Number

125thIssue date

26-May-21

KSK Initiatives for the Future (this section has been quoted from President Komaba's message.）

Here I will introduce the current situation of KSK and the activities we are following for the future.
1. Renewed Vitality: Two New Projects(1) Startup Activities
We have begun recruiting ideas for Startup Activities within the company based on a concept of “FromB to B to B to B/C, From the Automotive Industry to a Wide Range of Industries” as one of our measures
to promote diversification, and as of May, we have already received more than 150 suggestions.
(2) Metal 3D Printers
All structural personnel were appointed in April, and we will now spend two years installing metal 3D
printers in the Kanuma Plant Irie Cram School from the middle of June to expand our “Prototype
manufacture → service part manufacture → AM part design” initiatives.
2. SDG Initiatives
We have started implementing the following initiatives as part of our efforts to conserve the globalenvironment.
(1) Production of facilities for creating compost out of garbage(2) Production of air-cleaning facilities ---- Currently at the stage of producing prototype facilities(3) The use of the heat energy generated by our casting machines for agricultural purposes (greenhousecultivation)
3. Enhanced Kaizen Activities
We are shifting our Kaizen activities across to creative originality Kaizen activities due to the effects of
COVID-19, and so far we have reduced processing time by approximately 2,000 hours (team activities
have been shifted across to individual Kaizen activities to avoid 3C contagion).
4. Review of Internal Structures ---- Creation of direct-management teams
In principle, we will accelerate the creation of multi-functional teams for the purpose of revisingbusiness practices and reorganizing existing structures.
5. Production Activities(1) We aim to return to production activities at almost the same level as average years. We have alreadycreated a system to increase customers from June onwards(2) We are currently carrying out production preparation activities aimed at the launch of new productsin the Kanuma Plant, the Hokkaido Plant and the Ohtawara Plant
We presume that the coronavirus pandemic will continue into next year, and are therefore initiating all
possible procedures and activities to carry KSK into the future.
Automotive Area (Compact EVs to enter the Maas market)
Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. and Tajima Motor Corporation established a new company in April 2021 thatwill be involved in the Maas (Mobility as a Service) market with the use of ultra-compact electric vehicles(EVs). They are planning on providing mobility services that involve the manufacture and sale of ultracompact EVs using Idemitsu’s service station network and material development technologies andTajima Motor’s EV design technologies.
Idemitsu Kosan will invest in Tajima EV, a subsidiary of Tajima Motor involved in the development ofEVs, and the new company will be inaugurated under the new name of Idemitsu Tajima EV. The newcompany’s first ultra-compact EV will be announced at the Tokyo Motor Show, which is (was) scheduled
to be held in October 2021, and mass-produced vehicles will be available for sale during 2022. The newcompany will develop and produce prototypes, and mass-production is scheduled to be carried out by
an Idemitsu branch in collaboration with external suppliers.
The dimensions of the EV currently being developed is 2,495mm in length, 1,295mm in width and1,765mm in height, which will be made available in four seater and single seater (cargo type) models.
The maximum output of the power motor is 15kW, and it can travel at speeds under 60km/h. The
dimensions, motor output and maximum speed conform with the new standards for ultra-compact

The maximum output of the power motor is 15kW, and it can travel at speeds under 60km/h. The
dimensions, motor output and maximum speed conform with the new standards for ultra-compact
mobility vehicles (type-specified vehicles) established by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportand Tourism. Impact safety and other safety performances levels also clear the standards for ultracompact mobility vehicles set by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The
lithium-ion battery has a capacity (total electricity volume) of 10kWh, and this allows the vehicle totravel approximately 120km on a single charge. Because ultra-compact EVs are low-speed vehicles thatare banned from driving on expressways, they are expected to use batteries that contain recycled
lithium.
Nobuhiro Tajima, joint president and CEO of Tajima Motor Corporation, has announced that thecompany intends to keep the cost of the vehicles down to below 1.5-million yen once they go into massproduction.
However,owing to the fact that EVs at a cost of500,000-yen or less have already been released
onto the market in China, he also emphasizes
that they will try to bring the price down to500,000-yen or less eventually through massproduction, etc.
Source: Nikkei AutomotiveKeihin Seimitsu Kogyo (Problem with resin supplies)
Amid increasing demand for resin on a worldwide basis, a cold front struck Texas in the United States
during February this year and led to the extended shutdown of factories, which has placed heavypressure on the supply of certain resins since the middle of April.
Owing to this, KSK’s sales department, procurement department, development department, technicaldepartment and production department have come together as one to carry out the following:(1) Stock allocation of all parts that use resin, and checking to ascertain the dates when parts will runout… Three parts are already in a critical state(2) Negotiations with suppliers and the trading companies that provide our suppliers with stocks tocheck when supplies will be delivered and in what quantities(3) The purchase of substitute supplies from overseas plants, and the purchase of substitute supplies
from Japan and overseas(4) The production of parts using substitute supplies, and the implementation of strength and durability
tests(5) Sharing information with customers, and checking to ascertain process modifications for using
substitute parts(6) The holding of daily internal meetings to share information, and the implementation of measures tocope with any problems that arise
Given the current situation, we estimate that selective management will need to be continued for
Post-editorial Notes: (The Shonan coast, the ancient Tokaido Road and a disco/karaoke room)

I was remembering back to when I used to spend long weekends walking along the ancient Tokaido
Road and the ancient Oshu-Kaido Road before COVID-19 began to spread… It was then that I resolved
myself to take a hike from my home as far as the Hiratsuka Post Station along the Shonan coastal roadand ancient Tokaido Road.
I departed early in the morning. I walked down to the coastal area of Enoshima Island amid beautiful
sunshine and then headed west along the cycling course that follows the coast with the early-summer
see breeze ruffling my hair. I was listening to YouTube as I walked, and by the time I reached Chigasaki, I
was humming to Yuzo Kayama, which led onto me screeching out Southern Allstars songs by the time I
reached the Southern Beach, and I crossed the Sagami River in good spirits. I arrived at the Hiratsuka
Post Station in a short three-and-a-half hours, so I left my bag at the Hotel and then stretched my legs alittle further along the ancient Tokaido Road through to the Oiso Post Station. The clouds began to looka little threatening, so I returned to the hotel… There I worked up a sweat carrying out my own exercise
routine, consisting of squats, push-ups, and stomach and back muscle training, and then took a shower
so that I was ready for anything.
Attracted by the sunset, I walked down to the promenade and entered a bar, where I sat in a privateroom for two people and quenched my parched throat.
I ordered salt-grilled atka mackerel, duck with spring onions and a medium-sized bottle of Premium Maltbeer, and the beer flowed down my dry throat the best it has in a long time, as if I had just discovered
water in the middle of a desert. I then moved onto a spicy tofu broth, a chopped cabbage sale and flatlemon sours, and all of this having raised my spirits, I began to think back on a hiking tour I took along
the ancient Tokaido Road several years ago. I remembered the great drinks I had at Tokyo Station before
boarding the night bus, the cicadas singing as I arrived in Hamamatsu the following morning andsounding as if they were telling me to “Die, die!”, to which I replied, “Shut the hell up!”, the absolutely
amazing taste of the beer I had during lunch, and rejoicing in a loud voice when I reached Kyoto. All ofthese thoughts ran through my mind as if I was staring through a kaleidoscope, together with memoriesof me overdoing things in karaoke bars.
Having returned to my room, I put on YouTube and began to feel my body reacting to the music. I dranksome wine… I sang some of my favorite songs… I began to instinctively dance… I then drank somemore… And then I began to laugh out loud (my body was refusing to obey the commands from my moredemure brain).
I put on the songs that I used to love back in the days when I could be found jiving and heaving underdemure brain).
I put on the songs that I used to love back in the days when I could be found jiving and heaving under
mirror balls in Roppongi, including Michael Jackson, the Dooby Brothers and Stevie Wonder… That’swhen things really took off… My body rejected my brain’s demands to take hypertension depressants as
the perspiration began to flow and I drank more and danced more… I ended off the session with a bowlof ramen noodles, and when I checked the time, I was astounded to realize that it was already twoo’clock in the morning…
The sunshine appeared to be brighter than normal the next morning (due to me overdoing things in myroom, despite the fact that my main objective was a long hike), and my body continued complaining as Ihuffed and puffed my way through the return journey while observing the pine trees lining the road outof the corner of my eye, until I finally arrived home…
(I had achieved my objective, so I stubbornly wrote off the sense of ambiguity that I was feeling as “mePine Trees Lining
being me”… Despite this, it was a very enjoyable overnight trip. Ha, ha, ha… v(^o^)v)
the Tokaido Road

Enoshima

Fujisawa Post
StationHiratsuka PostStation