Makihara

Nearly 20 years have passed since I joined the Company. In the past, we typically responded to customer requests only by proposing our materials. Recently, however, we're working to better understand customers' processes and issues all the way through to the final product, and address requests with a mindset of proposing ways that products and technologies across the Company can offer solutions. I'd like to further raise the level of this so that everyone, including employees in the field, can offer solutions backed by the capabilities of the entire Company.

Sakaguchi

The S-BIO Research Dept. Bio·Science Research Laboratory to which I belong has a lot of bottom-up-oriented development themes proposed under the leadership of managing staff in the field. We set customer needs and even future targets on our own. We often completed such work solely within the laboratory, but in recent years, we've been working with other companies, SB-Kawasumi, and other divisions to engage in development paired with our own technologies.

Kawate

I'm in my 17th year in a sales position now. For about 10 years after joining the Company, I mainly worked selling physical products. The past five or six years have seen a rapid increase in cases in which we join hands with customers to consider how to solve problems from marketing and technical perspectives. The products I deal with are materials, so sales members who know the field more than anyone else play a huge role in how we give shape to solutions. I think that through these actions, we can create delight for customers and new projects.

Fujiwara

That's a great thing. Whatever the business, we can't do anything through our Company alone. Working with other companies and institutions should provide great learning experiences.

Sakaguchi

From the point of view of DE&I, too, I feel that opportunities to attain positions have become equal, irrespective of gender. I was surprised to see the Company appoint two women as executives at the same time. In terms of ease of work, the Company has offered substantial benefits for some time. When I had a child, I took full childcare leave and prenatal and postnatal leaves. Recently, a lot of male employees are also able to take childcare leave.

Makihara

That's true. Nearly 100% of the people under me take leave. The atmosphere has become not so much one of making leave easy to take, but rather one of urging employees to take leave.

Fujiwara

That's because our Group values the diversity represented by DE&I. I want employees to enjoy long careers in a comfortable working environment. The original purpose of DE&I is to enhance the individuality and capabilities of diverse human resources to advance business development. I want to make this a company where more diverse human resources, including foreign nationals and people with disabilities, can be more active than ever.

Kawate

In our One Sumibe Activities, we propose products from across the Company to priority customers, which creates collaborative relationships extending horizontally across departments. In the past, departments interacted individually with customers. If a department was asked by a customer about products other than its own, the department would struggle to respond appropriately. Creating horizontal connections through One Sumibe Activities leads to synergistic actions, with persons from other departments being drawn into projects.

Makihara

I see One Sumibe Activities as something like a mind. As all departments are partners, as long as they have regular interactions without putting up partitions between themselves, they should increasingly introduce products from other departments.

Kawate

In One Sumibe Activities aimed at reinvigorating the Company, we’ve recently set up opportunities for young and veteran employees to interact. This communication space where we’re gathered today, called One Room, was actually born from a proposal under these activities. Young employees tackled the idea with a lot of passion, and received approval from you as president.

Fujiwara

The intent of the project was to boost communication, which had slackened under the COVID-19 pandemic, by creating a place where employees can casually gather. I decided right away to adopt it. I’m very pleased to see such interesting proposals come out of a bottom-up approach.

Sakaguchi

In terms of horizontal connections, our Group uses One Sumibe Activities to solve issues in work. When designing equipment outside our area of expertise, we gain the cooperation of Corporate Engineering Center members who are skilled in equipment and device technologies. By having them enter into technical exchanges with equipment manufacturers we accurately convey our intent to the manufacturers, with the result that the development of planned equipment progresses smoothly. In market research, too, we team up with sales representatives from other departments to hold useful discussions and gain necessary information for technological improvements. By working as a team with the cooperation of relevant departments, taking on new challenges has become easier.