Funai Electric Company Ltd. is the unsung hero of the global electronics industry. The Osaka, Japan-based company is the world’s leading manufacturer of VCRs and TV/VCR combos and holds a leading position in a number of other key electronics segments, including DVD players, computer printers, and telephones and fax machines. Funai also produces large-screen LCD-based televisions, projectors, and DVD-RW and CD-RW devices, among other products. While the company distributes many of its products under the Funai brand name, a major share of its sales have long come under its brand names, which include Sylvania, Emerson, and Symphonic brands. Yet the company, one of the few fully integrated operations capable of producing nearly all of the parts and components of its products in-house, is also one of the world’s leading original equipment manufacturers (OEM) in its product sectors. As such, Funai produces part or all of products sold by Toshiba, Hitachi, Matsushita, Mitsumi, Murata, Alps, Kaga, Rohm, Nichican, Philips, and Lexicon. Funai operates several manufacturing plants in China, as well as facilities in Malaysia and Thailand. The company also operates a number of sales and marketing subsidiaries, including the U.S.-based Funai Corporation. At the turn of the 21st century, the company has made a special target of the mass-market retail channel and has become an important supplier to the Wal-Mart chain. Funai has also begun shifting its product line away from analog technologies to focus its future product development on the digital market. Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Funai Electric continues to be led by founder Tetsuro Funai.
