President’s Address at 2015 Company Entrance Ceremony

Congratulations on your entrance into the Company and welcome to Mitsui Chemicals. As new members of society full of dreams and hopes for the future, I believe that you are taking the first step to a new beginning in your lives. On behalf of the Mitsui Chemicals Group, let me extend to you all a heartfelt welcome.

Today, society’s expectations of the chemical industry as a “provider of infinite possibilities to create new materials to correspond to social needs” are rapidly growing. Against this backdrop, in 2014 the Mitsui Chemicals Group embarked on its new mid-term business plan in which we aim to “create new customer value through business activities to provide solutions to society’s challenges”.

Placing utmost importance on “deepening consumer value”, all technology, products, and services have the final user in mind when providing optimal solutions in the three business sectors of “mobility”, “healthcare” and “food and packaging”.

In the mobility sector, we propose to provide environmentally friendly materials for next-generation vehicles while utilizing our comprehensive strengths to provide group-wide solutions.

In the healthcare sector, in addition to the launching of the new brand "Whole YouTM " in the United States last year, we target a new foundation for growth in areas such as vision care, oral care, and businesses concerning the body’s five senses.

In the food & packaging sector, we constructed a market-oriented business model to meet demands in a growing Asian market and target developing this domain into the Group’s third growth pillar.

To secure stable earnings for basic materials (phenol, high-purity terephthalic acid, and urethane materials) in the volatile commodity chemical market, we will optimize our production bases for better cost competitiveness while continuing to restructure operations. We will steadily accelerate these four basic strategies for an operating profit of 60 billion yen in 2016 and a goal of 100 billion yen in 2020.

In closing, I would like to discuss three points that I hope you will take to heart moving forward.

First, is the “establishment of a culture of safety”. This is the overarching premise upon which everything that we do is based. It is my request that each and every one of you resolve within your hearts strong resolve to establish “safety as the ultimate priority” and “safety for yourself, your family, your colleagues and society”.

Until now in your life as students, you may have had a vague sense of safety and danger. However, from today, I want you to change your consciousness in this regard. The very survival of our company is based upon the paramount premise of safety. Please be sure to be mindful of and take every precaution to uphold safety, not only at our factories and research centers, but also at the head office and while dispatched on business trips. No matter what the location or activity, act with safety as the core of your being.

Second, I want you to become individuals capable of effectively implementing your tasks based on “gut sense.” The words of Masahiro Yasuoka shed some light on the meaning of “sense.” One type of sense is “knowledge”. Knowledge comes from listening to what people say and reading of written materials. From the earliest stage of our development, knowledge accumulates. But this knowledge has to be applied academically and also to practical experience. When we do this, we can “see knowledge” at work. And based upon this we finally develop “gut sense” allowing us to be able to carry out a task. Knowledge alone is worthless unless we apply it and see it at work. And then finally, we can develop a sense of how to activate our knowledge based on “gut sense.” In a world where the Mitsui Chemicals Group must respond innovatively to radically changing values, being able to implement a task is of extreme importance. For all of our new employees, aggressively accumulating experience and deepening your experience to “see knowledge” at work, I hope that you will develop your “gut sense” so you will be people capable of implementing your given tasks.

Third, I want all of you to aspire to become outstanding people with tremendous breadth based on mutual respect.
Mitsui Chemicals is a truly global organization based not only on Geography, Generation and Gender but also Diversity with people of various abilities and sense of values. In order to do our work as One Team, we must be willing to incorporate and activate that which is different so we can achieve ultimate results. Being able to work together to achieve any goal is the essence of inter-personal skills. Upon a foundation of mutual respect, I hope all of you will aim to become diverse individuals with outstanding qualities.

In order to create new customer value through business activities to provide solutions to society’s challenges, I hope that you will do your utmost to achieve your future aims and achieve our corporate ideals with everyone at Mitsui Chemicals.