our projectors and mobile computing devices and even predict when maintenance will be required, enabling us to schedule service appointments in advance of any failure or issue occurring - removing downtime and increasing reliability in mission critical business operations. In addition, there is the opportunity to provide innovating service solutions, such as tailor-made financial products using an OPEX, rather than CAPEX approach.

Our new agile and business-focused organisation may begin with a name change to Panasonic Connect Europe but I urge businesses and public sector operations to speak to us and experience the new organisation for yourselves. It will feel very different from the Panasonic Business organisation of old.

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