As part of efforts to reduce costs and streamline its businesses, Japanese Omron announced its plan to cease its money-losing large-size LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) backlight business, terminating development, manufacturing and sales operations, the Nikkei Electronics Asia reported on March 12. Meanwhile, the company also plans to shut down two production factories, Omron Automotive Electronics in England and the Minakuchi factory in Japan. Omron Automotive, with its specialty in manufacturing automotive electronic components, is slated to end production by March 2011. Production of the Minakuchi plant will be shifted to the Yasu plant in Shiga prefecture, which focuses on the production of MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) and CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor).