Global recession—a great opportunity to reflect on our past

　Today, the world is facing a serious economic recession. To me this situation is like a burst bubble, the natural result of having grown too big with unnecessary items and waste. In this sense, the present economic challenge is a good opportunity for us to review whether we have really supplied what society needs.

　Omron’s Management Principles, “innovation driven by social needs,” involve anticipating potential needs of society and offering products and services that meet them. Omron has produced a steady stream of technologies and products that were first in Japan and the world and earned the company recognition from society. Unfortunately, in the midst of the severe global recession, Omron’s performance has also weakened. We must accept this and look back to see if we have really produced technologies and products that society requires.

　As a manufacturer, it is important to concentrate on creating original and unique products and services. But it is useless to create things that are not aligned with social needs. We should not produce things that people can do without. With this in mind, we will reflect on what we have been doing, correct whatever needs to be corrected, and continue committing ourselves to promoting “innovation driven by social needs.”

Providing society with CO₂ reduction technology and expertise

　Today, one of the most important social issues is reduction of CO₂ emissions. I believe that reducing CO₂ emissions also means avoiding waste. Our mission as a company is to use the resources we borrow from society efficiently in order to produce and offer products that are beneficial to society. I believe that wasting these important resources entrusted to us by society will eventually lead to excess emissions of CO₂.

　As long as we engage in business activities, it is impossible to completely eliminate CO₂ emissions, but we can keep emissions to a minimum. Omron has implemented various measures to reduce CO₂ emissions. Recently, we introduced material flow cost accounting (MFCA) with the aim of conserving resources in our production sites. By further extending this initiative, we also enhanced resource productivity, for which we were honored with the Eco-Efficiency Award from the Japan Forum on Eco-Efficiency in 2008. We also launched a new business called “CO₂ reduction solutions” in March 2009. The aim of this business is to widely disseminate the technologies and expertise we have developed at our in-house facilities to help our customers reduce CO₂ emissions. We are confident that this new business will contribute to the preservation of the environment globally, as well as enhance our customers’ profits, thus meeting the changing social needs of today. In the future, we plan to develop even more ambitious proposals for innovation in our customers’ manufacturing operations.

Toward the “Optimization Society”

　I think our biggest corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a manufacturer is to develop and supply products that society needs. Therefore, it makes sense for us to also actively respond to needs other than reduction of CO₂ emissions.

　In the past, when material wealth was not as readily available, our key requirements were to develop products that make lifestyles richer and more convenient and to produce and supply them as efficiently as possible. These requirements were what drove companies’ efforts to promote optimization. Companies are now pursuing such values as safety, security, health and environmental preservation, in addition to material wealth, convenience, and production efficiency. It is essential to balance these diverse values. A society that achieves the perfect balance between materialistic and psychological values is exactly the “Optimization Society” that Omron has consistently advocated.

　The basis for the optimization is to make good use of resources and minimize waste. To this end, Omron has adopted the concept of “Common, Module, Option” for production, with the goal of having all of our products based on a platform of “common” products. Since it is impossible to meet the diverse needs of modern society with common products alone, we first establish a common platform, avoiding waste as much as possible, and then combine it with modules or options to meet a wider range of requirements.

Creativity begins with the self-reliance of individuals

　As stated before, we will concentrate first on fulfilling our social responsibilities through Omron’s business. Once this is accomplished, we will implement various initiatives to earn the trust and confidence of our customers and other stakeholders.

　Let’s take an example of human resource management. Obviously, people are the most important resources we borrow from society. As such, I believe that our main task as corporate executives is to establish a corporate culture in which individual employees can demonstrate their capabilities to the fullest. What is vital for human resource management is “respect for humanity.” At Omron, more than 30,000 people are working across the world. When these employees think and act on their own initiative by demonstrating self-reliance, it spurs the originality and creativity of Omron as a whole, which in turn leads to “innovation driven by social needs.”

　In recent years we have encouraged all of our employees worldwide to support the Omron Principles based on the corporate core value of “working for the benefit of society.” My hope is that all of these people have fully understood our corporate principles and will give careful thought to how they live and will also engage in discussions with their colleagues about how they should live, demonstrating their self-reliance in day-to-day activities. Our goal is for individual employees to have their own aspirations and act on their own initiative, rather than simply chanting the principles.

　But self-reliance should never lead to complacency, which is why Omron joined the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) last year. Our intention is to not become a “frog in a well” that knows nothing about the great ocean. Many leading international companies participate in the UNGC, and learning from these global leaders will allow us to develop ourselves. By so doing, we will reaffirm the core purpose of Omron’s existence and strive to further strengthen our commitment to bring benefits to society.

June 2009