28 April 1999, Tokyo: Mitsubishi Motors announces that it is to transfer the operations and personnel of the Business Information Systems Department, Office of Corporate Planning and Strategy, to MMC IT Solution Co., Ltd. (MITS) a newly formed company, effective 1 June (provisional).

As part of the organizational reforms being carried out under its RM2001 (Renewal Mitsubishi 2001) mid-term management plan, the company has been looking at the outsourcing of various business operations?and the spinning off of specific departments and specific functions as separate companies in particular?as a way towards realizing optimal organizational size and efficiency.

Among the areas considered, the company has chosen first to spin off its systems departments into separate companies that are systems specialists, both in technical and administrative aspects. In this way, the company looks forward to improved productivity, a greater permeation of cost awareness, and the training of able personnel, among other benefits.

The company currently has three systems units, located: in the head office (Business Information Systems Dept.), in the production division (Production Information Systems Dept. and the systems units at the company's Works), and in the engineering division (Engineering Information Systems Dept., and CAD(Computer Aided Design) work in the Office of Production Engineering). Each unit handles different elements of information technology.

To begin with, the company will spin off the head office Business Information Systems Dept., transferring its operations to the new company. Operations to be transferred are: the planning, development and promotion of individual information systems relating to management, sales and distribution; the overall development, support and tuning of systems at affiliated companies in Japan and overseas, and; the planning, and promotion of communication and office automation related systems, this being the very bedrock of systems work.

Mitsubishi Motors will retain the information systems planning function--including company-wide information systems policy, and the drafting, tuning and promotion of matters related to control of information investment--until June 24 when this function will be integrated into the operations of a new department that is scheduled to be established on 24 June.

As a specialist enterprise devoted to information systems, the new company will also be in the business of selling its services, exploiting the know-how accumulated to date and the latest in computer technology. For the time being, it will focus on Mitsubishi Motors affiliated companies, gradually extending its scope and taking on contract work in the field of systems development and management.

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