Denso Increases Focus on Mobility with Restructuring Exercise

Leading automotive parts supplier Denso is increasing its focus on mobility with a restructuring of its operations in North America. The company now will focus more new hardware, software-based solutions, and technologies relevant to the future of mobility.

The changes that have been made are as follows:

A new department called the Connected Services Department has been created and this will be led by senior vice president Norihito Tanahashi. This department will deal with advancing Denso’s focus on automated and connected driving. The new division will work with the Mobility Systems Business Group and Denso Ten.

Focus on research and development will increase with a new R&D department for the North American Production & Innovation Center. Denso is seeking to strengthen its production R&D capabilities outside Japan in order to expedite the innovation for advanced production systems. The R& D Department at DIAM will be headed by John Baciak.

In order to strengthen its core engineering services, Denso has changed, combined and/or consolidated several departments which include the Comfort R&D led by Rob Brinker, Energy Efficiency R&D led by Sergio Pujols, and the Thermal Planning, Program Management Office led by Tim Roland, director.

Just last month, Denso’s global headquarters had announced changes to the global organization and executive responsibility. These changes were meant to further reinforce its solutions in automated and connected driving, creation of new thermal and powertrain systems and products, and to promote professional development and information security.

Commenting on the restructuring exercise, Kenichiro Ito, CEO of Denso Int’l America Inc.said that the company has worked hard to maintain its leadership role throughout its history of 70 years. Denso has learned that change is a big part of innovation and with the automotive industry undergoing a period of rapid change, the company needs to change and focus on finding new value as the industry shifts towards electrification and automated driving. Denso will continue to evaluate its organizational structure, the roles of its executives and locations for R&D labs so that it can quickly and efficiently reshape the future of mobility.

As part of heightened focus on R&D strategy, Denso has recently opened an Innovation Lab in Montréal, Canada. The lab will focus on innovations in advanced technology like artificial intelligence (AI).
Denso has a workforce of over 24,000 employees spread across 31 sites in Mexico, Canada and the United States.