Philip Morris
Summary of Battery Companies
Fields
- Author
- Munshi, Z.
- Area
- LEVY,CAROLYN/OFFICE
- Type
- MEMO, MEMORANDUM
- REPT, REPORT, OTHER
- Recipient (Organization)
- PM, Philip Morris
- Named Person
- Quandt
- Timmer, J.
- Recipient
- Laroy, B.
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PhTILIP'MO'RRIS U. S. A.
INTER-OFFICE CORRESPONIDENCE
Richmond, Virginia
To:Bernie LaRoy Date: August 12, 1992
From: Zafar Munshi
Subjiect:Summary of Battery Companies
TOSHIBA~ CORP+(JRATIO'N~
Toshiba is the 3rd largest Japanese electronics and eliectrical equipment
manufacturer (behind~ Hitachi' and MEl) and 5th in the world. Tihey are also the 6th largest
industrial company in Japan and the 23rd in the world. Their major activities are in the
area of semiconductors, computers, robotics, consurner eliectronics and ceramics. Some of the
major shareholders of interest are Mitsui Yaiyo Kobe Bank, The Mitsubishi Trust and Banking
Corporation; Mitsui Trust and!Banking Company and Mitsui Mutual Life Insurance, among
others: The company employs 162,000 people and 1000 are in batteries. Battery sales are
about $'169, mi1Qion.
Toshiba Battery Company makes alkaline batteries, nickel-cadmium batteries
and nickel-metal hydride batteries. It holds lithium battery patents on thin film card type;
lithium carbon monofluoride, lithium ion, and polymer electrolyte batteries. Other patents
are on fuel-cells, n2ck6-cadmium, nickel-metal hydride and alkaline batteries. Some of
these patents are with Misubishi Petrochemicals. In the past, Toshiba! has bought
rechargeables from Panasonic~and Sanyo.
Toshiba and other Japanese companies enjoy the luxury of working in joint
ventures with other companies. An advisory, ccommittee exist on superconductivity consisting
of the government of Japan, Hitachi, Kyocera, Mitsubishi, NTT abd Sumitomo Electric
Industries. Another joint venture exists on Fifth Generation Computer Projects where aa
number of companies are involved including Mitsubishi Electric CorporaUion, Other joint
ventures are with Fujitsu, Hitachi, Matsushita, NEC, Sharp, GE, Sanyo, Motorola, Rhone-
Polenc and' GP Batteries Internationall of Singapore. There are reports of an aborted deat
between India Tobacco Company and Toshiba Anand' Battery. In January, 1992, Toshiba Battery
Company; Duracell and Varta teamed-up to condt''yct research and development, manufacturing,
and standardization of nackel-metal' hydride rechargeable batteries. Prior to the emergence
of this collaboration, Toshiba had begun! mass-producing Ni-MH batteries at its Takasaki
factory at the rate of 3'00,000 units/month. This will be ea:panded'to 2-3' m2lTionn
units/month. They have another strong joint venture with Asahi Chemical Industry Company to
commercially produce lithium ioni batteries.

Toshiba has a joint venture with Japan Tobacco in developing what is claimedd
to be the world's fastestequipsnent for attaching electronic components to semiconductor
chips.
SANYO ELECTRIC COMPANY LTD.
Sanyo Energy Corporation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sanyo Electric. The
subsidiary was incorporated in.1987 and operates out of San Diego. The company has 30-64'
employees with sales of $3.8' - 9 million. The parent company is a$10 billion company and is
the 8th largest electriical! company in Japan and 22nd in the world. It is the 19th largest
industrial company in Japan and 123rd in the world. The company employs 40,000 people
worldwide. Pretax profit (1990) ~ for Sanyo Electric is $288'millfion.
Sanyo Energy is active in~ the manufacture of nickel-cadmium batteries to.
OEM. The company has vast expertise in nickell-metal hydride batteries, lithium batteries,
lithium ion batteries, electronically conducting polymers, solar ce11§, fuel-cells and
nickel-zinc technology. Clearly, it has a very diverse technology base.
There appears to be no link between Sanyo and the tobacco industry. However,
they have a joint venture wiithi a, Japanese consortium consisting of Sony, Misubish2 Electric,
NEC, Matsushita, Communication, NTT, Hitachi, Toshiba, and Fujitsu to develop analog
television phones. Other joint ventures are with McDonnell' D.ouglas, ITT, Olivetti and Micron
Technology.
SONY CORPORATION'
Sony Cbrporation is a $11 bill'aoni company - owner of CBS' Records and',
Columbia Pictures. Cbnsumer Electronie Products is their maini line business. The company
employs 60,000 people worldwide, On March 31, 1992, the company reported their first full
year loss for fiscal year, 1991, and the forecast for 1992 was also poor.
The subsidiary, Sony Energytec has strong,expertise in.lit'h2um and lithium,
ion batteries. Ciirrently, Sony is producing 1100;000 units/month of lithium ion, cells for
theircelludarphones: This technology is one of Sony's major business develbpmentprojects.

The parent company has joint ventures with Taiyo Yuden, Nissho Iwai corp.,
Information Presentation Technologies, Geostar Corp., Knowledge Set, (also eight other TV-
telephone consortium - see Sanyo), Texas Instruments and British Telecom. The company has
considerable expertise in thin film technology.
JAPAN! STORAGE BATTERY COMPANY
Japan Storage is the largest producer of automotive batteries. The company
also produces other power sources (industrial batteries,alkal6ne, sealed! lead-acid, nickel-
cadmium, miicrobatteries, silver batteries) power systems, and lighting equipmentL For a
fiscal year ending March 31, 1'992, total sales was $SOO million with pretax profit of $25
million. It controls 60% of'the market share forforkl'ift batteries (which makes Japan the
world's largest prod'ucer of forklifts), and! 30% of the market share of Japan's automodve
batteries. Their nickel~cadmiurn batteries are used in NTT's and Motorola's portable
telephones. A new production line is planned for October 1992 for manufacturing 500;000
units/month of rectangular nickel-metal hydride cells.
The company has joint ventures with numerous companies (Hino Motors, Nissan;
Kansai Electric Power, Yamaha, Toyota,lVlitsubishi Motors),for electric vehicle development,
is the top maker of batteries for electric vehicle holding about 90%of the market share,
and expect20,(l00 EWs to be exported to California from Japan by 1998.. It also has a joint
venture with Sony Corporation for rectangular Ni-Zn; with GNB' it formed Enpak for producing
lead4cU batteries; with SAFT it formed. GS'-Saft for producing Ni-Cd; with Mit5ubishz Heavy
Iudustries it is involved in fuel-cell systems. Recently, it acquired Chloride Indonesia
(~-$3 million) and! Capital Batteries Ltd. (U.K.):
JapanStoragehold's joint patents~ with NlitsubishiHeavyIndustrieson
Lir/TiS , Li/MnO. It has numerous other patents on Ni-Cd, lithium batteries, Ni'-Iv1H Pb-acid,
Na-Zn,2AgO-Zn, polymer electrolyte.
YUASA BATTERY COMPANY
Yuasa is the second largest battery company in Japan, next to Japan Storage,
but it! leads in the combined' dormestiic and' overseas sales. Yuasa holds 65% of the Japanese
market for motorcycle batteries. The company's batteries are used to power such vital
facilities as electrical equipment, cars, motorcycles and back-up power system. With
consolidated sales exceedfng $497.7 million, Yuasa's production scale is now the largesr on
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the Asian battery market~ The company has over 2700 employees. The company is devoting great
energy to the development of batteries for electric vehicles and~ load leveling systems to be
utilized in the "Moonlight Project", a Japanese Government sponsored alternative energy
scheme.
Although the mainstay of Yinasa's business is lead4cUbatteries, the
company has been working,on l'ithi'um batteries for a number of years. Since 1985, the company
has been involved in the development of lithium polymer electrolyte batteries. In 1991, the
company announced that it ha& developed a compact lithium battery in conjunction with the
Central R'esearch Institute of Electric Power Industry for a daytime power source for
household appliances. Also in 199'1, Yuasa entered into a joint venture wi th H1ydfo-Quebec to
develop and produce film-form lithium batteries. The company is also involved with NTT,
Terumo Corporation and a brance of'the Ministry of Health and Welfare to develop cardiac
pacemakers. Since 1977, Yuasai has been involved with1 the : Exide Corporation to producee
motorcycle batteries. In 1991, Yuasai purchased Exide's Industrial BartteryDivision.
Although the company's main line business is lead-acid batteries, Yuasa
ho1ds numerous patents on lithium batteries, lithium polymer electrolyte batteries, nickel-
cadmium batteries, nickel-hydrogen batteries and nickel-zinc batteries. The latter system is
commercialUy available in a prismatie configuration and is used in Sony's walkman. Some of
the patents are jointly-owned by other Japanese companies, in particular, Mitsubishi Gas
Chemical, Nippon Sheet Glass, Japan Atomic Energy Research, Center a:2nong, others.
MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL COMPANY. LTD.
The company manufactures consumer electronics and electronic products. It is
Japan's largest prodiucer of video, audio, home appliances, communications and industrial'
equipment, energy and kitchen-related prodticts and electronic components. The company has
sales of over $55 billion wiithi a profit of $2.92 billion.
The battery products include Ni-Cd, Pb-acid,l'ithium batteries, Ni-MH, dry
cells and solar cells. The company has plans to market lithium Ion cells in the near future..
In 199 1, a 5% sale increase resulted wi th a demand for compact, high, performance Ni-Cd and
lithium cells. In 199'1, the company established~ a sealed lead-acid operation in Georgia. The
company is gearing itself to become a, major producer of prismatic Ni~_Cd~ and, I*Ti-MH batteries.
Currently, it is supplying to major customers such as Sony and NTI':
Since 1988, the company has had many joint ventures, annong,them with Tandy
Corporation (TX) - portable MS-DOS computers; Asea Brown Boveri (Japan) - robotir; products;
-4-

Sequent Computer Systems (OR) - computers; Texas Instruments - semiconductor patent liicense;
Energy Conversion Devices - patent agreement on erasable phase change disk drive system;NVPhilaps;
British Telecom; Ford Motor, Mazda; Westinghouse; Siemens; Wang Laboratories; Gain
Technolbgy; and IBM. In 1990,1VIatsushita Electric Industrial Company, Ltd. purchased MCA
Inc. for $7.95 billion, then merged with Matsushita Acquisition Corporation into MCA.
HITACHI. LTD.
Hitachi is one of the worid'slargest diversified electronics and electrical
equipment manufacturers, withi operations extending to computers, semiconductors, household
appliances, power generating equipment and!industrial machinery. Hitachi has often been
called the General Electric of Japan. In 1990, Hitachi Ltd. created a new company called
Hitachi' Home Electronics (America) Inc. from Hitachi Consumer Products of America Inc. and
Hitachi Sales Corp. of America in Compton, California. The company has been struggling
during the last decade. Exports have fallen off to debt ridden Third World countries, the
U.S, !and Europe. Consolidated sales for fiscal 1991 was $58.4 billibniwith a substantial
decrease in net income over the previous year. In an effort to combat flat sales, etc. R&D
expenditures have been increased to help Hitachi keep pace with the ever-changing cycles of
electronic technology.
Hitachi has 11511 offices in 39 countries and!4'S6 subsidiaries which
manufacture 40,000 different products. These include among others; alkaline and silver oxide
batteries, dty batteries and electriicall equipment, lithium bateries, electriic tools;
magnetic tapes and floppy disks, medical electronic equipment, printed circuit boards,
semiconductors, etc. Hitachi-Maxell Ltd., is the main battery manufacturing subsidiary.
Since 1989, the company has had jpint ventures and agreements (28) with
numerous companies mostly for high-tech electronics products. In the area of power sources,
the joint ventures are between Ovonic Battery Company and Hitachi-Maxell for the development
of Ni-MH battery technology. In~ 1990, Hiitachi-Maxell acquired Battery Engineering, Inc.
which manufactures lithium thionyl chloride batteries for the U.S'. military;
The company holds numerous battery related patents on chargers, molten
carbonate fuel-cells, nickel'-metal hydride batteries, cell designs, and lithium batteries.

IP
MITSUI GR'OU
Following the end of World War II, t e Japanese holding companies (pre-War
zaibatsu) were abolished by the Allied Forces. In an effort to combat takeovers from
foreiign-finns, the Japanese created cross-holdings of shares in what is termed the keiretsu
(posr-War keiretsu). By forming the latter, Japanese corporations associate with each other
to foster cooperation and harmony in working toward a common goal. Production keiretsu
vertically integrate manufacturers with their suppliers, and tend to be somewhat smaller
than t;he horizontally-oriented financial keiretsu. The major horizontal keiretsu are
collections of large manufacturing firms structured around'a core of a main bank, a trust
banking company; a trading company, and an insurance company. Mitsui and Co., Ltd, is one of
the central! comp aniesof the Mitsui Group, one of the six major Japanese : horizontal keiretsu
(Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Sumitomo, Fuji, Sanwa and Dai-lChi Kangyo). The present strong ranking
of Mitsui arises from its April 1990 merger with Taiyo Kobe Bank. The four core elements of
the financial keiretsu are The Mitsui Taiyo: Kobe Bank, Ltd.;, The Mitsuil Trust and Banking
Co., Ltd.; Mitsui & Co:, Ltd.; and Mitsui Mutual Life Insurance Company.
The company's principal business activity is providittg a wide range of
services to facil'2tate: trade and promote the development of commerce and industry around the
world. Main services include assistance in basic trading activities, arranging,forg transportationi
and documentation procedures, distribution in Japan and overseas, provisioni
of finance for trade transactions, and supplying information on market conditions, prices,
and business opportunities worldwide. The company's activities include the following areas,
non-ferrous metals; machinery; chemicals; foodstuffs; textiles; energy;, general! merchandise;
and property and service business.
In 1'9g7, Mitsui and Moli' jointly formed Nippon Molacell to market Moli's
lithium batt,eries in, Japan. Advanced Energy Technologies was later formed between NTT (45%),
Moli Energy (45%), thecha'rman of Moli Energy (6%), and Mitsui' &Co:, Ltd. (4%). However,
following the defective battery incident in, NT'T's cel'1lular telephone, Moli went into
receivership. Subsequently, Mitsui & Co. purchased! Moli's assets for $5 million. Mo1i is now
owned by a consortium of Mitsui, Yuasa and NEC.
In 1,984, Mitsui & Co: and Japan Metals and Chemicals "jointly developed a
hydride materiali capable of powering a hydrogen combustion car 200 km on one charge". IVbore
recently, they formed a joint venture withi E'rgeniies Inc: and Japan Metals & Chemicals called
Japan Getters, Inc. to produce metal hydrides for batteries as one of theu-products_ Mitsua.
Mining & Smelting Company has teamed up with Zinc Corp, of America to produce
"technologically advanced zinc dust" for batteries: Although it seems that. Mitsui, is not
heavily involved in the production of batteries, it is interesting to note that both Yuasa.

and T'oshiba, are members of the Mitsui keiretsu. Furthermore, Mitsui Mining has a, battery
material research laboratory in Japan for the purpose of "experimenting with raw materials
including zinc, zinc powder, silver oxide, lithium, etc.". The Mitsui Group does not make a
very large direct contribution to advanced battery research. However, Mitsui Mining and
Smelting is often mentioned when discussing batteries, but usually not as a manufacturer of'
novel! batteries. For instance, its latest newsworthy venture is a recycling facility for Ni-
Cd batteries. Nonetheless, the company holds numerous patents and publication in various
types of power sources including, lithium batteries, dry cells, redox flow batteries, lead-
acid batteries, primary alkaline batteries, polymer electrode batteries, niiekel-cadmium
batteries, silver oxide batteries, fuel cells and photovoltaic devices.
Mitsui & Co., Ltd, is one of the firms that Philip Morris USA uses to~
distribute and market its cigarettes in Japan: At the time that the importation regulations
wereliberalizedin 1985, Mitsui handled approximately 55% of PM's business in Japan; thee
remaining 45% was executed by Nissho Iwai' Corporatiion.
M01:,1: ENERGY 1'990
Little information is currently, available on ~ Molfi Energy 1'990! Since going,
into receivership and a subsequent takeover by Mitsui, Yuasa and NEC, there has been no new
news about Moli or Mitsui. Before the defective battery incident, Moli was the only source
for rechargeable lithium batteries. The company was also planning, to bring its version of
the lithium ion cell before long. Since the incident, the workforce has been severely cut-
back from over 200 to much~lbss than 100.
THE'GATE'S CORPORATION
Gates Energy Products was started' in 1971 by officers of the Gates Rubber.
Company. Transfer of ownership to The Gates Corporatiion resulted frorni internal
reorganization in 1981. The parent company has about 18,000 employees wi th $1.3' billion in
sales:
Gates Energy has 3,561 employees with $182.5 million in.sales: This
subsidiary manufactures rechargeabIie Ni-Cd (65%) and sealed lead! acid (35%) batteries. The
company has just introduced its version of the Ni-MH battery (l'ieensed'fforn Ovonics) calli
the Hydlritech. It is also aiming its product for the prismatic cell application. Gates is
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considered! to be one of the top three manufacturers of sealed rechargeablle batteries in the
world. The company has numerous patents on NR~-Cd and lead-acid batteries, but none on Ni-MH
batteries. There i!s no visible resear&on tihe lithium battery system, or any papers on
lithium or nickel-metal hydride batteries..
VARTA AG
Varta is Europe's largest manufacturer of all types of batteries. It is the
11 th largest ellectrical industry in~ Germany and 40 th in Europe. It is a~ public company, but
60% is owned by the Quandt family (owners of'6d°Io of BMIJ): The company has about20,CJ40,
employees. Its connections to the Quandt and Linde group helps stabilize the sale of'starter
andl traction batteries. Varta holds 20% of the European and 43% of'Germany's market share
for starter and traction batteries.
The company's prodluct lines include, industrial batteries, stationary
batteries, starter batteries, solar batteries, portable batteries, C'-Zn, alkaline, Ni~-Cd,
Ni-1VIH, Li-Ion; and Ii,i-Polymer electrode. It also markets alkaline, Zn-HgO. Zn-AgO, lithium,
and'Ni-Cd button, cells. Recently; Varta formed the Portable Rechargeablc Battery Association
with Sanyo, Matsushita, Gates and SAFT to investigate recovery and treatment of Ni'.Cds, Pb-
acid, and Ni~-11!IH batteries. In 1992, Varta along with Duracell andd Toshibe agreed to
cooperate on R & D, manufacturing, and standardization of Ni.-MH batteriies.
The company has joint ventures with Pacific Dunlop and Johnson Controls on
lead-acid batteries and licensing agreements with S anyo and! Ovoniic battery Company on~ Li-
MnO and Ni-NIH batteries, respectively. It's Canadian starter battery operation was sold in
1'9R9 i Johnson Controls. It's export strategy is.gearedtowards the EEC'countries. In 1991,
it acquiredl Zwickauer Batteries GmbH (Robert Bosch) and in 1992, Czechoslbvakia's Akucel,
which is a commercial vehicle battery producer.
SAFT
SAFT is a, subsidiary of the huge French conglomerate Alcatel-Alsthom,
formerly CGE. Alcatel employs 219,000 people. Alcateii also owned CEAC'wHiich manufactured
lead-acid, batteries. The salie of CEAC'to Fiarhas left SAFT'as the sole battery unit of
Alicatel. Of the four business groups that Alcatel is involved in (Telecommunications;
Blisiness Communications and Cables; Energy and Transportation; Electrical Engineering; and
Batteries), the battery operation is the smallest of the conglomerate. The battery operation

is only about 2.4% of the total group sales. SAFT is the world's leading supplier of
alkaline batteries. In the U.S., SAFT and SAB Nife holds 30% market share! ini Ni-Cd behind
Gates. SAFT America is a, subsidiary of SAFT and employs 1,300 personnel..
The major products include, industrial and commercial batteries, thermal
batteries, lithium batteries, Ni-Cd batteries and the! company is developing their version of
the lithium-ion!celh The company holds numerous patents on Ni~-Cd; lithium primary and
secondary batteries, magnesium batteries, dry batteries, thermal batteries, Ni-H2 and Ni-MH
batteries.
SAFT is also a member of the Portable Rechargeable Battery Association (see
Varta) L Since 1984, they have been involved in numerous joint venoures, among them, with,
Peugeot (1984) for develbping Ni~-Fe and Ni-Cd batteries for electric vehicles; Japan Storage
(1986) on Ni-Cd; agreement in 1986 wiRhi a French subsidiary of Mitsubishi to make Ni-Cd;
agreement in 1987' with Fuji Electrochemical for the development of cylindrical Li-MnO2
batteries. In 1991, SAFT America received $30 million from Ui.S, government, contracts.
EV'E'READY BATTERY COMPANY
Prior to 1'986, Eveready was owned by Un2on Carbide: It was sold to Ralston.
Purina for $1.42 billion. Eveready is the worldwide leader of dry-cell batteries. Their
reported employment worldwide is approximately 17,000. In 1991, the company had sales of
over ~~$1.5 ~ billion. During ~ 1989, - 1990; Eveready had 45% market share~ of U.S', primary ~
battery
market. ~
Eveready is not in the rechargeable battery business. It has numerous
patents oni all types of primary cells, including dry cells, glassy electrolyte cel2s and
lithium cells. In 1989, Eveready appointed Fuji' Photo Film Co., Ltdl as the exclusive
distributor of its dry cell battery products in Japan. Fuji formed Fuj~Film Battery Co.,Ltd.
to market Eveready batteries. In 1991, it formed a joint venture with Konami, a manufacturer
of hand-held games to promote Eveready's Energizer batteries, In 1991, it formed a $26
million joint venture agreement with. Czech company Bateri& Slany to provide Bateri'a wiRh a
technology for improving,the quality of their current production. In 1992, Ralston Purina
acquired~ from Hanson PLC, for $233 million, U.K.'s Ever Ready Ltd. Hanson's U.K. holdings
include Imperial Tobacco:

N, V. PHILIPS
Philips is a multinational Dutch company with a broad range of interests in
the fields of electronic and electrical equipment and systems, lightnng, and consumer
products, medical components, and recorded music and!videos. The company had 1991 sales of
$30 bill'ROns of which 47% were derived from Consumer Products, 22% from Professional
Products & Systems, 14% from Components & Semiconductors, and~ 13% from Lighting. Philips is
the world's largest lighting company, wi th a commanding lead in the European market, and
strong positions in the U.S.A. and! in Asia/Pacific. In 1990, the firm survived a profit
collapse and began a major restructuring operation, under the direction of newly appointed
Chairman Jan; Timmer. The firm's workforce was reduced by more than 30,000 worldwide and over
100 businesses were sold. The company discontinued its white goods and minicomputer
businesses as well as the manufacture of defense systems. Philips' 1988 merger wi th
Whirlpool was dfssollved in1 1991. During,a brief economic recovery in 1'991', the company
showed net profits of $648 million: However, in June of 1992; Philips reported a, 56% plunge
ini second' quarter net profits and possible declines for the rest of the year.
The company is credited wi th the invention of the audio~cassette, the first
video dzsc player, d'igital audio compact disc (CD) technology, and the first personal
computer with an internaI CD RbM drive. For the future, Philips hopes to capitalize on some
new consumer productsth~atthe company is marketing ahead ofJapanese rivals. . The 1991
launch in the U& of compact disc-interactive (CD-I) made Philips a strong,competitor in
multimedia computers.
Includedl intheILightingDivision is, P'hilips'battery business,, which
received a boost from the 1991 decision~to produce rechargeable Ni-Cd batteries in a joint
venture with Matsushita. The company pioneered the development of metal hydride alloys for
Ni-MH! batteries. The company has joint ventures with numerous organazations,
