CEO Message

Before assuming the role of President, I served as Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), leading the Corporate Planning Division and overseeing corporate planning as the responsible executive officer. In that role, I led discussions on our Group’s direction and overall strategy, as well as strategic dialogue with senior executives at other companies. However, my career has been shaped just as much by two other experiences: my years at the plant, where I honed my production technology expertise through hands-on experience in plant operations, and my time in the business division, where I drove global expansion through M&A. These two experiences closely reflect the very challenges facing the Mitsui Chemicals Group today.

I joined the company in 1992 and began my career as a chemical engineer on the manufacturing floor at the Osaka Works. Surrounded by highly experienced engineers and technicians, each day was about thinking independently, taking action, and overcoming challenges through hands-on problem-solving.

About ten years later, I was appointed Manufacturing Manager of the ammonia plant. In addition to leading a large team of around 40 members, I was also tasked with overseeing a loss-making plant that had been experiencing repeated operational problems. At first, I developed plans myself and instructed each team member to execute them accordingly. However, the results fell short of expectations. I therefore changed my approach. While retaining full responsibility myself, I shifted to a structure in which younger employees took leadership roles, supported by veteran team members, and were given the freedom to think and act independently. This led to a wide range of ideas and proposals, enabling the entire team to tackle challenges together.

Not every challenge succeeded, but as successes began to emerge, the team gained confidence, and increasingly more ideas and proposals followed. It was at that point that I truly experienced, for the first time, how empowering people and bringing out their full potential can transform the workplace and unleash tremendous collective strength. As a result, operational problems declined, and stable production improved our pricing power, which in turn improved earnings. This created a virtuous cycle that enabled investment in the plant and ultimately returned the business to profitability. Seeking to expand these efforts further, I personally established a production reform office and implemented initiatives such as reviewing meeting structures.

After moving to headquarters, I joined the development division for Functional Chemicals (now Life & Healthcare Solutions), where I was responsible for cross-border M&A. At the time, I had no prior M&A experience, nor could I claim to have sufficient financial expertise. However, by drawing on the team-building capabilities I had developed at the plant and incorporating input from all members of a cross-functional project team, we were able to work through the challenges together and successfully close the deal.

Later, when I was responsible for market development in vision care materials, I made a conscious decision to entrust strategy development for each region to local talent as much as possible. As a result, each team came forward with ideas tailored to the specific needs of their markets. The initiatives they proposed proved successful, and everyone became more proactive and engaged.

What I learned through these experiences is that the desire to be entrusted with responsibility, to grow through one’s work, and to contribute to society is universal, regardless of nationality. I believe that by providing every employee with opportunities for growth, we can fully harness the capabilities of our people on a global scale. At the same time, we must never lose sight of one essential perspective: our growth depends on the growth of our customers. As a chemical manufacturer, it is easy for the Mitsui Chemicals Group to become focused on promoting products we believe are superior. However, our own growth can only come from delivering what our customers truly need and creating value that contributes to their growth. This mindset is reflected in the initiatives under our new leadership structure, which I will discuss later.

Another key strength of our Group lies in the capabilities of each individual and in our bottom-up culture. A company is not driven by management alone—it is driven by the collective strength of every employee. The role of management is to show the way forward and provide each individual with meaningful opportunities to grow so that this direction can be realized. At the same time, employees must think about what they need for their own growth, continue developing as professionals, and contribute proactively from the bottom up. I believe that the evolution of each individual drives the growth of the Group, which in turn leads to greater corporate value.

In particular, in building solutions-based business models, we have faced a range of challenges and obstacles as we move beyond our traditional materials-focused approach, resulting in a major shift in mindset across the organization. Our compounds business in North America, which has generated substantial profits, is a prime example. By combining the Mitsui Chemicals Group's broad portfolio of materials and technologies to address highly specific customer needs, we are able to provide differentiated products that are difficult to replace. I believe there is now shared recognition across the Group that this represents one of our core strengths.

However, earnings growth in our specialty chemicals domains has progressed more slowly than originally anticipated. Going forward, in addition to further global business expansion, we need to broaden applications and expand our product lineup through localization. Because the optimal approach differs by product, we will respond to customer needs through a range of tailored approaches.

M&A will remain an important means of achieving this. Looking back at our Group’s M&A track record, we have achieved a high rate of success in cases where we introduced existing products and technologies into new markets, or brought new products and technologies into existing markets where we already have a strong presence. On the other hand, transactions involving entry into entirely new markets with new products and technologies—as exemplified by Kulzer in dental materials—have taken longer to deliver results. However, through these experiences, we have developed a deeper understanding of those markets, enabling us to better assess the current landscape and move forward with greater confidence in pursuing future growth and new challenges. With the recent acquisition of Ultradent Products in the United States, we have not only established a business platform in the U.S.—the world’s largest healthcare market, which had long been a strategic priority—but also gained access to growth opportunities driven by rising awareness of preventive dentistry. We believe we are now well positioned to achieve further growth by maximizing synergies among Ultradent, Kulzer, and Mitsui Chemicals. Looking ahead, we will continue to carefully assess whether each M&A opportunity lies in existing or new domains. Our primary focus will remain on expanding within existing domains. For opportunities involving entirely new markets and technologies, we believe we can improve the probability of success by adopting a more disciplined and selective approach—for example, beginning with minority investments, as we did with our investment in Shinko Electric Industries.

Another major challenge is Basic & Green Materials (B&GM), where losses persist, making accelerated restructuring an urgent priority. In recent years, multiple production-related issues have occurred, making it equally critical to establish a stronger framework for stable supply. Supply concerns arising from the recent conflict in the Middle East have once again highlighted the essential role of the petrochemical industry in underpinning industries in Japan. Its importance is also increasingly being recognized from the standpoint of economic security. For the Group, the key question is how to transform B&GM into a strong business entity—including through industry restructuring—so that we can continue to fulfill our supply responsibilities on a sustainable basis.

To strengthen the resilience of B&GM, discussions on the consolidation of production facilities through collaboration with external partners in both eastern and western Japan are progressing steadily. In eastern Japan, we are targeting 2027, and in western Japan, 2030, as milestones for consolidating ethylene facilities into a single unit and establishing optimized production structures. Beyond 2030, it will be essential to strengthen petrochemical complexes as a whole, including through shared utility infrastructure and joint enhancement of production technologies. Improving competitiveness through greener operations, such as biomass and chemical recycling, will also be indispensable. In particular, technological progress in China has been remarkable, to the point where competing through conventional mass production of commodity products is no longer viable. As society once again comes to recognize the importance and convenience of petrochemical products, I believe that the creation of markets, driven by higher product recycling rates and broader recognition of the value of environmentally friendly products, could create a significant barrier for Chinese competitors. This would also represent a major competitive advantage for our Group, which is already examining chemical recycling schemes and developing biomass utilization technologies through collaboration with external partners.

We continue to move forward with detailed planning for the split of B&GM in fiscal 2027. This reflects the significant differences between B&GM and our specialty chemicals domains in areas such as the speed required for investment decision-making and R&D timelines, and is intended to enable both businesses to pursue their strategies under structures better tailored to their respective characteristics. What I would like to emphasize once again is that these two pillars are equally important and must work in tandem. B&GM brings together many of the technologies the Group has developed and refined over the course of its evolution from coal chemistry through petrochemicals to the present day. These technologies are also indispensable to the continued expansion of our specialty chemicals domains. We will continue to build on the shared DNA at the core of the Group, while fostering close collaboration so that both pillars can continue to grow together.

The business environment has changed rapidly since VISION 2030 was formulated, and the chemical industry is undergoing a major transformation on a global scale. While there has been no change in the broad direction of the ideal vision and Basic Strategy set out in VISION 2030, I believe we need to adapt the tactics we employ to realize the vision and execute the strategy.

Furthermore, I believe that the CxOs have a vital role to play in driving cross-functional coordination if we are to act swiftly as one organization. Each CxO must take the lead in driving the “growth and evolution of the Mitsui Chemicals Group.” With this in mind, each functional and corporate division took the lead, while the responsible CxOs—including myself—met weekly for discussions. Over the course of 100 days, we defined the aspirational state for each of the four challenges and developed a robust plan to realize those aspirations.

The first of our four aspirational states is to become a solutions partner that supports our customers’ growth. This includes two key focus areas: advancing and commercializing technologies based on customer needs, and strengthening our solutions capabilities through our global technical service hub strategy.

Technology ultimately creates value only when it is aligned with how customers use it and make decisions. To achieve this, we will shift from a technology-led approach to one that starts with customers’ unresolved challenges, while evolving our core technologies through dialogue with customers. The production technology function will also be involved from the earliest stages of research, integrating processing, assembly, automation and digital technologies to establish R&D themes designed with mass production and profitability in mind. Through an end-to-end production technology approach spanning prototyping through sales, we will deliver solutions to our customers.

In particular, to further increase the share of overseas revenue in our specialty chemicals domains and realize a high-growth, highly profitable global specialty business, we will need to proactively engage with local customers in each regional market.

For example, in India’s rapidly growing mobility market, demand among local manufacturers is increasing not only for cost-competitive products, but also for premium and differentiated materials. This is precisely an area where the Mitsui Chemicals Group can deliver unique value by leveraging our broad portfolio of materials and technologies across organizational boundaries. To better capture these needs, we will strengthen collaboration with regional R&D institutions by using our global technical service hubs as strategic footholds. In doing so, we aim to establish a more regionally rooted R&D structure—one driven not solely by Japan, but more closely aligned with local markets. We have already established localized production and development frameworks in areas such as composite materials of Mobility Solutions and coating & engineering materials, rooted in our overseas operations. Going forward, we will expand this model across a broader range of businesses, with each regional hub operating more independently. Through these efforts, we aim to become a truly global specialty company—one that surprises people to learn that Mitsui Chemicals originated in Japan.

The second of our four aspirational states is to become expert teams that pass on and evolve technical expertise. To achieve this, we will focus on standardizing plant operations and advancing maintenance technologies. Traditionally, plants producing different products have each developed their own cultures and ways of operating. However, as we deepen collaboration with external partners going forward, standardization will become essential to integrating production technologies across organizations. This does not mean every operational detail must be identical. Rather, by establishing a shared operational foundation, we aim to build plants that can be operated safely and stably regardless of operator.

Another pressing challenge is the transfer of technical expertise from veteran employees to younger generations. In the past, much of this knowledge was passed on through tacit, apprenticeship-style learning—essentially by observing and learning from experienced colleagues. Going forward, however, we must fully leverage AI and other digital technologies to convert knowledge accumulated by individuals into data and preserve it as explicit knowledge. The Mitsui Chemicals Group has a history spanning more than 100 years, and the ability to utilize the knowledge and accumulated examples built up over that time can become a major competitive advantage in competing with emerging players, including those from China. Through standardization, workload reduction enabled by AI, continued human-led transfer of expertise, and ongoing advancement in production technologies, we will strengthen both safe and stable operations and our overall competitiveness.

The third of our four aspirational states is to become global professional teams where each individual continues to evolve. In this area, we are starting from a fundamental question: what kind of talent is required to realize the global specialty company that the Group aspires to become? The global competitive environment is changing constantly. Employees must continuously adapt their roles, mindsets, and relationships in response, while constantly evolving themselves. They must also be able to make decisions from a customer- and market-driven perspective and possess the flexibility to co-create value across cultures and disciplines. As a company, we will support this by providing opportunities for challenge, boundary-crossing experiences, and continuous learning, thereby cultivating global professionals who can continuously and proactively shape their own careers. In addition, as changing work styles and labor shortages become increasingly significant challenges, we will further leverage AI and digital tools to help address these issues. At the same time, to strengthen our solutions capabilities as discussed earlier, we aim to build a corporate group in which diverse local talent across all regions can play an even greater role than before.

The fourth aspirational state, balancing efficiency and growth while evolving to maximize value, involves considering measures to strengthen our competitiveness not only through productivity initiatives, such as the use of digital tools in day-to-day operations, but also at the management level, including shifting toward high-ROIC businesses and establishing data-driven management. We will seek to deploy our management capital with maximum efficiency. This includes financial capital, such as operating cash flow generated by strengthening the earning power of our specialty chemicals domains and accelerating reforms in B&GM, as well as manufactured, intellectual and human capital strengthened through technology, as described earlier. By doing so, we aim to drive corporate transformation by harnessing digital technologies.

We have set ambitious targets for each of the four robust plans. Looking ahead to 2030, we will harness the collective strength of employees across the Group from the bottom up to achieve each of these targets.

Throughout my career, I have lived by the principle of thinking for myself and taking action. Today, I have added one more essential element to that principle—integrity—and I actively share this message across the Group: think for yourself and act with integrity. Thinking and action must go hand in hand; one without the other has little meaning. And both must be grounded in integrity in how we engage with society and the people around us. As a leader, I am committed to clearly articulating the aspirational states we seek to achieve and building an organization with the execution capabilities needed to navigate this period of transformation. In doing so, I aim to build a corporate group that can grow together with all of our stakeholders.