Top Commitment
We would like to offer our sincere condolences to all victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake, and our prayers for the soonest possible recovery of the affected areas.
Looking Back on FY2010
In FY2010, building on its previous environmental reports, the Minebea Group published its first CSR report. FY2010 was a year in which the Minebea Group adopted a CSR standpoint to organize and systematize its ongoing social responsibility initiatives, which are based on the Five Principles. For example, we established separate FY2011 goals for CSR management, society, and the environment. In addition, in line with promotion of the Basic CSR Policy within the company, we produced a condensed version of the CSR report and are distributing it to employees.
"As a manufacturer of precision products supporting society, the Minebea Group is working toward stable supply and making reliable products with low energy consumption widely available, to contribute to the sustainable development of the global environment and of humanity." This is the Minebea Group Basic CSR Policy. In FY2010, a problem emerged that had a significant influence on our commitment to "stable supply" of Minebea Group products, which are essential for society.
The latter half of the fiscal year saw such problems as difficulty obtaining rare earths (rare earth elements), which greatly influenced our supply chain management, as well as tightened regulations relating to conflict minerals. In response, the Minebea Group established a Rare Earth Issues Working Group within the Risk Management Committee to begin ensuring stable material procurement, and to promote an exacting procurement process in response to the problem of conflict minerals. In these and other ways, the Minebea Group is working to fulfill its social responsibility.
The Great East Japan Earthquake was an occasion for us to carefully reflect from the standpoint of business continuity. When the earthquake occurred, the Minebea Group quickly convened the Risk Management Committee and worked to manage information on a unified basis. We also carried out a wide range of measures, including support for the recovery of customers and the securing of distribution channels, to fulfill our responsibility to supply products globally in a stable manner supported by stable procurement of raw materials and other inputs. Going forward, we will apply the lessons of this disaster to build an even more stable supply structure.
Renewed Appreciation of the Importance of Pursuing "Manufacturing with Sincerity"
The first of Five Principles which form the basic management policy of the Minebea Group is "Be a company where our employees are proud to work." As I watched our employees take the lead in responding to the Great East Japan Earthquake, I felt a renewed appreciation that what supports the Minebea Group is, without a doubt, its individual employees, and I was convinced anew of the meaning embodied in the Five Principles and the need to build an enterprise that employees are proud of.
To cooperate as a corporate citizen in the recovery of the Japanese economy, which sustained major damage in the disaster, we will redouble our commitment to "manufacturing with sincerity," the origin of the company. Whatever the business environment, we will not forget our passion for and commitment to manufacturing. Reliably supplying high-quality value-added products is the Minebea Group's social mission. I believe that to achieve that mission, it is important to continue our efforts toward efficient production, devote our strength to research and development to give birth to new technologies, continue our eco-friendly business management, and engage in sustained, active dialogue with our shareholders, customers, local communities and other stakeholders. I believe that these activities embody the Five Principles, which have been passed down to us by successive management and are the origin of the Minebea Group's management philosophy as well as the driving force behind our CSR.
The Minebea Group is proud to be a global enterprise having employees around the world with diverse backgrounds who recognize their mutual diversity and who, through positive communication, can come together to demonstrate their unified strength. For the Minebea Group to fulfill its social responsibility, we believe it is important for us to deepen this uniqueness to overcome the current difficult situation. And by pursuing "manufacturing with sincerity," we will actualize the Minebea Group's sustainable growth, enhance our corporate value, and further deepen our contributions to society.
Initiatives for FY2011 and Future Prospects
The importance of our Business Continuity Plan (BCP) was brought home to us once again by the disaster. We are accelerating our efforts to develop the disaster recovery and damage prevention plans established by our individual plants and business departments into a groupwide BCP, and we will formulate a plan as soon as possible using the Karuizawa Plant's plan as a model. Moreover, our goal is to deploy the plan to all manufacturing plants, and establish and implement a Group BCP in FY2012.
The construction of our Cambodia Plant, announced in FY2010, is the Minebea Group's first new large-scale production facility in 17 years. We believe that this project is one of the keys to the Minebea Group's growth. We are already producing motors in a leased plant and have begun construction of our own plant. After the completion of our plant, scheduled for December 2011, we plan to enhance it into a production facility for small motors. The deployment of our business into Cambodia, a new territory, makes us once again aware of our belief in "manufacturing with sincerity," and it is a challenge that will test the determination of each employee. The dispersion of our production facilities also has great significance for the continuity of our business.
The Cambodia Plant will function as part of a network production system, procuring components from Minebea's Thai and Malaysia production facilities. In particular, we believe that the experience and achievements we have accumulated in Thailand, where for many years we have promoted CSR activities rooted in the local community, will be applicable not only in the business sense of plant operation but also in terms of promoting CSR activities and creating positive relationships with the local community. We will promote CSR efforts that match the special characteristics of the local community, using our efforts in Thailand as a precedent. In addition, by promoting interchange between both countries through economic activity, the Minebea Group will become a bridge between Thailand and Cambodia, and we hope that in turn we can contribute to the development of the Asian region as a whole.
With respect to the establishment of medium-and long-term CSR goals recommended by third-party opinion in FY2010, we will build on the CSR goals established in FY2010, and are working to be able to announce them in the next fiscal year's report. These goals will be important in reviewing the Minebea Group's relationship with its stakeholders and in further deepening those relationships.
This marks the publication of our second CSR report. Through the issuance of this report, we hope our readers will gain a better understanding of the Minebea Group's business activities and the evolution of our CSR initiatives, and the opinions we receive will be taken into account in our future activities as an enterprise. We look forward to your honest opinions.
