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Kajima's New President, Mitsuyoshi Nakamura, and Management and Organizational Reforms At a meeting of Kajima's Board of Directors held immediately after the annual meeting of shareholders on June 29, Senior Managing Director Mitsuyoshi Nakamura was named the new President and Representative Director of the Company, and former president Sadao Umeda was appointed Chairman and Representative Director. The main reasons for appointing a new president at this time were the fact that the financial condition of the Company had improved significantly during President Umeda's nine-year term of office, and the medium-term business plan scheduled to end in 2005 had been successfully completed one year ahead of time. President Nakamura is a marketing expert who has been involved in business development for most of his career with Kajima. His abilities and expertise are expected to prove invaluable in the Company's quest to develop and maintain its competitiveness in the private sector. Together with the appointment of a new president, new management and organizational reforms were implemented. The first step taken was to enhance decision-making and supervisory functions by reducing the number of members of the Board of Directors to 20 or less. The second step was to speed up the execution of business operations, improve efficiency, and clarify responsibility and accountability by introducing the Executive Officer System. In addition to the above, the Company has carried out a reorganization of its corporate headquarters, International Division, Tokyo Branch, and R&D-related departments. In this connection, President Nakamura made the following statement. "Upon my appointment as president, I immediately established the goal of ensuring the continued growth and development of Kajima by achieving a balanced 'profitability' based on high levels of orders received, high revenues, and high profits. To achieve this goal, we are preparing a new Three-Year Business Plan to begin in the next fiscal year. This plan is based on our vision of what we want Kajima to look like five years from now, as well as 10 years ahead. We expect to release the plan this fall. "More specifically, the plan will build on our long tradition as a 'technology orientated company,' and focus on combining our strengths in the three key areas of design, construction, and marketing to help us attract more business and increase profitability. Our aim will be to reorient our corporate culture to increase dividends to our shareholders, offer better compensation to our employees, and provide better products at competitive prices to our customers. We will strive also to fulfill our fundamental responsibilities as a construction company by making every possible effort to promote construction safety and quality controls, and will take active steps to assist in the creation of a safe and comfortable environment for all human beings." |
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Automobile Plant Opens in the Czech Republic On May 31, 2005, Toyota Peugeot Citroën Automobile Czech (TPCA), a joint venture between Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and PSA Pugeot Citroën (PSA), held an opening ceremony on the site of its new plant in the city of Kolin in the Czech Republic. The ceremony was attended by Toyota President (now Vice Chairman) Fujio Cho, PSA Chairman Jean-Martin Folz, other representatives of the partner companies, Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek and other representatives of the Czech government. That evening, the festivities moved to the Czech capital of Prague, where a gala reception was held in the Spanish Hall of Prague Castle to celebrate the launch of TPCA and its new plant. The Kolin Plant construction project involved dividing construction into several zones. Kajima was responsible for Package 4, the pressing and welding building, with a total floor area of 43,169 square meters (463,000 square feet), as well as Package 7, the finished vehicle yard, comprising a site area of 500,000 square meters (5,357,000 square feet), a paved area of 49,000 square meters (525,000 square feet), with a railway length of 2.3 kilometers (1.4 miles) and office floor space of 500 square meters (5,400 square feet). Construction of the pressing and welding building involved adverse conditions of groundbreaking in wintertime and an extremely short construction period. Nevertheless, Kajima brought to bear its comprehensive strength to deliver a high-quality building on schedule and without incident, winning high praise from TPCA. In February 2005, the plant began production of Toyota Aygo, Pugeot 107 and Citroën C1 compact passenger cars. With maximum production capacity of 300,000 vehicles per year and a peak number of 3,000 employees, the Kolin Plant is positioned as a critically important production base in the global strategies of both Toyota and PSA. |
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Dubai Orders First Passenger Rail System in the Middle East A consortium of five companies, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corporation, Obayashi, Kajima, and Yapi Merkezi, one of Turkey's largest general contractors, has won a contract to build a complete passenger rail system in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the first rail system in the Middle East. The order for the system. scheduled to begin operating in 2009, was placed by the Emirate of Dubai, which is part of the UAE. The present contract is reported to be the largest ever awarded for a transportation infrastructure project serving a single city. The project, designed to relieve traffic congestion in downtown Dubai, will consist of two railway lines with a total length of 70 kilometers (43 miles). Kajima will be part of a civil engineering joint venture responsible for the design and construction of tunnels, overpasses, above-ground and underground station houses, and switchyards. The project will be divided into two phases. The first will involve the construction of a 52-kilometer (32-mile) "Red Line" running from the Dubai International Airport to the Jebel Ali Free Zone. The second will see the construction of an 18- kilometer (11-mile) "Green Line," which will serve the urban district where commercial facilities are concentrated. Both lines will consist of shield tunnels in urban areas, and elevated lines in suburban areas. |
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India's First Concrete Face Rockfill Dam (CFRD)Project The Dhauliganga Hydroelectric Power Plant (maximum output: 280,000 kW) began construction in January 2001 in the Kumaon district of Uttranchal state, an isolated region surrounded by the Indian Himalayas near the border with Tibet and Nepal, about 670 kilometers (416 miles) north of India's capital, New Delhi. In April 2001, there was a large-scale collapse of the right embankment, requiring repairs that delayed completion of the project for one year, but in March 2005 work was completed and filling operations began. One distinguishing feature of this project was that the gravel of the riverbed at the construction site reached a depth of 70 meters (230 feet). It was impossible to remove this much gravel, so to create an effective water barrier it was necessary to build a continuous concrete wall 1 meter (3.3 feet) thick and 70 meters (230 feet) deep at the upstream edge of the dam. A second feature of the project was that the upstream slope of the rockfill dam was covered with a concrete facing that was 400 millimeters (15.6 inches) thick and 70 meters (230 feet) long. Because many sites scheduled for future hydroelectric development are located in areas with terrain similar to that at Dhauliganga, the range of application for this construction method is expected to expand in the future. |
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KCS Helps Build Major NYC Residential Project Kajima Construction Services, Inc. (KCS) recently completed The Opal, the first major residential construction project in Kew Gardens Hills in New York City's borough of Queens in more than 20 years. With this undertaking, the Dermot Company, the project leader, succeeded in designing a residence that appeals to a diverse and growing community. After the success of Hudson Crossing, The Dermot Company, H. Thomas O'Hara, KCS and others partnered for a second time on The Opal. The relationship built during the award-winning Hudson Crossing project provided a strong foundation for the venture. The Opal, a premier luxury rental project in Queens, was developed as a 14-story, two-towered, L-shaped 388-unit multifamily rental property. The two 14-story towers cascade down to five-story wings, connected by a two-story structure. The 51,000-square-meter (550,000-square-foot) gated community includes underground private parking spaces, a health and fitness center with a children's playroom, 24-hour concierge and valet services, with 12 acres of landscaped grounds. What sets the project apart is the measures taken to appeal to the current and growing Orthodox Jewish population in the area. Striking the right balance to appeal to both the Orthodox community and the broader rental community was challenging. Among some of the amenities added to meet the needs of the Orthodox community were Sabbath elevators that automatically stop on every floor, ovens that remain lit during the Sabbath and other Holy Days, and double sinks to maintain kosher dietary laws. The Opal has been warmly received by the Orthodox community, and won great popularity among many singles as well as married couples. |
 Vol. 34 Autumn 2005
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