Presentation Transcripts

J3DD, which joined the Minebea Group last year, is a joint venture with Okamoto Glass that started out making optical components for in-vehicle head-up displays (HUDs. We asked Okamoto Glass to design collimating and condensed lenses that go between the LED and LCD so that an image can be projected when the LED light is shone onto a display. They have been adopted for use in a leading European manufacturer's HUDs and the first batch has already been shipped. Here's the reason why we are focusing on J3DD's glass components. HUDs currently use high-intensity LED or laser as a light source. Traditionally plastic has been chiefly used for reflecting, reducing, or magnifying lenses. While HUDs will become increasingly larger, there are two obstacles standing in the way of plastic. One is heat. When exposed to high-intensity LED or laser light, a plastic lens will deform due to the heat, resulting in a distorted image. Another problem is the fact that the blue beams of LED or laser light degrades and discolors plastic over time. There are limitations to plastic if you want to make reliable products. That's why we believe glass is a better fit for applications like this.
We started out making collimating lenses and are now working to boost sales with a line of glass products, including HUD mirrors and combiners. Other in-vehicle applications include headlamps, which increasingly employ LED lights. They have become very sophisticated and now employ an extremely complex mechanism. Those fitted to European luxury cars use a very large lens to distribute light. If we make them with thin, durable glass, we should eventually be able to make inroads into this market. Headlamps used to all be made of glass but were ultimately replaced by plastic. We're now keeping an eye on the possibility that manufacturers may go back to glass as we move forward with R&D efforts.