Horiba International Corp., a quiet Japanese company with its U.S. base in Irvine, is looking to mount a national marketing push for its products that measure pollution from autos, medical research and chipmakers.
It’s doing so under a new chief executive from Japan with close ties to Orange County. Masayuki Adachi started at Horiba more than 20 years ago after doing a year of research at the University of California, Irvine, in the 1980s.
Today, Adachi’s working on a project at UC Irvine’s Combustion Laboratory at the National Fuel Cell Research Center to develop a “plug in” hybrid car.
Adachi, 44, said he’s looking to bring innovation to Horiba, which has been flying under the radar here since starting operations in Irvine 30 years ago.
“He’s very young and very aggressive,” Horiba spokeswoman Sherry Frazmand said of Adachi.
Horbia has about 100 workers in Irvine. It’s part of Kyoto, Japan-based Horiba Ltd., which has yearly sales of $1 billion.
The U.S. arm makes up about $150 million of Horiba’s yearly sales. Adachi said his goal is to see that number double.
“Most of our sales are in the Asian regions,” he said. “But the U.S. is a big market for us. I really want to expand our business in the states so we can be as close as possible to that market.”
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Horiba is one of several Japanese companies that have their U.S. headquarters or major operations here, including Toshiba Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Yamaha Corp. and Ricoh Co.
Some of Horiba’s biggest customers are local, including Irvine’s Allergan Inc., Santa Ana-based Advanced Medical Optics Inc., Sybron Dental Specialties Inc. in Orange, part of Washington, D.C.-based Danaher Corp., and Aliso Viejo’s Valeant Pharmaceuticals International.
Lots of Products
Horiba sells a dizzying list of products, most of which are made in Japan and France.
It has five major business groups:
– Automotive: Horiba has about 80% of the market for machines that test engines for emissions. Customers include Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp.
– Environment: The company makes machines that monitor and test emissions and water quality for utilities that run power plants, boilers, refineries and chemical processing plants. Customers include Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Exxon Mobile Corp. and Chevron Corp.
– Industrial and consumer: Horiba makes machines that analyze substances down to molecular levels. Companies use them to maintain quality and consistency when mass-producing consumer goods and packaged foods, such as coffee, chocolate and peanut butter.
– Medical: The company makes bedside diagnostic devices, including blood-testing equipment.
– Semiconductors: Horiba makes machines that test for contamination during the chip-making process.
Adachi is heading up a reorganization of Horiba’s marketing.
Before, each product division and subsidiary was responsible for its own sales and marketing.
Adachi is looking to make the Irvine office the companywide hub for marketing.
The goal for the next few years is to institute cross-selling between business groups, said Jonathan Zhu, director of marketing.
“The first thing is to pool resources together as well as to improve efficiency,” Zhu said. “Right now each division is kind of isolated, but we can share sales channels and customer groups in the future.”
The company is looking to expand its products to sell more to the healthcare industry, one of its fastest-growing business segments.
“Horiba has not been putting a big amount of marketing effort into (healthcare),” Adachi said. “They just know our instruments and they buy them. But maybe we can work deeper with these customers and sell a total solution, including instruments, (software) applications and support.”
A big source of sales growth for Horiba is the stricter government rules requiring companies to report emissions from equipment and factories.
“The first market driver for us is environment and energy conservation, as a public and government movement,” Adachi said.
The desire for clean-running cars and fuel efficiency also gives Horiba legs with automakers.
“Automotive is steadily going up because of the conservation movement,” Adachi said. “Auto manufacturers want to improve the efficiency of their cars and their automation processes.”
Company History
Horiba has a long, colorful history in Japan.
It was founded in 1945 by Masao Horiba as the Horiba Radio Laboratory.
The company grew when he invented Japan’s first glass electrode pH meter.
The first auto emissions tester came around in 1964.
For a company rooted in science, Horiba has an incongruous company motto: “joy and fun.”
After three decades of keeping a low profile, Horiba is set to spread a little of that around OC.
“We have a long history here,” Zhu said. “We are very committed to OC.”
