On a tight schedule – only three days and two nights - I went to India to attend the opening ceremonies of the new headquarters and the new powder alloy products plant of the Motherson Group, our business partner in the country.

In India, with a general election scheduled to be held in 2014, both the ruling and opposition parties seemed to be employing more and more severe political tactics. Some people were concerned about a slight downturn in the country’s economic growth. When I visited our business partner’s plant near Delhi, however, the plant was bustling and maintaining its high operation rate. On top of that, the plant’s most recent trend of orders received was pretty good. I requested the partner to reinforce its SEQCDD (Safety, Environment, Quality, Cost, Delivery, and Research & Development) to solidify its internal structure in anticipation of possible economic changes and promised our further cooperation.

In this age of dynamic progress in globalization, it goes without saying that the key point for expanding a company lies in how to develop the company’s overseas businesses. One of the ways to do this is to establish cooperation with a reliable business partner, share objectives, and fight together with a view to securing long-term success as a going concern.
It is common for a company and a business partner with a different cultural background and customs to encounter conflicts of interest in their daily business activities. It sometimes takes time, patience, and courage to find an appropriate compromise for each of them. However, once you have decided to grow as a global company, such problems need to be overcome. I believe that it is important to consider a partner’s position and to do business together in good faith.

I contribute an opening article to our company’s newsletter every month. Without sticking to one specific theme, I write about various topics that I find suitable each time. In the May issue, I wrote about Charles Gordon.
（⇒SEI NEWS "Ideal Authentic Leader"）

Charles George Gordon was a British army officer in the Victorian era in the 19th century. Despite his distinguished military service, he continued to live a life of honest poverty without paying attention to status or assets, until his tragic last moments in Sudan, where he had been dispatched under government order to put down a revolt. Although his life was buffeted by the turbulent seas of the time, he always embodied the selfless spirit of one who dedicated his life to his country. I hear that the story of Gordon’s life and the example he showed is still handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation in the U.K.

It is said that he possessed amazing dignity and all the people who came into contact with him felt his charisma. He shares a great deal with my ideal management leader model, who realizes the concept of “captains of industry” and runs one’s company as a “non-conformist with a solid backbone.” This is why I’m very interested in Charles Gordon these days.

Sumitomo Electric awards employees the titles of “Meister” and “Expert” in recognition of their high levels of manufacturing skills. The Meister title is bestowed on outstanding Experts. Thirty-nine employees were certified as Experts, and two as Meisters this fiscal year. Nine of the new Experts and Meisters attended a certification ceremony held on April 9 at the Osaka Head Office.



An important aim of this certification program is to encourage Meister and Expert employees to generously share their hard-earned expertise with younger fellow workers. However, advanced levels of manufacturing skills often don’t render themselves to verbal explanations; overcoming this dilemma to successfully communicate professional secrets is the challenge we face.

The award ceremony was followed by a luncheon, during which more than one title recipient remarked that persistence is essential for achieving mastery. I felt that this strikes a chord with the notion of adhering conscientiously to the basics that I mention on every occasion. Perhaps somewhere here lies the key to solving the aforementioned challenge.



* This is the summary of the Japanese blog entry on April 16, 2013.

Every year on the first Sunday in April, we celebrate Inari Festival at our three Works—Osaka, Itami, and Yokohama. Participants assemble around a shrine erected on the premises of the Works, and offer prayers for employee health and safety as well as business prosperity. Safety is, of course, pursued day in and day out by all employees, but occasions such as the Inari Festival, when we humbly offer our prayers at the start of the fresh fiscal year, help us renew our resolve to carry out our tasks conscientiously.



This year I attended the Inari Festival at the Itami Works. The ceremony began with a solemn performance of gagaku music and was followed by an offering of prayers by a Shinto priest. Tamagushi leaves were then offered by myself, the general manager of the Itami Works, and the heads of various departments to conclude the ritual.

After the Shinto ceremony, participants enjoyed until well into the afternoon the food stalls and charity bazaar set up within the grounds, as well as a softball match and a mini concert performed by the local junior high school brass band. Although it took place under a chilly, heavily overcast sky, visitors from the plant’s neighboring communities also seemed to enjoy the event and the still-intact cherry blossoms. I bought some flowers as a souvenir to take home.

Sumitomo Electric welcomed more than 200 young staff members at the start of the new fiscal year. Their serious faces at the initiation ceremony for new employees had a bracing effect on us as well.
(Here is the summary of President’s Welcome Message to New Recruits.)



Firstly, I requested new employees to “master the basics of your work, and follow them conscientiously.” I make this request to new employees every year, and I am sure that similar remarks have been made consistently by my predecessors as well. And the message is not just for new staff. At Sumitomo Electric, it is customary for the president to send out a New Year message intended for employees at the beginning of each year. I have made sure every year that my New Year message to employees includes a request to “reinforce SEQCDD (Safety, Environment, Quality, Cost, Delivery, and Research & Development) activities, which constitutes the foundation of manufacturing.” Indeed, practicing the basics in a straightforward approach is a message I have repeated to employees on every occasion.

In other words, adhering to the basics conscientiously is very difficult. The moment we think, “This is so easy,” or “I’m sick of hearing the same thing over and over again,” complacency will most certainly creep in. The more experienced we become, the more strongly we have to remind ourselves of the need to adhere to the basics conscientiously.

The second request I made to new employees was to “put your heart into it.” To keep practicing the basics conscientiously, we need to be highly motivated. This again applies not just to new employees but to all of us.