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Panasonic changes strategy: go for electric vehicle batteries

panasonic has decided change strategy Looking to the future: according to The Register, now will bet on batteries for electric vehicles and for the digitization of jobsas well as by the hydrogen generated power and the supply chain software. In these areas, the company is going to invest between 2023 and 2025 some 4,900 million dollars.

Of the total, 3.2 billion will go to what the Japanese multinational considers to be growth areas: batteries for electric vehicles and supply chain software, among others. The rest, 1,600 million, will go to what are considered technological pillars for Panasonic: energy generated by hydrogen and cyber-physical systems.

The Panasonic CEO Yuki Kusumiwho has only been in his position for a year, has been in charge of announcing the details of this change in the company’s strategy, pointing out that they want to improve the performance of battery cells, and their safety, while reducing the costs of their manufacturing.

It has also confirmed that series production of batteries for electric vehicles with a diameter of 466 millimeters, known as 4680s, will begin at its Wakayama factory in Japan throughout its fiscal year 2024. Tesla began using the 4680 batteries, with five times more capacity than the company previously used in its cars by 2020, and Panasonic has remained its main battery supplier ever since.

Some of the money earmarked for growth areas for Panasonic will go as we have mentioned to supply chain software, working on methods to eliminate waste, which will be polished through data collection. These will be analyzed, and used to fine-tune operations.

Other changes that Panasonic wants to implement, within its Kaizen or continuous improvement strategy, are related to the «listen to employees who want to take part in challenges«, but also with the start-up «of a work environment that maximizes the potential of the unique characteristics«, which in the company arises, among other measures, with the optional adoption of four-day workweeks and with the activation of teleworking. All this will be launched, according to its CEO, while they expect to have operating profits of about 12.2 billion dollars between 2023 and 2025.

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