I am Akihiro Teramachi, President and CEO of THK. I would like to share with you the overview of the results for the fiscal year ended December 2021. Please turn to page 3. Consolidated net sales was up by 45.3% year-on-year to JPY 318.1 billion. Even in the face of ongoing effects of COVID-19, we started to observe full-scale demand recovery across different regions, both in Japan and abroad. Against which backdrop, progress achieved in stepping up our production capability through factory expansion and automation and robotization led to a steady increase in sales. Despite the automotive and transportation equipment business being impacted by the drop in vehicle production, the operating income reached JPY 30.2 billion, thanks to the industrial machinery business, where we saw volume driving revenue growth.
As a result, both revenue and operating income beat the revised plan announced in November last year. Next, let me highlight the sales breakdown by region on page 4. As I explained with the previous page, we enjoy significant sales growth year-on-year in all the regions. Highest growth rate was achieved in China, and I will come back to this point later. Now, let's move on to the operating income on page 5. We ended the year with a consolidated operating income of JPY 30.2 billion. Let me elaborate on the different factors that impacted the profit. First, with the industrial machinery segment compared to the previous fiscal year.
The factors that pushed down the operating income included JPY 11.2 billion of fixed cost increase, such as labor cost and personal expenses stemming from higher sales, and JPY 3.4 billion from change in variable cost ratio, out of which JPY 2.5 billion was due to the cancellation of unrealized gains on inventory through a consolidation adjustment. Furthermore, the plant shutdown cost, which was booked under other expenses last fiscal year, has been reclassified back as operating expenses, and this had a negative impact of JPY 1.6 billion on the operating income. On the other hand, the positive for JPY 40.4 billion from higher sales and higher volume, JPY 2.2 billion from foreign exchange, and JPY 1 billion from the reclassification of other income and other expenses.
Next, let me explain the factors that led to changes in the operating income in the automotive and transportation business using page six. The profit decline was caused by the negative JPY 800 million impact from the change in variable cost ratio due to price hike of steel, among others, and JPY 2.3 billion due to the reclassification of plant shutdown costs from other expenses last fiscal year back to operating expenses this year. On the other hand, we enjoyed the following positive impact. JPY 2.1 billion profit contribution from sales and volume growth, JPY 1.4 billion from lower fixed cost, JPY 200 million due to currency, and JPY 10.7 billion from other income and expenses, with the absence of some losses booked in FY 2020, such as asset impairment.
We aim to make further improvement in profitability and accelerate new product launches. I will now go through the balance sheet items on page 7. Total assets increased by JPY 55.9 billion year-over-year to JPY 516 billion. I will skip the details given the interest of time, so please have a closer look at the figures at your convenient time. Next, let me talk about our approach toward achieving management targets. Page 9 illustrates the overview of our business management. Under the corporate philosophy of providing innovative products to the world and generating new trends to contribute to the creation of an affluent society, we will strive to advocate the following three pillars of growth strategy. First, full-scale globalization means that we conduct our business where there are opportunities.
Through the development of new business areas, we aim to provide products and services aligned with the ever-expanding product applications. I have repeatedly explained what we'd like to achieve through change in business style. Recently, this is also referred to as DX or digital transformation.
We aim to change how we conduct our business in this new era, reshape our business style, including how we manufacture, how we provide services, and how we configure our internal management structure. Our business has always been about delivering the products to customers. Going forward, we want to transform the structure by covering the whole value chain, starting with the engineering service for the customers, product sales to after-sales service. That is how we'd like to reshape our business style, covering the whole journey for the customer from end to end to enhance the service quality.
To that end, we are revamping various initiatives which we will promote to further expand the business domain. We also intend to further augment the sustainability and ESG initiatives, which I believe will be the fundamental basis to pursue our strategy. I will elaborate more on this point later. Please turn to page ten. Against such circumstances, and with COVID-19 impacting the business, we have been revisiting the management targets. Our current plan calls for the consolidated revenue of JPY 500 billion, operating income of JPY 100 billion, and JPY 590 in EPS, and ROE of 17% in five years. There are some minor changes made to the plan when you look closely by business segments. For industrial machinery and other businesses, the targets for revenue and operating income are JPY 365 billion and JPY 92 billion respectively.
In the automotive and transportation business, the revenue target is JPY 135 billion, with an operating income target of JPY 8 billion. For both businesses, we plan to outpace the average market growth rates that we foresee. To achieve these targets, we will take actions listed on this slide, focusing on sustainability and ESG as a base. Please have a closer look at the details at your convenient time. Please turn to page 11. Based on what I have presented so far, I would like to elaborate on various initiatives for the respective businesses. Key initiative to achieve change in business style is making advances in the THK DX project and Omni THK. I will start with the industrial machinery segment on page 12. As you can see, we are pushing forward with the THK DX project.
The manpower freed up by reducing the number of steps required in the routine tasks will be deployed to operations that create higher value proposition to expand sales. In order to facilitate these efforts, we are working to further advance the Omni THK, establish structure to introduce various ICT tools, and develop digital human assets. If I may elaborate on Omni THK, conventional sales activities were done face-to-face. Orders were received through people, and sales representatives assumed responsibility to make sure the delivery was completed.
With the new style, what people need to be doing for the customers is to identify issues and present solutions to overcome these issues. I want to enhance the engineering element and do everything from order placement to delivery digitally. We are in the middle of establishing such a process and building a system globally that can support such process.
Development of digital human resources in particular is of high value. Page 13, please. For developing digital human assets, we have been providing training for effective use of data from 2019 to acquire skills and knowledge of relevant technology. Last year, all employees, including myself as President, took fundamental courses via e-learning. As a result, a culture of taking advantage of digital technology has been fostered, and the scope of such practice is steadily expanding. Next on page 14, let me present OMNIedge, our IoT service for the manufacturing industry. In our value chain, it covers the after-sale service for our customers. There are two types of customers for us. One type are the customers who manufacture machinery equipment, to whom we directly sell our products and provide engineering service.
The other type are the customers who purchase those machines to produce their own goods, with whom we do not have direct access. With that in mind, we came up with this service. By visualizing the operating status of our machine components with OMNIedge, our goal is to provide service to help minimize loss that could be incurred with unexpected failure and disruption of the machines, aiming to shift to robotization and automation. We have been expanding the service line-up and scope of the services provided by OMNIedge. Please turn to page 15. Customers who are currently using OMNIedge across the board have actively introduced predictive failure detection system for rotating parts such as pumps, fans, and motors, in addition to linear motion parts. They recognize the benefit of adopting the integrated preventive failure detection system.
Therefore, we have added rotating parts as a new product category to be covered by OMNIedge. The service is now available not only for THK's rotating parts, but for third-party parts as well. Please see the photo on the slide for details. Since these sensor products for OMNIedge can be retrofitted, they can also be attached to machine components that are currently in operation to collect data. This makes it possible to further promote automation and robotization in existing facilities. In this way, we will continue to expand our optimal solution services for our customers and contribute to the continuous improvement of productivity at manufacturing sites. Please turn to page 16.
So far, I have been talking about the new services such as Omni THK and OMNIedge. In terms of products in existing areas, we will launch more high-precision components for products such as semiconductor manufacturing equipment, which is becoming increasingly high precision. On the other hand, in new business areas, demand is steadily expanding into the new areas indicated on the slide.
For instance, demand is expanding in new domains such as logistics and retail shops, and even in our daily lives in the form of service robots. It is expanding in many ways. Eventually, there will be automation in restaurants and cafeterias that enables operation without human labor. In China, restaurants that use AI and robots have already been opened, and we would like to capture such opportunities as well. In this context, we are launching a variety of new products. Please turn to page 17.
We've been a strong believer from the past that hand is required for automation. Hand that is not like jig, but human-like hand that can process multitasks. The adaptive hand series TNH are multiple-use robot hands which can adapt to the nature of the work to absorb or grip. The series are general-purpose robot hands for material handling and can be used in a versatile manner in various industries. Adaptive hand series TNH has been awarded the Machinery and Robot Component Award for 2021 Monozukuri Innovative Components Awards, sponsored by Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun. As illustrated on the slide, we have introduced a variety of robots such as service-related robots and materials handling robots. In addition, we are also developing PPR, or pick-and-place robots, that can handle small precision components. Please turn to page 18.
As shown by this slide, we are enhancing the global manufacturing structure in anticipation of medium- to long-term demand growth in the industrial machinery business. I have mentioned several times in the past, we built a new plant in Korea, where operation has already started.
We are working to expand the variety of products manufactured and increase the production volume at this plant. The plant in India has finally started its operation after a one-year delay. As the first phase, operation has commenced at some part of the total floor space of 37,000 sq m. With robust demand in ASEAN and global expansion of our business, we would like to ramp up the capacity by installing machines at phase two from this year to further build out our global manufacturing capacity. New plant expansion work has started last year at THK Changzhou as well as at THK Liaoning.
Construction at Changzhou will be completed at the end of March, and the operation is slated to start in April. In Liaoning, full-scale construction will take place from April after this winter season, and the work will be completed at the end of December this year. Applications are expanding in China business as well. For semiconductor and EV-related facilities, ensuring safety is of utmost importance.
The issue of lithium-ion batteries catching fire is something that has been seriously addressed. Safety and stability is a requirement when driving, and it becomes even more critical for autonomous driving. Therefore, machines and components of high quality would be chosen. We have been appealing the quality level of our products and have been growing this business, and we believe we can grow this business without being impacted by the economic cycle. We also intend to go global on this opportunity.
As I mentioned earlier, automation and robotization in the service industry is expected to advance. Since they will coexist with people at work site, it is extremely important that the robots operate with safe and secure movements, and this also implies that quality will be a critical element. This is also essential from the perspective of sustainability. It proves that what we have been recommending and doing so far has not been wrong in this new era, and we will continue to refine our capability. Next, I'd like to go over the key measures for the automotive and transportation business on page 19. In the auto industry, dramatic changes are taking place with advancement of CASE, the horizontal division of labor, and the entry by players from other industries.
Against such backdrop, we will continue to improve profitability in the automotive and transportation business while strengthening our existing link and suspension business, as well as adding and proposing new products for CASE and MaaS. As new products for next-generation automobiles, we are enjoying steady volume growth for integrated brake system unit and expect an annual shipment of 4-5 million units over the medium term. Furthermore, we are developing a variety of new products, including active suspension units and mechanical level control units, as you can see on the page, and development work will be expanded further over the mid- to long-term. Next on page 20, you will find your basic thinking about ESG and sustainability management. The following is our basic thinking.
Minimizing the effect of minuses on corporate activity and enhancing the effect of pluses to create social and corporate shared value as specified by sustainability, behaving in a way that not only optimizes the one, but optimizes the whole. With this principle as a base, we will implement many initiatives to realize a sustainable society. You will find your most recent initiatives listed on this page, and I will offer more details on some of those activities. First, let's take a look at our environmental initiatives on page 21. Last year, we set our mid to long-term goals for carbon neutrality. In terms of minimizing the effect of minuses, we launched the carbon-neutral promotion project to further reduce CO2 emissions from our business activities.
As a part of this project, we are building a system to cover part of our power needs with natural energy by installing solar panels on rooftop of our two plants in China and Niigata plant. On the other hand, as for enhancing the effect of pluses, we will further expand our products and services that contribute to energy conservation, such as the linear motion products to help our customers achieve carbon neutrality.
Please turn to page 22. These are just some examples of products and services that can contribute to the carbon-neutral society, specific efforts made to reduce CO2 from business activities. As I explained earlier, we will continue to install solar panels on the rooftop of the new plant that are built and will accelerate various initiatives to achieve the mid- to long-term goals I mentioned earlier. Page 23 illustrates our social activities.
As a project to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of our company's founding, we have been promoting the THK Education Outreach program since 2016 with the aim of conveying the joy of manufacturing to children. Through manufacturing education, this project aims to nurture creative developers who can address challenges with their peers and reach a solution. Going forward, we will continue to carry out activities such as the ones shown here to develop talent who will lead the way in the future. Please turn to page 24. This is another THK fiftieth anniversary project that we started called the Entrepreneur Sherpa to provide technology support service for startup companies.
The service includes a team of experts immediately responding to web inquiries, offering face-to-face and online technical consultation, providing advice on product selection, and provision of free product samples. This service is already being used by several companies.
By propelling our PR activities, we would like to expand the service to make it available to more customers. Through the process of materializing various ideas, we have been supporting customers for commercialization and mass production. We will continue to promote these initiatives to achieve sustainable growth and increase our corporate value. Next, I would like to share with you the financial forecast for fiscal 2022. I will start with the recent order trend on page 26. The graphs illustrate the orders received by region for the industrial machinery business. Each of the regions, both Japan and overseas, are enjoying full-fledged recovery trend, and we expect a high level of order to be sustained. Please turn to page 27. Based on what I have explained so far, the plan for this fiscal year is set as follows.
The plan calls for net sales of JPY 365 billion, operating income of JPY 43 billion, income before income taxes of JPY 43.2 billion, and net income of JPY 30.8 billion. This will conclude my presentation on the financial results. For the current fiscal year, we will steadily capture demand, which has entered a full-fledged recovery phase, so that it translates to sales and profits while broadly moving forward with various initiatives. We would like to ask for your continued support. Thank you very much for your attention.