Koichi Fukaya is vice chairman of DENSO Corporation, headquartered in Kariya, Aichi, Japan.

Fukaya served as DENSO’s president and CEO from June 2003 until June 2008 when he was appointed vice chairman.

During his tenure as president, Fukaya has taken DENSO on a fast track toward creating innovative technology for an advanced automotive society. In addition, his boosting of global operations to better serve DENSO’s customers worldwide resulted in a continuous increase of both revenue and profit.

Before appointed to president, Fukaya served as senior managing director in charge of the Production Promotion Center. There, he was responsible for strategic planning and implementation of production technologies for DENSO Group manufacturing, to achieve high quality in technology, product development and production.

In 1995, Fukaya was appointed to the board of directors and named president of DENSO Manufacturing Michigan, Inc. in Battle Creek, Mich., USA. While there, he succeeded in expanding sales to General Motors. After four years in Michigan, he took his post in 1998 as managing director of the Production Control Department, and in 1999, was made responsible for the Thermal Systems Group.

While managing director of the Thermal Systems Group, DENSO’s largest product group, Fukaya led the development of modules such as cockpit and front-end modules. He also led the expansion of DENSO’s European business by increasing sales and establishing a third air conditioner plant in the Czech Republic.

Fukaya also served as general manager of the Production Engineering Department, the Production Engineering Research & Development Department and the Air-conditioning Manufacturing Department.

During his tenure at DENSO, Fukaya has researched automatic assembly systems, developed flexible manufacturing systems and established advanced production systems leading to several production and technology awards.

Fukaya joined DENSO Corporation (formerly Nippondenso Co. Ltd.) in 1966 after graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology. His major areas of study included material strength, thermodynamics, aeromechanics and automatic control systems.