Top Message

Enhancing social value throughmaterial technologies tobrighten the world

Mitsuyoshi Shibata
President
Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.

- What are your thoughts on sustainability inthe daily running of a company?
Companies have a responsibility not only toserve their stakeholders by maintaining robust
business activities that create profit, but also tobuild a better society by helping to resolve issues
in our areas of expertise, thereby contributing toenvironmental and social sustainability.
Companies that develop their businessglobally have to meet this responsibility on aworldwide scale. As Furukawa Electric expands
internationally, we too seek solutions to global
problems to serve our constantly diversifying
stakeholders and achieve sustainability.
- What do you think is important in serving
your stakeholders and meeting social
responsibilities?
The environment surrounding our businesshas repeatedly and significantly changed over

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FURUKAWA ELECTRIC GROUP SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015

the 130 years since our foundation. During thattime, our main business area has been the creationof infrastructure underpinning society and industry,
but the key factors have always been manufacturing
and providing service from the customer’s point ofview, conducting ceaseless technical innovation, andsecuring the personnel and materials to make all thishappen.

- In regard to those key factors, what steps
are you currently taking with your customers,
products, and technologies?
First of all, how can our products and services
help to resolve any issues our customers have,and how would that contribute to society andthe global environment? What we do is consider
various business situations in which the products
and services of our entire group could help ourcustomers, and then offer diverse and comprehensiveproposals.
These proposals are built on the research we
do to enhance our accumulated technologies,
and the development of new technologies throughunconventional approaches. For example, we havedeveloped more efficient control systems to help
resolve the energy issues within smart infrastructures,and integrated optical telecommunication technology
and electric power technology into the existing
technologies of automotive products to create newtechnologies that support the evolution of safer, morereliable vehicles.
- What measures are you taking at present inregard to personnel and resources?
In the area of personnel, we are implementing
global-minded training, such as international coursesthat bring together our local staff from different
countries to raise their skill levels, and challenge
programs that promote overseas experience among
our young Japanese employees. As president, I havealso conducted a “The Honki (earnest effort) Tour”
around our business locations nationwide to meet
employees in person and exchange frank opinions.
Through such measures, our aim is to harness

various human resources around the world andbecome a creative, dynamic business entity.
Moving on to resources, in an industry concernedwith materials such as ours, we need to remain
conscious of the product cycle of raw material
supply, manufacturing and processing, delivery andutilization, and disposal, recovery and recycling. For
more than a century, Furukawa Electric has beenreusing offcuts and other waste generated in our
manufacturing process, and recycling products
discarded after many years of use. We are also
addressing environmental conservation in a varietyof ways, and our hydroelectric power plant in Nikko,
Tochigi Prefecture, delivers clean, stable power
not only to our own factories but also outside thecompany.

- Lastly, what are your thoughts on businessgrowth from the perspective of sustainability?
2014 was the halfway point of our mid-termbusiness plan, and 2015 is the final year, with ourgoals being to focus on the infrastructure andautomotive markets, build a platform for sustainablegrowth, and achieve improved financial strength.
Now that our Nikko Works has been completely
restored after last year’s snow damage, we havebeen made aware of several things, such as thestrength of our customer links resulting from ourrenewed efforts in the material industry, and somepoints within our business continuity plan that should
be reinforced. This experience has made us very
conscious of being a responsible partner to many
companies in different industrial fields, and having
inherited the desire of our founder Ichibei Furukawa
to “brighten Japan”, we are committed to creating
further social value and growing our business so that
we can “brighten the world”.
Finally, I hope as many people as possible will readthrough this report and learn more about Furukawa
Electric.
Thank you very much.

FURUKAWA ELECTRIC GROUP SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 20157