Hitachi update: CE division closing due to global restructure

On the back of the announcement that Hitachi will be shutting its CE division, CRN has learnt the decision was part of a global restructure by Hitachi Limited.

Dipak Kumar, general manager, Electronic Components Group told CRN information had come from Hitachi headquarters in Japan that the company was going through a global restructuring.

“The CE division was the only division at Hitachi in Australia to be affected by the global restructure. At this stage we can only say that the decision was made due to a global restructure,” said Kumar.

He said Hitachi’s head office will start to concentrate on areas where it feels it doesn't have much of a presence.

“We want to ramp up the B2B division in Australia. This includes specialist products like business-grade LCD screens and projectors,” said Kumar.

Hitachi communications executive for consumer products, Celine Herit confirmed with CRN that it will no longer be supplying consumer electronics, home entertainment and home appliance products to the Australian marketplace.

Kumar said the CE division had 40 employees and “some will be subsumed into various other divisions within Hitachi”.

However he couldn’t give a figure for the number of employees that will be let go due to the restructure.