– Can you introduce Diamond Electric?
– Diamond Electric Company started from a small community of Japanese researchers and ever since the founding of the company in 1937 we have been continuously striving for the development of applied technologies and the quality improvement of our products, says Mr. Kazuori Ando, Managing Director. By now, our company has an expanded wide network of customers and subcontractors. 65 years ago, at the birth of Diamond Electric the Japanese automotive industry was only in the phase of early trials and preparations. At the same time, our company’s key product, the excellent quality of ignition coils for vehicle engines, due to our applied high technologies, have been acknowledged by our customers since the beginning of our operation.
– What is your company’s basic philosophy?
– Quality comes first – this is our company’s basic philosophy, this is inspired by our R&D, manufacturing and commercial activities. As a result of this, we were granted the Deming Prize in 1994, which is highest quality recognition prize in the world. Our company registered ISO 9001 in 1996 and in the same year we were listed in the Osaka Stock Exchange. The continuous developments of our quality assurance systems are represented by the registration of COS 9000 in 1997and later on ISO 14000 in 2001. Our Hungarian factory – the first company in the group – registered ISO/TS 16949 quality assurance in April 2003 and ISO 14000 environment management certificate in December 2004.
– How does Diamond Electric keep pace with the car manufacturing of the world?
– To keep pace with the development of the automotive industry, we founded a new company in Detroit, USA in 1987. Diamond Electric USA supply outstanding products to DaimlerChrysler, Toyota USA, CAMI Automotive and several other North American car manufacturers. Two of our factories – in Michigan and in West Virginia – provide employment for more than 300 workers, who were merited by the Quality Prize granted by our customers because of their reliable work. The annual turnover of Diamond Electric Group is YEN 28 billion and the number of employees exceeds 1,300 persons worldwide.
– How did you establish your plant in Hungary and what results have you achieved?
– Diamond Electric decided to open a new manufacturing plant in Esztergom in October 2000. The construction work was started in September 2001 and it was completed in February 2002, as Mr. Levente Székely, Project Manager takes over the introduction. We started to settle the most developed manufacturing equipment in April 2002. From August 2002, we supplied the first domestically produced series of ignition coils from our Esztergom plant to Magyar Suzuki. We were continuously increasing our production capacities to two million pieces, out of which we supplied the DaimlerChrysler’s engine plant in Germany from 2003. The volume of our investments exceeded HUF 1.1 billion in 2002, which was followed by a further HUF 700 million in development in 2003 and as a result of that the number of our employees is 87 and our annual revenue is EUR 8 million. Next year, we will settle the production line of pencil ignition coils for the new engine families of Suzuki Motor Corporation. The amount of investment is about HUF 400 million.
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MILESTONES
1937 Released 1st Japanese automotive ignition coil
1968 Diamond Electric-established the brand name
1987 Diamond Electric U.S.A. was incorporated
1994 Deming Prize was granted
1996 Listed in the Osaka stock exchange
1997 Diamond Japan registered with QS9000
2000 Diamond Electric Hungary incorporated
2002 Start of production at Diamond Electric Hungary
2003 Diamond Hungary registered with ISO/TS 16949 and ISO 14001
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PRODUCTS, ACTIVITIES
Diamond Electric Hungary was founded by the Osaka based Diamond Electric Mfg. Co. Ltd., which produces ignition coils since 1937. During the last 67 years Diamond Electric became one of the biggest player of the ignition coil manufacturing business, and not only in Japan, but also in the United States, Europe and in the near future in China as well. Thanks to our excellent quality and to the continuous improvement we managed to create long term partnership with customers, like DaimlerChrysler, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Subaru, Suzuki, GM and Ford. In our Hungarian factory we are currently producing two ignition coil families for DaimlerChrysler and for Suzuki. Introduction of new types of ignition coils will follow through our growth in the near future.
