Integrated Report 2026Generating management value by addressing material issues
Published on June 30, 2026
This page has been translated using AI.
Reflecting on the first year in which the Group tackled new material issues
Yoshimoto Nakajima
The Group believes that sustainability is a fundamental principle integrated into its management practices. In February 2025, the Group redefined its material issues based on this thought. Its goal is to create management value by integrating its core mission, “creating value through its business and delivering it to customers,” and “generating value through sustainability initiatives and contributing to the improvement of societal sustainability” during the period of the artience2027/2030 “GROWTH” Management Plan.
The Group recognizes the headwind that is being faced regarding environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices. However, we do not plan to significantly change our established direction regarding our material issues. We aim to achieve effective sustainability by accurately understanding the needs of society, enhancing that understanding, and aligning it with our growth strategy. Materiality is not a one-time project, but a continuous process.
We will regularly review and refine our material issues in response to our operational growth, changing business environment, and increasing societal demands. Among the things that the market requests of us, our stakeholders' inquiries regarding how the changes in the structure of businesses, primarily those related to electric vehicles, impact our materiality are especially significant. As sustainability is closely connected to our business, our sustainability initiatives naturally change with the changes in our business structure.
In FY2025, the first year in which we are addressing new material issues, we aimed to provide value that resonates with the senses through our products and services while contributing to future sustainability. We realized that sustainability is becoming an essential requirement for manufacturers to survive. Our material issue targets include expanding the lineup of Sustainability-Enhancing Products, mainly in our strategic priority businesses, and increasing sales of these products. The assessment of sustainability is a priority when we make investment decisions. We believe that over the past year, sustainability and management have become more closely integrated following the review of our material issues.
Aiming to create value that resonates with the senses by addressing material issues
I believe we should always be aware of the inseparability of sustainability and management when making materiality- related decisions. I have recently become the Chief Sustainability Officer, but previously I was engaged in sustainability through factory operations.
I worked in Generating management value by addressing material issues sales and marketing, gaining firsthand insight into the demands of the market regarding sustainability through discussions with customers and corporate executives. ESG impact assessment has become an essential part of investment decisions. We must evaluate the ESG impact of our business strategies and integrate this information into our decision-making process. We implement sustainability initiatives for many of our product lines. However, we have not effectively communicated information about these efforts.
We need to consider how we convey this information more clearly. We are currently reviewing our progress in addressing material issues and providing feedback. We believe the key challenge lies in identifying risks and opportunities in consideration of strategies and determining how we integrate them into our next medium-term management plan.
As the Chief Sustainability Officer, I am responsible for making management decisions that consistently reflect a sustainability perspective, and defining this perspective is a crucial challenge. To create value that resonates with the senses, which is part of our Brand Promise, I focus on talent with firsthand insight into manufacturing. By addressing material issues, we aim to enhance both management decision-making and on-the-ground decision-making. In the process of doing this, we cultivate on-site personnel able to see things from both a sustainability perspective and a management perspective. In this way, I aim to create an organization that generates management value.
Our value lies in leveraging a unique strength: our ability to create new value by fusing art and science, which inspired our name. I believe that we can help solve social issues by creating value that resonates with the senses.
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