Fujitsu Espana SA is already seeing the benefits of the restructuring measures undertaken in 1994, and will probably reach the target turnover figure of $202m for the 1994 financial year, due to end in March 1995, managing director Hideo Mita told Computerworld Espana in a recent interview. Reaching the target would represent an increase of 16.8% on 1993’s turnover, although Mita warned that a return to profit after two years of losses would depend on what happened in the final month. A year ago, Fujitsu Espana reorganised its operation into business units that enjoy a considerable degree of autonomy, while a three-man executive committee handles global corporate concerns. Mita confirmed that the spate of redundancies had ended, leaving the Spani sh arm with a staff of 1,038, of which 272 are employed at the Malaga factory in Andalusia, in which the company will invest $23.6m over the next five years, according to an announcement made last November. The factory, established in 1977 and which housed a workforce of 734 in its heyday, is still waiting for final confirmation that it can take possession of a subsidy of $31m from the Regional Government of Andalusia. Fujitsu has presented the government with its viability plan, which Mita said had been well received, but the size of the subsidy is still being negotiated. It appears that the factory’s bread and butter product, the matrix printer, will gradually be replaced by financial terminals and new consumer products on the production lines . Mita emphasised that most of the output is bound for the rest of Europe and that the Malaga plant is also responsible for the assembly of personal computers sold to the Spanish market, a business area in which Fujitsu Espana has made domestic progress, its personal computer market share in Spain jumping to 4.4% from 3.1%, according to Dataquest figures for the first nine months of 1994, compared to the same period of 1993. Looking ahead, Mita believed that, having weathered the storms of 1992 and 1993, the Spanish arm had to consolidate the gradual recovery begun in 1994, which coincided with the first signs of an economic upturn. Caution is still the watchword, as Mita observed that users were not yet prepared to make large investments, adding that it will be 1996 before the sector can expect any substantial improvement to be visible.
