Lighting

Ali Ordoobadi graduted from Université de Technologie de Compiegne with a Mechanical Engineering degree, and holds a PhD in Systems Control in Computer Engineering from that same university. He started his professional life as a junior engineer at Siemens, where he had the opportunity to work on the energy supply and safety systems of the Transrapid Maglev train. In 1988 he joined Valeo as project manager for German projects and in that role was involved in the first projects of Valeo Electrical Systems in Germany. After that, he held a variety of management positions in France at Valeo’s Sales, Marketing, and International Development departments.

Late in 1996 he moved to China to take up as Managing Director of Valeo’s China Wiper Division in Wenling. It was the first Valeo joint venture in China, and this experience allowed him to understand the challenges in management of project development, manufacturing, and quality as well as business development in that country. From 1999 to 2007 he was Valeo Group Vice President in China, in charge of business development and strategy.
During that period, the number of Valeo plants was doubled from seven to 14 and two R&D centres were established, including one for lighting systems. From 2007 to 2010 he was Valeo Group Vice President in Japan in charge of the business development with Japanese customers worldwide. Since October 2010, he is President of Ichikoh. He was kind enough to grant DVN an exclusive interview.

DVN: How do you balance your activities in front lighting, rear lighting, and mirrors?
Ali Ordoobadi: Until 2010, sales were decreasing year after year with two plants closed. Inside Ichikoh, the forecast for the company’s future was negative. Since 2011, a new strategy was defined with a focus on Japan and Japanese car makers. The orders started again and Ichikoh saw a growth of sales. In FY 2015, sales forecast above ¥100bn on operating profit of 1.5%, with a target of ¥130bn in 2019 and an operating profit of 7%.
Growth comes mainly from three directions: domestic Japanese market, ASEAN, and China. The new lighting technologies are important; they have allowed to get more orders against the competitors with lower technology content and to increase the added value.