Topcon and Sumitomo Corporation establish joint venture IoT company in Indonesia
Building a strategic partnership in ASEAN and Indian growth marketsTopcon Corporation (Head Office: Itabashi-ku, Tokyo; President and Chief Executive Officer: Satoshi Hirano; hereinafter, “Topcon”) and Sumitomo Corporation (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and Chief Executive Officer: Masayuki Hyodo) have agreed to a strategic partnership (hereinafter, “the Agreement”) for the purpose of jointly pursuing the telematics and precision agriculture businesses in the ASEAN and Indian markets. In accordance with the Agreement, Topcon’s subsidiary Tierra S.p.A. (Head Office: Turin, Italy; CEO: Paolo Traso; hereinafter, “Tierra”) and Sumitomo Corporation have established PT. Weeo Solutions Frontier (Head Office: Jakarta Special Capital Region, Indonesia; CEO: Nicola Finardi; hereinafter, “Weeo”) as a joint venture company in Indonesia.
Boasting a population of over 250 million, Indonesia continues to enjoy economic development centered on the Jakarta Special Capital Region (which has an ambient population of more than 30 million). The country is a promising market in which vigorous infrastructure demand is anticipated, while its passenger and industrial vehicle markets are the largest in ASEAN. A declining number of farmers, attributable to progressing urbanization and the flight of younger generations from agriculture, means that Indonesia has a significant potential need for precision agriculture, which dramatically improves agricultural productivity through automation and computerization.
Against this backdrop of growing demand, Weeo will utilize the business infrastructure and diverse networks of Topcon and Sumitomo Corporation in this market to develop new business centered on Topcon’s telematics technology and precision agriculture solutions.
Weeo will pursue greater efficiency and power saving in vehicles and machinery and improve agricultural productivity in Indonesia and other ASEAN countries as well as India by accelerating the expansion of the telematics business comprising the basic IoT technology that Topcon and Tierra have cultivated and by providing mobility-oriented fleet management systems*1 and precision agriculture solutions.
*1 Fleet management system: a management system that allows users to accurately confirm the positions of vehicles in real time and determine vehicles’ operating status through remote two-way information provision services (telematics) via the Internet, etc.
[Profile of Sumitomo Corporation]
| Representative | Masayuki Hyodo, President and Chief Executive Officer |
|---|---|
| Date established | December 24, 1919 |
| Capital | 219.3 billion yen |
| Stock exchange listings | Tokyo Stock Exchange, Nagoya Stock Exchange, Fukuoka Stock Exchange (Securities Code: 8053) |
| Employees | (Consolidated) 72,118 (as of December 31, 2017) |
| Description of business | Multifaceted business activities that utilize the company’s integrated corporate strength, including sales, import/export and third-country trade involving a variety of goods and services as well as business investment both inside and outside Japan, while leveraging the company’s extensive global network and the trust it has built up with customers and partners in a variety of industrial sectors |
[Profile of Tierra]
| Company name | Tierra S.p.A. |
|---|---|
| Representative | Paolo Traso, CEO |
| Head office address | Corso Francesco Ferrucci, 112, 10141 Turin, Italy |
| Description of business | A joint venture company established by Topcon Positioning Systems, Inc. (a wholly-owned US subsidiary of Topcon Corporation) and DIVITECH S.p.A. (an Italian telematics systems manufacturer) that provides Web-based fleet management solutions (vehicle operation control systems) to construction and farming equipment markets worldwide |
