Society

Roundtable Talk with OSG Junior Employees
feels comfortable working somewhere, then that person is more likely to
be enthusiastic and more productive. How do you feel about the workthat you perform day-to-day?

Employees Views on Working at OSG
One of OSG Group s material issues is to develop a rewarding workplace environment.
Our aim is to create and maintain an environment in which each and every employee can ﬁnd pride and fulﬁllment anddemonstrate their abilities to their full potential as they continue to take up the challenge of breaking out and goingbeyond what they ve ever done before. This will help us to achieve our long-term vision as laid out in our Medium-Term
Management Plan Beyond the Limit.
For this roundtable talk, we brought together ﬁve of OSG s junior employees to talk about what motivates them, theculture of challenge, issues they are facing, and other topics.

Ito：A work atmosphere in OSG is excellent. Occasionally, my supervisorand senior coworkers have given me candid advice. No one has ever said
anything unreasonable. There is good communication so that otheremployees even listen to the opinions of younger employees and support
them. One of the attractive points of OSG is the close working relationshipthat employees have with department and section managers. EvenPresident Osawa is approachable and friendly.
Y. Sugiura：I feel a sense of achievement when I see the machines lined
up, which I myself worked on, on the manufacturing floor of a plant. To
efficiently design machinery, I think it s also good to have a flextime
system where employees are able to pretty much freely determine thehours when they will work. A system where employees are able to set
their own their working hours encourages a positive attitude amongemployees. In terms of health also, I appreciate the employee cafeteria,
which serves inexpensive and delicious meals.
K. Sugiura：I am very happy that the parking area is close to the office.
The Design Center also has good communication. The department andsection managers as well as regular employees all have their desks on
the same floor, which creates an environment where it is easy toconverse. OSG s operations are mainly based in eastern Mikawa, which
provides a close lateral link between design and production that makes
it easy to perform the work. I have also been impressed by thecompany s recent promotion encouraging male employees to takechildcare leave, which adds to the wealth of employee benefits that thecompany provides.
Tanaka：Because production lines operate with three shifts a day, factories
have not adopted flextime. Sales teams need to coordinate theirschedules with customers business hours. There are other disparities interms of operations among the different departments, but the system of
remote work from home has really helped. If the weather forecast for
tomorrow is snow, then I will arrange my schedule to work from home.
Now I m responsible for work that I didn t have a chance to try in myprevious job. This environment where there are new challenges makes
the work very fun and every day fulfilling.

Masaki ItoOfﬁce,( Toyokawa)
Sales Dept.

Keiichi Sugiura

Design Team,( TapDesignCenter, )Ayumi Sawano*

Yusuke Sugiura

Machine Design Team,( ProductionTechnology Dept. )Aiko TanakaDevelopment Team, Personnel & Labor Affairs Group,Team, Accounting Group,( Personnel & Human Resources) ( Finance & Accounting)
Human Resources & General Affairs Dept.
Accounting Dept.

Sawano：I am in charge of recruitment and training on the Personnel &Human Resources Development Team in the Human Resources & General
Affairs Department. I joined OSG right after I graduated in 2015. What
attracted me to OSG was how the company s organization operates with
its focus on people, its many fascinating individuals, and its employee-friendlyreputation. To start off, could I ask each of you to introduce yourself?
Ito：I work in sales at the Toyokawa Office. Since I graduated from auniversity overseas, I wanted to use English and work in foreign country.
That is why I joined OSG right after I graduated in 2017 because thecompany has expanded its business globally. I want to take up thechallenge of working overseas once I have built up not only myknowledge of tools, but also gained broad understanding and experiencein OSG s business.
Y. Sugiura：April 2023 marks my eighth year with OSG. My firstassignment was the Manufacturing Technology Section where I worked on
carbide end mills. I m interested in machinery design. After communicatingthat interest in my career plan, I was transferred to the Machinery

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OSG Re port 2022

Sawano：OSG helps people who are taking up the challenge of realizing
the company s long-term vision. Could you please share a challenge thatyou have or would like to attempt?
*Facilitator

Department (presently, the Production Technology Department), which
produces machines for use within the company.
K. Sugiura：I joined OSG right after I graduated in 2017 and I am currently
doing tap design work at the Design Center, which is part of the OSG
Academy. I wanted to improve myself, so I have been temporarily
assigned outside OSG to an automobile manufacture where I have gained
good experience as a tool technician. I was born and raised in Toyokawa.
When I interned at OSG, I really liked the academic and home-likeatmosphere. That is what prompted me to apply to work at OSG.

Tanaka：My department provides an environment where we can take up
new challenges on our own initiative, negotiate with other departments,
and go about performing our work as we see best. Take, for example, thetaxation system promoting carbon neutrality which is being spearheadedby the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. OSG is able to enjoy tax
benefits by coordinating a variety of departments. I feel OSG provides aculture that supports its employees, prompting them to take the initiativein their jobs.
Ito：Just as the supervisors and senior employees that I respect have done,
I would like to have the experience of managing my own team. Once I
have acquired the confidence of a full-fledged employee and able toperform that work, I would like to try working overseas.

Tanaka：I joined OSG mid-career in October 2019. I am doing tax-related
work as part of the Finance & Accounting Team in the Accounting
Department. In my previous job, I was doing accounting at a company in
Kanagawa Prefecture where I am originally from. I wanted to broaden mycareer, gain experience and grow, so I decided to move away from myhometown and find a job.

Y. Sugiura：Last year, I was responsible for developing loading equipment
for production facilities. It was the first development project that I everattempted, but I was able to complete it thanks to the help of everyone
around me. Now, we need to lower production costs also to achieve ouraim of 15% ROA on an operating income basis as laid out in our
Medium-Term Management Plan. I think we will be able to increase thenumber of development projects for reducing manpower and labor, so I
want to volunteer to apply myself to achieving some of those tasks.

Sawano：I think if a person derives satisfaction from his or her job andK. Sugiura：OSG is aiming to achieve a 40% share of the global tap market

by 2027. To reach this goal, we need to expand sales of specialty products
while also increasing the rate of repeat customers. I hope to contribute toaccelerating output and enhancing production efficiency with a systemthat manages specialty products, which are outside of the design
management system, in the same way as that repeat standard products
are administered.
Sawano：Lastly, I would like to ask if you see any issues that OSG is facingor have any proposals for how to do something better.
Ito：The environment at OSG is now more conducive to male employees
taking childcare leave. However, at the Toyokawa Office, it is just myself
and the office manager. So, even though such a program is available, I
think it would be difficult for me to take leave. Even at offices where there
are many personnel, there is always the question of who s going to cover
for an employee taking childcare leave. So, I hope the company would
also consider creating or somehow putting in place a better system tosupport that.
K. Sugiura：If you take childcare leave, you only receive about 70% of yourbase pay. If the employee is young and his partner is a full-timehousewife, that would put probably strain their livelihood. There haven t
been any cases of women in sales taking maternity and childcare leave. I
wish the company would present its vision for how an employee could
take childcare leave. Also, if the company instituted an open recruitment
system as part of the Career Plan Statement System, it would probably beeasier to find and place the appropriate personnel in the appropriate
position.
Y. Sugiura：The Production Technology Department is able to reduce
production costs. However, to do so, a reassessment is needed of current
manufacturing processes as well as the development of production
machinery. Moreover, a change is needed not only in the way we havebeen doing things, but also the way that our employees think. To addressthese changes, I believe it is important for each and every individual tocontinually try new things and the entire Manufacturing Department towork together to advance development of these aspects.
K. Sugiura：At the automobile manufacture to which I have been
assigned, employees have the opportunity to sit down and have adiscussion with their supervisor once a month. I would like OSG to set up
regular opportunities throughout the company for supervisors and theirsubordinates to exchange views. I believe direct discussions withsupervisors would help everyone to become more aware of thecompany s numerical targets and it would also foster a sense of unity
within the organization. In addition, if employees are more aware of andbetter understand the standards by which their performance is evaluated
and what the opportunities for promotion are, then they will understandwhat is being asked of them. This will make it easier to set goals andinspire employees to perform better.
Ito：More and more employees are aware of and understand theMedium-Term Management Plan. OSG now has a strong corporate culture
encouraging employees not to fear failure. More people have becomeaware of numerical targets through the President s talks and othercorporate communications. I myself am also thinking about what I should
focus on as an employee to achieve the targets laid out in the Medium-Term
Management Plan. Still, I feel that these numerical targets are not linked toemployee evaluations or the goals that we need to achieve, so this issomething that we should be more aware of throughout the entire
company. It is also important for standards to be set out for personnelevaluations. I think it would be effective for comprehensive assessments toinclude supervisors evaluations of their subordinates performance.
Sawano：Thank you very much for sharing your valuable insight today.
This roundtable talk shows once again the employee-friendly atmosphereand open communication at OSG. I hope to take the issues and proposals
that you have made and put them to work to improve the personnel
system with an eye toward making OSG a company where we all growtogether.

OSG Repor t 202242