PRODUCT IDEAS TO MEET CUSTOMER NEEDS

Takahiro Kato
Air-Conditioner Marketing Group
Marketing Department

Air-Conditioner Marketing Group
Marketing Department *As of 2022

Takahiro Kato

2000
He joined the company. He was assigned to the Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Systems Headquarters Commercial Air-Conditioner & Heat Pump Operations Commercial Air-Conditioner & Heat Pump Engineering Department Designing Section.

2008
He was placed in charge of providing technical support in Europe at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Europe (London)

2009
He returned to developing and designing VRFs

2017
Manager, Air-Conditioner Designing
& Engineering Department Multi System Air - Conditioner Designing Group

2019
Air-Conditioner Designing & Engineering Department Product Planning Group

2021
Marketing Section, Air-Conditioner Designing & Engineering Department

2022
Air-Conditioner Marketing Group, Marketing Department

Can you tell us the specific details of your department and current work?

Marketing Department Established in 2022
Planning and Proposing Products That Will Be Needed in the Future Air-Conditioner Market

Kato was originally a designer, but now works for the new Marketing Department established in 2022. He used to plan products based on opinions from customers in cooperation with the Sales Division.

"The Product Planning Group was established within the Air-Conditioner Designing & Engineering Department in 2019. After that, the rising need to focus more on marketing led to the establishment of the dedicated Marketing Department in 2022. I am currently a member of the Air-Conditioner Marketing Group, involved in planning and proposing products that will be needed in the future air-conditioner market."

There are 10 members in the Air-Conditioner Marketing Group. They include Kato who was originally involved in designing, and others who came from sales or other departments.

"Former salesmen have direct contact with people at distributors and stores, so it's easy for them to obtain customer feedback, while I was a designer, so I have technical knowledge. We plan products by feeding off each other's strengths."

What do you pay particular attention to, or feel confident about in your work?

Being a former designer allows the proposing of feasible and specific plans

The Marketing Department is involved in the launching of products. This makes the work interesting, but it also creates anxiety over "whether customers will really appreciate the products"

"The ideal product will meet all the needs of customers in terms of energy efficiency, functions, price, noise, size and so on, But this is difficult when you have to think about designing and manufacturing a product, and its cost. You have to prioritize features and balance them out in thinking about what customers really want. This is a constant concern, but I can listen to the views of members from other departments working alongside me, which is always a great help."

"I'm a former designer, so I can judge the feasibility of desirable features and come up with an overall plan to realize them. In proposing plans, I can give specific instructions to the Design Department on what they can do to obtain what kind of results. It's allowed me to make detailed suggestions smoothly."

What are your goals and outlook for the future?

Aiming to provide not only products that customers will appreciate, but also create a system for easy selection of products

One of the purposes of establishing the Marketing Department was to "appropriately ascertain market needs and create products and a system that customers would appreciate."

"We sometimes have a product that can be appreciated by customers, but they don't because of the lack of a system for promoting its merits, making it difficult for customers to choose the product. For example, if a customer wants an energy-efficient air-conditioner, there are numerous products to choose from, including those of other manufacturers. So, it would be convenient to have a tool that allowed you to see at a glance how much energy you can save over your current model. That's the kind of tool the Marketing Department wants to provide support in developing."

"The entire industry is currently working toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions to realize carbon neutrality by 2050. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Thermal Systems too, wants to protect the environment, while making products that customers will appreciate. That's what I want to keep in mind in proposing plans for new products."

ON-SITE DEVELOPMENT

TECHNOLOGY