Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: But the Consumer Electronics Show getting underway virtually like so
Speaker 1: many other conferences in the past year because of the
Speaker 1: health pandemic, it is the first all digital ce S
Speaker 1: which they're gonna be showing off a lot of things,
Speaker 1: but of course in a different way. Let's find out
Speaker 1: what the Panasonic Corporation is up to. Panasonic Corporation of
Speaker 1: North America Chairman and CEO Michael Moscow outs Moscow wits
Speaker 1: excuse me, is with us. He was named to that
Speaker 1: position in August of nineteen. He joins us on the
Speaker 1: phone in Toronto. Michael, nice to have you here on Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: How are you? Um? Interesting time. I know you've been
Speaker 1: with the company for a while, but to be put
Speaker 1: in that top position position just ahead of the pandemic.
Speaker 1: So what's your world been like? Hey, Carol, Um, it's
Speaker 1: been a very unique environment. I'll tell you what I mean.
Speaker 1: You know, we we have a long history in in electronics.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're a hundred year old, hundred plus year
Speaker 1: old company, right that has dramatically transformed ourselves from you know,
Speaker 1: typical kind of hardware products and consumer electroducts to hardware
Speaker 1: plus software and services. So we've really we've really created
Speaker 1: a whole new economy for ourselves and and changed significantly.
Speaker 1: We're kind of like the you know, often the one
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, but I'll tell you there's been nothing
Speaker 1: really like how we've been pivoting towards, you know, through
Speaker 1: this pandemic. How we've changed, and you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: significantly moved our company is no question, all right. So
Speaker 1: that that totally I want to know more, So tell
Speaker 1: me what you know, the new economy that's been created
Speaker 1: for you guys, what specifically what do you mean? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean there's a couple of things that are happening,
Speaker 1: you know, first of all, just from a you know,
Speaker 1: a CS perspective, we're we're continuing and now it's really
Speaker 1: amazing things. I mean, you know, we're a significant player
Speaker 1: in the automotive space, developing next generation of augmented reality
Speaker 1: and head displays that we're launching. We've got we've got
Speaker 1: new new audio technology, uh in partnership, in partnership with
Speaker 1: clips and and Dobe around Dobie outmost so just to
Speaker 1: think about that experience from your car and there's so
Speaker 1: many people that are driving now versus taking all types
Speaker 1: of other transit. So it's kind of your you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's a new dimension and experience, so what works.
Speaker 1: We're exploring that and really enhancing that environment. You know.
Speaker 1: The other thing is that that that's happened is you know,
Speaker 1: people are working from home is and and pivoted to
Speaker 1: home offices. I mean not everybody has that opportunity, but
Speaker 1: many are working from from from home these days. So
Speaker 1: from an entertainment perspective, we think about things like gaming, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, we've just we've enhanced our game. We launched,
Speaker 1: you know, as product called sound Slayer, which is in
Speaker 1: partnership with a company called the Square Annex, and the
Speaker 1: final Fantasy fourteen online game. So that's really exciting. And
Speaker 1: then well I want can I can I slet out
Speaker 1: for a second. Let's go back to you, um, because
Speaker 1: I feel like there's so many different things we can
Speaker 1: unpack here, um to use an overused word unpack, But
Speaker 1: cars specifically, I feel like, tell me what you guys
Speaker 1: are seeing Specifically you are involved, uh in cars in
Speaker 1: a big way, whether it's battery development and other areas.
Speaker 1: But I mean with Apple the Apple News late last year.
Speaker 1: I feel like we all were like, we all kind
Speaker 1: of kind of stood up a little bit straighter, right
Speaker 1: because of that, We're already kind of standing up straight,
Speaker 1: you know, straighter because of Tesla specifically. But how do
Speaker 1: you see that? How do you what do you see
Speaker 1: when it comes to cars autonomous vehicles this year and
Speaker 1: and your role in it, and we and we're we're
Speaker 1: we're Tier one suppliers, so we're creating many of those
Speaker 1: unique experiences in the car and we're either delete in
Speaker 1: partnership with our automotive partners, or we're developing things for others.
Speaker 1: But I'll give you a great example, you know, in
Speaker 1: terms of how the industry is shifting, and we're really
Speaker 1: leveraging our technical talent and our and our i P
Speaker 1: around you know, standard platform so you know, for example, um,
Speaker 1: you know, Android is is a platform that has been
Speaker 1: developed for automobiles, which have have typically developed our entertainment
Speaker 1: systems around our own platforms, our own development the hardware,
Speaker 1: and we've completely changed and now we are a very
Speaker 1: significant developer around the Android platforms and developing products and
Speaker 1: services and experiences on other platforms. But it's giving the
Speaker 1: specific and uniqueness to the automotive partner that that that
Speaker 1: that they that they want and you know, for that,
Speaker 1: we've you know where it's the fourth year that we've
Speaker 1: support the Google and Where platform or a reference partner.
Speaker 1: We're doing some really awesome things in the car as
Speaker 1: you know, as as individuals moved from their living room
Speaker 1: and their homes and their offices, you think about the
Speaker 1: you know, the car and it's it's the it's the
Speaker 1: next almost untouched experience, which we're trying to enhance. We're
Speaker 1: doing that with a bunch of partnerships. But is there
Speaker 1: something like when it comes to cars that you think
Speaker 1: we're not talking about that we should. We just got
Speaker 1: about forty seconds and we'll come back and talk some more. Listen.
Speaker 1: I think I think that the whole autonomous driving is
Speaker 1: is is a very unique environment and you know, and
Speaker 1: and this work that we're doing in terms of heads
Speaker 1: up and how that impacts not only the driver itself,
Speaker 1: but in the future it will give you this experience
Speaker 1: when you're not driving the car as well and give
Speaker 1: you that comfort less anxiety about knowing what's out there.
Speaker 1: Part of the problem with you know, a time just
Speaker 1: driving is you just don't feel comfortable because you're not
Speaker 1: in control with you know this, that those heads up displays,
Speaker 1: you can you have an experience. You can experience what
Speaker 1: looks like outside without actually driving. You know. I guess
Speaker 1: what I want to talk to you about, to Michael,
Speaker 1: is you know some of the trends that we did
Speaker 1: see during the pandemic. I looked at UM your press
Speaker 1: preview for c e S and you know, whether it's
Speaker 1: refrigeration at supermarkets, whether it's immersive entertainment, whether it's you know,
Speaker 1: working increasingly with education to do those fully remote learning experiences. Uh,
Speaker 1: you guys are opening up is it a luminarium UM
Speaker 1: or working with them that's going to open up in Atlanta. Like,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of things go going on. Tell me
Speaker 1: about the trends that you guys have had to kind
Speaker 1: of either pick up some momentum on and said, man,
Speaker 1: this train has left the station and this is going
Speaker 1: to be with us from now on. That um that
Speaker 1: are really going to stay with us longer term. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's incredible how how we've how we've changed.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'll just give you some examples and some
Speaker 1: of it, you know, we were doing. We accelerated that.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, we're as you know, we're a
Speaker 1: significant manufacturer and developers of battery technology, and you know,
Speaker 1: we we ramped our production to support you know, a
Speaker 1: bunch of healthcare providers and ventilator production facilities, and we
Speaker 1: just we ramped that really quickly. Think that we didn't
Speaker 1: know we could do that quickly. We just we we
Speaker 1: got the entire team on board and just persevered and
Speaker 1: make sure we delivered on that. I mean, you look
Speaker 1: at quick service restaurants and you know, and and and
Speaker 1: and how that has changed. Right everything from contact with
Speaker 1: payment technologies that we're developing and accelerating rolling out to
Speaker 1: smart lockers right the clicking collect it's not just about
Speaker 1: being at room temperature, but being at you know, heating
Speaker 1: and cooling in the same in the same locker and
Speaker 1: tying that all back to a standardized platform. And uh
Speaker 1: and within food retail or quick service restaurants. So we've
Speaker 1: we've really accelerated a lot of that, a lot of
Speaker 1: technology and even going back on the battery side, I mean,
Speaker 1: we've never really experienced this kind of ramp before, but
Speaker 1: you know, we power many of the data centers in
Speaker 1: North America too, with you know, with battery technology and
Speaker 1: battery technology that really supports that connectivity and need commerce.
Speaker 1: That's that's powering this, uh, this new trend, and that's
Speaker 1: going to continue in the foreseeable future. Yeah, what is
Speaker 1: it that you guys have learned about businesses are consumers
Speaker 1: specifically in terms of other trends that are going to stick.
Speaker 1: I mean we've talked a lot about the digitization of
Speaker 1: just everything that we're doing. I mean some things, whether
Speaker 1: it's telemedicine, whether it's learning. Uh, there's a lot of things.
Speaker 1: And like you said, had the contact less payment. I
Speaker 1: mean I finally got an Apple PEG, you know, and
Speaker 1: my husband I laugh about I can't remember the last
Speaker 1: time that we've used money, uh cash money, I should
Speaker 1: say paper money. So you know, I look to you
Speaker 1: guys as, okay, kind of visionaries. So what are the
Speaker 1: things that are maybe in R and D that you
Speaker 1: are working on, that you're you know, that you can
Speaker 1: talk about that are like, okay, the consumers different, the
Speaker 1: businesses are different. Things are really this this pandemic impacted
Speaker 1: a lot. Yeah, I mean we we have we have
Speaker 1: so many technologies and an I p under under our hood.
Speaker 1: And you know, one of the things that I'll just
Speaker 1: get give me that. One of the things that we've
Speaker 1: tried to do is leverage some of those technologies across
Speaker 1: I'm a number of our businesses. And so I'll give
Speaker 1: you an example of that. I mean, if you think
Speaker 1: about what we're doing, we have a technology called nanoex technology,
Speaker 1: and just the technical is, you know, we kind of
Speaker 1: we have these high hydroxyl radicals, but basically from what
Speaker 1: it means is it's actually effectively inhibits um you know,
Speaker 1: odors and and and some viruses and uh and and
Speaker 1: and various things that can be incorporated into our product.
Speaker 1: This technology was actually developing for hair dryers to kind
Speaker 1: of to make the hair drying experience actually better. And
Speaker 1: then we said, well this actually inhibits you know things,
Speaker 1: and so can we incorporate that into our airline business,
Speaker 1: or avionics business, our automotive business. Right to have cleaner, cleaner,
Speaker 1: fresher indoors or inside are air conditioning, so so many products.
Speaker 1: So I think, you know, what we've really done has
Speaker 1: taken some of our core technology and say how does
Speaker 1: that fit into other areas and how is that now
Speaker 1: conducive or supportive to towards this pandemic and beyond in
Speaker 1: terms of air quality and freshness. And that's just one
Speaker 1: example of looking across our extended platform of businesses and
Speaker 1: taking one technology things, how does it fit in other
Speaker 1: areas well? And you know, I want to go back
Speaker 1: if I can, because you, like I said in the introduction,
Speaker 1: you came into your current position in August of twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: just before everything was going to you know, start to
Speaker 1: be you know, come undone. Panasonic has I think something
Speaker 1: like two workers globally. You know, what was it like,
Speaker 1: you know, in your position and being involved in this
Speaker 1: massive global company and just kind of finding your way
Speaker 1: through those first few months of the pandemic. Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: It was really challenging. I mean we you know, first
Speaker 1: of all, we had to evaluate exactly how serious this
Speaker 1: was right early on thinking about it. We've got you know,
Speaker 1: twenty employees in North America. A good chunk of those
Speaker 1: are manufactory environments, and we had to we we had
Speaker 1: to first understand how how how serious was this? And
Speaker 1: then you know, how do we start to to move
Speaker 1: our employees where we can remotely? I mean, you think
Speaker 1: about all of our office workers like everybody else, we
Speaker 1: started to move them remotely, making sure that our ike
Speaker 1: systems and our networks are capable of handling all of that,
Speaker 1: and then really communicating to our to our employees of
Speaker 1: how to do that. That was kind of one one
Speaker 1: one option or one silo, and the other one is
Speaker 1: how do we make sure we have business continuity? I
Speaker 1: mean we're we make things, we shift things, we put
Speaker 1: things into other I mean you think about the comply
Speaker 1: chain around automotive, the supply chain around so many of
Speaker 1: our businesses. Grocery for example, we would power along the
Speaker 1: refrigeration within grocers. We have to get into those stores
Speaker 1: make sure that those equipment is fixed and ready and
Speaker 1: and and and working for customers. Right. So, doing that
Speaker 1: in the safe and secure environment, making sure that we
Speaker 1: have the appropriate testing, making sure that we had business
Speaker 1: continuity with the biggest challenge for us and making sure
Speaker 1: that our employees were safe and secure within their environments.
Speaker 1: And we did everything possible to make that happen right
Speaker 1: like so many just you know, stakeholders to take care
Speaker 1: of it. One hey, um, last question, just quickly, um,
Speaker 1: what kind of visibility do you have about one what
Speaker 1: do you think the business environment is going to be.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're always listen, we're seeing we're seeing stability
Speaker 1: in our in our business. Um. Obviously there's been winners
Speaker 1: and some loser who say in the business, but I
Speaker 1: mean overall, we're seeing stability and and and ramping in
Speaker 1: areas around sustainability, uh and and around things like connectivity
Speaker 1: and how we're and and those two, those two I
Speaker 1: think are going to be with us for two and beyond. Right,
Speaker 1: But we're seeing things stable, we're things and we're seeing
Speaker 1: some momentum. Um. I think you know, the first quarter
Speaker 1: is gonna be a little bit, a little bit challenging overall,
Speaker 1: just because we're getting handled on the pandemic. But I
Speaker 1: see some some some some brighter skies ahead, and especially
Speaker 1: in the back half of this year. He sat a
Speaker 1: little cautious there, Michael, A little bit, which is fair.
Speaker 1: I think. I think I think we all if we
Speaker 1: all through this over nine months, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: And it just feels like just when we feel like
Speaker 1: we we can turn the corner on something, something else
Speaker 1: hits us big time. Michael, Thank you so much. Good
Speaker 1: luck with the show. The Digital CS Michael Moscow at
Speaker 1: Chairman and CEO at Penasonic Corporation of North America on
Speaker 1: the phone from Toronto, tab