News

Panasonic announces new digital signage business unit

March 28, 2007

SECAUCUS, N.J. — Panasonic Corp. of North America announced that it has created two new unit companies that will be responsible exclusively for the increasingly strategic digital display business, including plasma and LCD technologies.

Mr. Hideaki Harada will lead Panasonic's new consumer enterprise as president of Panasonic Display Company and Andrew Nelkin will lead the new business-to-business professional enterprise as president of Panasonic Professional Display Company, both reporting to Panasonic Corp. of North America chairman and chief executive Yoshi Yamada.

Harada was formerly vice president, strategic planning while Nelkin was formerly vice president, display Group for Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. Dennis Eppel, formerly PCEC Display Group national marketing manager has been appointed vice president of Panasonic Display Company reporting to Harada.

"In creating the Panasonic Display Company, we are making a radical change in the way we get the job done and extending the transformation that Panasonic launched more than two years ago," said Harada. "This new organization will shorten distances between product development, our factories and our sales and marketing functions enabling Panasonic to react even more swiftly to meet channel partner and customer demands."

Panasonic has been the consumer plasma market share leader for 108 of the past 115 weeks; the company also is the current professional display market share leader.

"Commercial flat panel displays are a very strategically important part of our business," said Nelkin. "Some of the leading sports arenas, hotels, restaurant chains and network television broadcasters feature Panasonic flat panel displays. We've established this new company to put an even greater emphasis on the professional side of the flat panel business led by our 103-inch plasma HDTV, the world's largest."

Most recently, Panasonic announced deals for the installation of more than 5,000 plasma HDTVs at the new Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, 103-inch Plasmas on the set of NBC's Football Night In America program, and a range of large-screen flat panel displays at Miami's Dolphin Stadium, home to the NFL's Miami Dolphins and MLB's Florida Marlins.