Top Message

Contributing to the achievementof a sustainable society
and brightening the world

ProfileBorn in 1959, in Hokkaido. Specialized inmetallurgical engineering at the Graduate
School of Science and Engineering, Waseda
University. Entered the company in 1985.
After entry, gathered experience at the Nikko
Works over a period of 24 years, ranging fromresearch and development of copper alloys toa position as General Production Manager ofthe Copper Rolling Plant. After this, served
successively as Production Development
Department General Manager, Magnet Wire
Division General Manager, Copper & High
Performance Material Products Division
General Manager, and Global Marketing Sales
Division General Manager. Has completed
numerous accomplishments including
structural reform of the Magnet Wire Divisionand early measures for recovery from snow
damage at the Nikko Works, and assumed theposition of President in April 2017.

President
Keiichi Kobayashi
Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.

6FURUKAWA ELECTRIC GROUP SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2017

- You assumed the position of President in April of
this year, so please tell us your current viewpoints
on sustainability.
Since our company was established in 1884,
we have drawn on our material expertise in a wide
range of fields including copper and aluminum as amanufacturer of electric wire and non-ferrous metals.
Through continuous technological innovation we havecreated technologies and businesses required by oursociety, such as the construction of infrastructure toserve as the foundations of society and industry. The
Furukawa Group’s founder Ichibei Furukawa worked
diligently toward the goal of creating a new Japan withthe desire to “make Japan brighter”. We have in turninherited this view, holding a strong sense of duty andbroadened outlook now with the conviction to “makethe world brighter”. Our Group has a responsibility
to make contributions to all of our stakeholders
while continuing to pursue robust business activities
and create profits, as well as to help in achieving asustainable society by supporting efforts to resolve
various issues with our businesses and technology.
Deploying its businesses on a worldwide scale,
our Group constantly takes a globally-oriented
approach to the resolution of problems to achievesustainability, and to the contributions we provide toour stakeholders.

- Since your new medium-term management plan
has started from the previous fiscal year and is
now underway, please tell us about your overall
initiatives for the plan, including your policies forthis fiscal year.
Our “Furukawa G Plan 2020: Delivering Sustained
Profitable Growth” medium-term management
plan, which began from the previous fiscal year,
includes three points positioned as its main initiatives:“Strengthen and reform businesses”, “Expand sales
in the global market”, and “Step up efforts to tap into
new markets”. I will take the lead and carry out thesepoints to completion myself, in order to achieve its
objectives so that the plan’s path of growth will beestablished. We will also accelerate our reforms inselling styles, manufacturing styles, and work styles,
to strengthen our Group’s financial base so that wecan provide even further reliability in meeting theexpectations of our stakeholders including all of ourshareholders and bring peace of mind for them. In
this fiscal year, the second year of the plan, we areproceeding with five priority initiatives: 1. Thoroughly
implement “safety first” and compliance; 2. Create
new values together with our customers; 3. Achievehighly competitive manufacturing; 4. Continually
undertake challenges for new products, newtechnology, and new manufacturing methods; and 5.
Develop human resources to lead the next generation.
Among these, we are placing the highest emphasis
on “safety first” and “thorough implementation ofcompliance”, the foremost prerequisites for ourbusiness activities. While proceeding with intensive
initiatives to develop personnel and environments withthe goal of zero accidents, we will continue to provide
ongoing education for thorough implementation ofcompliance.

FURUKAWA ELECTRIC GROUP SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 20177- As you move forward with your medium-term
management plan, what types of initiatives are you
engaging in to contribute to the achievement of asustainable society?
As our Group proceeds with the three main
initiatives that were mentioned previously: “Strengthen
and reform businesses”, “Expand sales in theglobal market”, and “Step up efforts to tap intonew markets”, we are deploying infrastructurebusinesses to protect the environment, support life,and sustain lifestyles on a global scale. For example,
as signature products which can contribute to theprevention of global warming, we have developed
aluminum wire harnesses and lead battery status
detection sensors, which can help to achieve higher
automobile fuel efficiency for reducing CO2 emissions.
As representative products which can contribute torecycling, we have developed recycled resin “GreenTroughs” which use waste plastic as their primary raw
material, and optical fiber cables whose structures aresuited to recycling. We are also working to support thefoundations of our continually-progressing advanced
information society with products to sustain its smart
infrastructure. These include riser cables for offshorefloating wind power generation, superconducting
magnet which support superconducting flywheel
power storage systems, and active optical products
used in backbone systems for telecommunication
involving the rapidly-increasing amounts of dataassociated with the spread of IoT. In addition,
many of our Group’s products are making valuable
contributions to the achievement of a sustainable
society, and we are furthermore focusing on newproduct development with great consideration for thenatural environment.

8FURUKAWA ELECTRIC GROUP SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2017

- What points are you strengthening in particular,
with regards to the management infrastructure
which supports your business activities?
Since FY2015, we have started “Work StyleReform” activities. We are proceeding with changes to
our working styles and to our organizational culture,
which include environmental arrangements such as
the introduction of a telework system, and are striving
to achieve sustainable growth for the company while
also enriching the lives of our individual employees.
Our Group has declared its management philosophy
to be: “Nurture human resources at every level, sothat we can become a more diverse and creativeorganization”. We believe it is essential to build
environments and cultures where diverse humanresources can flourish while proceeding with Group
Global management, and we have been deploying
measures for diversity promotion for some time.
Looking next at corporate gover nance, wecontinuously improve operation of board meeting byconducting questionnaires to all members of Board
and Audit & Supervisory Board on evaluations for
improving the effectiveness of Board. We are also
engaging in institutional design to reach the ideal stateof our company, from the perspective of governancewhich balances offense and defense. Additionally,
we are striving for instilling our Group philosophies(Corporate Philosophy, Management Philosophy,Group Credo) in all employee in our Group andfor developing human resources able to act while
upholding our common Group values.

- What types of initiatives are you promoting forenvironmental conservation?
As our Group Global management has progressedsince F Y 2013, we ha v e proceeded with thecombination and reorganization of our manufacturingbases and have improved the efficiency of our energy
usage, steadily reducing the amount of CO2 emissionsduring our production. We have also utilized thematerial expertise that is a particular strength of ourcompany to reduce CO2 emissions even at the stages
at which our products are used, making contributions
through material supplies of rectangular magnet
wire for hybrid vehicle motors and the previouslymentioned wire harnesses for automobiles. From
here on, we will expand our product lines with highenvironmental contributions, including heat-resistantproducts and lighter products based on oxygen-freecopper and resin technology. Our Group company
Furukawa Nikko Power Generation Inc. is carryingout hydroelectric power generation with zero CO2emissions, with the resulting augmented power
generation capability contributing to an increased
supply of renewable energy. Our Group is also
continuing its efforts to answer social demands,
actively releasing environmental data and raising ourtransparency and reliability through certification by
third-party certifying bodies.

- Lastly, please give a final message to the readersof this report.
Our Group is deploying its business activities basedon the relationships of trust we have with all of ourvarious stakeholders, including our shareholders
and customers. Through this Sustainability Report,
we hope to provide a greater understanding of
our activities and to additionally deepen the levelof communication between our stakeholders andour Group. Based on our Corporate Philosophy of“Drawing on more than a century of expertise in thedevelopment and fabrication of advanced materials,
we will contribute to the realization of a sustainable
society through continuous technological innovation”,
we will bring out the further potential of our Group foreven stronger advancement of our business activities,
and we intend to continue being a company whose
existence is essential to our society.
We hope to be able to receive your further
cooperation and support for our Group from here on.

FURUKAWA ELECTRIC GROUP SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 20179