Fujitsu General Australia has said it was “disappointed” by the decision by the company to leave the global plasma market and discontinue the Plasmavision brand due to a lack of profitability.
“Fujitsu General (Aust.) Pty Limited has ceased selling Plasmavision display panels to the Australian market effective immediately,” Fujitsu sales and marketing general manager Phil Perham said in a statement issued this afternoon.
“This decision follows a recent resolution passed on December 27 by the board of directors of Fujitsu General Limited, to cease conducting plasma display panel (PDP) business for the consumer market.
“Fujitsu General Limited in Japan has made a decision to withdraw from the plasma market globally.”
“Locally, we are disappointed not to be continuing in this product category, given the company’s history in plasma display development. However, we fully understand and support Fujitsu General Japan’s position regarding the long term sustainability and profitability of our involvement in this product category,” Perham said.
“I would like to stress that our exit bears no reflection on the long term viability of PDP technology, as we are certain the needs of the Australian market will continue to be met by the existing manufacturers.
“We remain fully committed to our customers and Fujitsu General will continue to provide after sales service for all Plasmavision models previously sold in Australia,” Perham said.
In a separate statement, the board of directors said:
The Visual Display Division of Fujitsu General Limited has focused its efforts in the PDP category primarily in overseas markets.
The focus of our marketing was high-end value added products, and our marketing direction was to concentrate on the custom AV market specializing in advanced AV systems and high-end custom installations in North America and the United Kingdom.
During the past several years, the pricing and profitability of this segment has compressed beyond the point which our company could realise a satisfactory return on investment.
We expect that this market situation will continue in the future.
In light of these conditions and the business structure of our company, we have decided that we will discontinue participation in the visual display business at the end of March, 2008 and concentrate our operating resources on our core business of heating and ventilation equipment instead.
Fujitsu said it will continue the visual display business for domestic businesses in Japan and continue to provide after sale service for products after the March 2008 business closure.