Tokyo, Japan, 7 April 2014 – SATO, a leader in barcode printing, labeling, and EPC/RFID solutions, announced the establishment of a new Global Key Account (GKA) business unit and the appointment of Hisashi Asai as General Manager on 1 April 2014 in response to growing customer demand for dedicated one-stop services, particularly among industry-leading businesses engaged in global expansion.

The GKA business unit consists of cross functional teams dedicated to each of our select Multi-National Corporation customers who would value global business arrangement more than any other forms of local or regional support. The GKA will provide comprehensive customized solutions in product supply, technical support, R&D, maintenance services, integration and global deployments.

Hisashi Asai joins from Fujifilm where he has held several senior management positions in his 24 years career with the company. An MBA graduate from Waseda Universities, Hisashi Asai also held President role in 3 of its subsidiaries and has over 8 years of overseas working experience in Germany and China.

“SATO presents an exciting opportunity for success,” Hisashi Asai commented. “With the establishment of the GKA business unit, we are in the position to deliver the full value of our solutions to key customers and managed raised expectation. I look forward to working with the team to further enhance our presence with these customers as SATO goes global”.

“This initiative is an integral part of our continuous effort towards maximization of customer value in the context of accelerated globalization,” said Kaz Matsuyama, President and CEO of SATO Holdings Corporation. “I strongly believe that the combination of company-wide expertise and dedicated end-to-end customer support provided by the GKA team will further strengthen SATO’s unique position as the leading provider of integrated AIDC solutions worldwide.”