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Konica Minolta to Establish a Joint Venture Company with a Japanese Subsidiary of FPT Software for MFP Software DevelopmentOptimizing the Development Process to Promptly Address Customer Needs to Strengthen the Profit Base of the Office Business
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January 22, 2024
Tokyo (January 22, 2024) – Konica Minolta, Inc. (Konica Minolta) today announced that it will establish a joint venture company with FPT Japan Holdings Co., Ltd. (FPT) on April 1, 2024 to optimize the software development process for MFPs. FPT is a Japanese subsidiary of FPT Software, the largest IT company in Vietnam.
The recent DX trend has caused rapid changes in work environments, work processes and workstyles. Against this backdrop, MFPs, as a document-handling IoT device, are now being used for a greater variety of purposes by customers, making it necessary to continue to upgrade and support the functionality of MFPs installed at customers’ sites for a longer time.
By establishing a joint venture company with FPT, Konica Minolta aims to optimize its software development process so that the Company can respond to varying customer needs in the global market more quickly, and continue to deliver solutions to issues at work. Konica Minolta also hopes to maintain and improve its ability to offer value to customers while increasing the efficiency of development investment, with a view to strengthening the profit base of the Office Business, which is positioned as a “profit-maintaining business” in the Medium-term Business Plan, and ensuring stable profitability.
Minolta (left) and Do Van Khac, FPT Software Senior Executive Vice President and FPT Japan CEO (right)
Purposes of the Joint Venture Company
To strengthen the profit base of the Office Business of Konica Minolta and ensure stable cash flow by increasing the efficiency of development investment as part of the Medium-term Business Plan with the goal of becoming a highly profitable company
To reinforce the partnership with FPT Software Group, a globally active corporate group boasting a large pool of IT professionals and cutting-edge technologies, to respond to varying customer needs quickly and appropriately
To continue to retain talent and keep proprietary technologies up-to-date by re-building and optimizing the MFP development base for after-sales upgrading and maintenance of MFPs
To expand the scope of development from MFP control software to a wider range of office solutions and peripheral products by taking advantage of the technologies that will be accumulated by the joint venture company, including the synergies created by the partnership with FPT
Outline of the Joint Venture Company
| Company name | KONICA MINOLTA FPT Solution Labs, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Address of the head office | 2970 Ishikawa-machi, Hachioji, Tokyo |
| Date of establishment | April 1, 2024 |
| Board members | Hajime Takei, President, and four directors |
| Investments in capital | 100 million yen |
| Investment ratio | Konica Minolta: 59% FPT: 41% |
| Business description | Outsourcing of software development and other related work for Konica Minolta and its group companies (including sub-outsourcing to the Vietnamese subsidiary, FPT and other third parties); management of the Vietnamese subsidiary |
KONICA MINOLTA FPT Solution Labs, Inc. will establish a subsidiary in Hanoi, Vietnam, and outsource/sub-outsource software development tasks to the subsidiary for Konica Minolta.
Konica Minolta will run and manage the joint venture company including its Vietnamese subsidiary and send its personnel to support the control of technical know-how.
FPT will send its personnel to support the joint venture company and its Vietnamese subsidiary in undertaking the outsourced development work, and will undertake software development for the joint venture company and its Vietnamese subsidiary.
