Nissan Announces Organizational Changes
28 December 1999
Nissan Announces Organizational Changes and Partial Changes in Executives' Responsibilities
TOKYO, Dec. 28 -- Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. announced today an
organizational change and changes in the responsibilities of some of its
corporate officers effective January 1, 2000.
1. Changes in the Organization
(1) Strengthening the planning and development of attractive products
(Planning Group)
-- An existing Product Planning Director's (PPD) responsibility for both
the achievement of profit and sales volume and product planning will be split
between that of a Program Director and a Chief Product Specialist. A total of
six Program Directors, who will belong to the newly created Program Management
Office, are to be assigned by model in the same segment and will be
accountable for target profit and sales volume. Twelve Chief Product
Specialists, who will belong to the Product Planning Department of the Product
Strategy and Planning Division, as in the case of the PPDs, are to be assigned
by model line and will be responsible for the development of product concepts
and the enhancement of the customer value of our products.
-- A new Exploratory Product Planning Group will be created in the Product
and Market Strategy Department of the Product Strategy and Planning Division,
while a Corporate and Exploratory Design Department will be created in the
Design Division. These new entities are intended to strengthen the mid- and
long-term product lineup and the product planning function.
(2) Creating distinctive and innovative designs (Design Division, Planning
Group)
-- The Corporate and Exploratory Design Department will be established in
the Design Division as the entity to specialize in managing global design
strategies and developing mid- and long-term design concepts and innovative
ideas.
-- The existing Design Planning Department and the Production Design
Department will be abolished and reorganized into the Product Design
Departments No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3. Chief Designers, who will be responsible
for design development by model, will be assigned to each of these Product
Design Departments. Product Design Department No. 1 will be mainly
responsible for the designing of passenger cars, while Product Design
Department No. 2 will be responsible for that of RVs. Product Design
Department No. 3 will be responsible for the development of designs common
across the model range such as color schemes. Managers fully dedicated to
enhancing perceived quality are to be assigned to this department
(3) Reducing Global Logistics Costs (Logistics operations, Production
Group)
To cut total logistics costs on a global level, a part of the activities of
the Parts Supply and Distribution Department which is currently engaged in the
logistics of after-sales service parts, will be transferred to the
Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering Division as the new Service Parts
Logistics Department so that this Division will centrally manage the logistics
of both vehicles and after-sales service parts.
(4) Creating the new Renault Sales Department (Domestic Marketing and Sales
Group) A new Renault Sales Department will be created in the Domestic
Marketing and Sales Group in preparation for domestic sales of Renault cars.
(5) Strengthening South American Operations (Overseas Operations Group)
To build up Nissan's market presence in South America, the South Americas
operations will be separated from the current Americas Operations Division to
form an independent South Americas Operations Department.
2. Changes in the responsibilities of corporate officers
Name Responsibility (Underlined part is
new responsibility.)
Norio Matsumura Overseas Operations Group
Member of the Board of Directors North Americas Operations Division
and Executive Vice President South Americas Operations Dept.
European Operations Division
GM, North Americas Operations Division
GM, European Operations Division
Patrick Pelata Planning Group
Member of the Board of Directors Corporate Planning Dept.
and Executive Vice President Program Management Office
Product Planning Division
Design Division
Yoshi Iwashita Overseas Planning Dept.
Senior Vice President Asia and Oceania Operations Division
GM, Asia and Oceania Operations
Division
Chairman, Nissan Motor Co.
(Australia)Pty.Ltd.
Chairman, Nissan Casting Australia
Pty.Ltd.
GM, Marketing and Sales Dept.(Asia and
Oceania)
GM, Manufacturing and Sales
Dept.(China)
Tetsuaki Abe Used Car Operation Dept.
Senior Vice President Service Development Dept.
Dealer Development and Support Dept.
Advertising Dept.
Domestic Product Planning and
Marketing Dept.
Renault Sales Department
Marketing and Sales Operation Support
Dept.
Eiji Imai Program Director
Senior Vice President
3. Assignment of Personnel for Program Directors, GM of Product Strategy
and Planning Division and GM of Design Division
Name New Responsibility (Previous responsibility)
Eiji Imai Senior Vice President
Senior Vice President Program Director
(Product Strategy and Planning Division/
GM, Product Strategy and Planning Division)
Shigeru Sakai Program Director
(GM, Product Strategy and Planning Division
Product Planning Dept./PPD, Product Strategy
and Planning Division, Product Planning Dept.)
Katsumi Nakamura Program Director
(GM, Product Strategy and Planning Division
Product and Market strategy Dept.)
Kouji Hori Program Director
(PPD, Product Strategy and Planning Division
Product Planning Dept.)
Akihiro Makino Program Director (Nissan Europe N.V.)
Murat Yalman Program Director
(VP Product & Market Strategy, Nissan North
America)
Yoshio Fukai GM, Product Strategy and Planning Division
(GM, Design Division)
Shiro Nakamura
(Assistant to EVP GM, Design Division
in charge of GM, Corporate and Exploratory Design Dept.
Design Division) GM, Product Design Dept. No.3
*GM: General Manager