Hitachi, Ltd.(NYSE: HIT) and Omron Corporation (TSE: 6645) today announced that they 
have agreed to form a wide-ranging alliance to cooperate on and develop a solutions 
business for the IT integration of factory automation control systems.

The two companies will combine Hitachi's process administration expertise, systems 
integration, and other factory automation control systems solutions and Omron's large 
array of control systems devices and expertise in the area of factory automation 
applications into a systems solution package that will be marketed through both 
companies' sales networks.

Areas immediately targeted for the alliance are factory automation in food products, 
pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and other manufacturing industries. The scope of the 
alliance will eventually be broadened to target the fields of distribution and logistics. 
The two companies will go on to provide highly reliable, cost-effective solutions by 
exploring cooperation in the areas of product development, mutual supply, and repairs 
and maintenance. 

Such IT integration packages as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain 
management (SCM), which are designed to increase productivity, are expanding rapidly 
in industrial sectors. In addition, with regard to control systems the growth of 
manufacturing execution systems (MES's) for operating and controlling entire 
production processes has generated demand for systems solutions combining IT with 
control devices.

Hitachi, Ltd. is a global leader in medium- to large-scale industrial data control 
systems in terms of both its technological capability and its sales record. It has 
supplied such pioneering products and systems solutions as MES control software 
packages and autonomous distribution systems. The Company is now actively seeking 
alliances with external solutions partners and will seek to develop total solutions 
businesses.

Omron Corp. is Japan's leading manufacturer of factory automation devices and 
supplies a wide array of control systems devices, including programmable logic 
controllers and sensors, as well as maintaining one of the industry's finest sales 
and support networks. Furthermore, leveraging its abundant, carefully nurtured 
factory automation know-how the company has organized an industry-specific, highly 
specialized sales force with which it has developed solutions operations aimed at 
the MES field.

The alliance will provide the market with optimized solutions by utilizing Hitachi's 
systems solutions acumen in concert with Omron's wide-ranging lineup of control 
systems devices and its substantial sales network.