Panasonic Corp.’s new President and Chief Executive Officer Yuki Kusumi is embarking on a two-year mission: churn out more batteries for Tesla Inc. and shake free billions of dollars to invest in new areas of growth by making the company more efficient.
He won’t be doing that from the second-floor office used by the company’s founder, a room overlooking a fountain and manicured lawn dotted with statues at Panasonic’s Osaka headquarters. The 56-year-old, who rose through the engineering ranks, is shunning the space to work alongside staff.
Kusumi, who formally took the helm of the 103-year-old Japanese company on Thursday, says he’s focused on improving efficiencies from the manufacturing floor up. That type of work can’t be done locked away in the president’s office, he said in an interview earlier this month. "Those are the type of things I’m out to change.”