Our control equipment and factory automation (FA) systems business provides over 100,000 distinct products, including FA controllers, sensors, switches, relays and safety devices, that help production sites achieve improved productivity.

OMRON holds the number one market share (40%) of control and sensing devices in Japan. We also operate in 80 countries around the world, centering on Europe, North America, China and the Asia Pacific region.

In recent years, we have been concentrating on the solutions business, which solves management problems on diverse production sites. Centering on the themes of quality, safety and the environment, we support manufacturing innovation worldwide with our unique sensing and control technologies.

In order to improve productivity, it is essential not only to use final inspections to keep defective products off the market but also to prevent the manufacturing of defective products at each stage in the production process.

For instance, even nanometer-level irregularities in the film thickness of a silicon wafer-that is, irregularities only one-millionth of a millimeter-can cause quality fluctuations in finished products. OMRON's in-line film thickness sensor accurately checks and measures the thickness of each silicon wafer and provides optimum production parameters to the line, thus minimizing product and process losses. The visualization made possible by our high-precision control devices also greatly helps to improve productivity and product quality.

The machines and devices in production lines must be controlled at high speed to produce a variety of products efficiently. OMRON's programmable logic controllers (PLCs) optimally process information received from various control components, such as sensors, timers, temperature controllers and switches, to efficiently control machines and devices.

In addition to the PLCs that serve as core devices on production lines, OMRON programmable terminals with touch-panel screens simplify line control and changes, working as interfaces between operators and machines and greatly helping to improve productivity.

As part of our commitment to manufacturing innovation, OMRON attaches special importance to creating a safe work environment for operators. For instance, we provide safety components that keep protective doors locked until machinery completely stops. We also supply information that we gather from our own factories, such as know-how on occupational safety and health, and information on international safety standards. In addition to our wide range of products, we also offer consultation services aimed at keeping worksites safe while increasing productivity.

OMRON promotes open network environments centering on DeviceNet, an international de-facto standard and helps customers to create full-scale global production systems. Our open network technology allows the creation of FA systems on a global level with optimized components regardless of manufacturer or model differences, thus easily accommodating new production system launches.

OMRON also promotes IT for production sites by utilizing the Internet and mobile devices, thus providing systems that make it possible to confirm on-site production information, such as the operating conditions of production facilities and product quality information, on a global scale. As a result, information and instructions can be exchanged worldwide for easy and efficient remote maintenance, with instructions provided from distant locations.