HORIBA - Explore the future

  The year 2011 will be remembered as the year of the unthinkably massive and horrific disaster known as the Great East Japan Earthquake. But the year also allowed those of us at HORIBA to reconfirm our role as a leading manufacturer of analysis and measurement instruments as well as recognize how much our stakeholders expect from us.

  In the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, which shocked us with its devastation and horror, we at HORIBA immediately established a special task force to initially confirm the safety of our employees and their families and to make contact with our business partners and customers. Then we swiftly set out to provide information and support to help our customers safely restart our products as electricity and other utilities were restored. The results of the task force work in different places and situations repairing equipment, restarting our supply chains, etc., have now made us even more aware of how closely we are connected to our customers, business partners and society.

  Responding to Japan’s immediate needs, we increased production of our stack gas analyzers for pollution monitoring in order to help thermal power stations across Japan resume operation, thereby contributing to massive efforts to restore the supply of electricity, as electricity shortages had quickly become a social problem. At the same time, we made company-wide efforts to increase production of our environmental radiation monitor in response to the sudden need for radiation measurements to protect public safety. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster it was genuinely frustrating to have to keep so many needy people waiting for our products. However, approximately half a year after the earthquake, we succeeded in enhancing our supply system to its current status, which now allows us to deliver our products to those in need as soon as orders are received.

  As a manufacturer of analysis and measurement instruments, one of our important missions is to contribute to a safer and more secure society by supporting public infrastructure, such as power plants, with instruments for measuring pollutants and radiation. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all of our suppliers and employees who have helped achieve this objective by making swift supply a reality.

  Although 2011 was an unprecedented year due to the earthquake, analysis and measurement will forever remain essential technical elements in the foundation of our daily lives, encompassing energy, the environment, and human health and safety. As a company with five business segments (Automotive Test Systems, Process & Environmental, Medical, Semiconductor, and Scientific), HORIBA is deeply involved in many aspects of our daily lives.

  For example, you can find our blood cell counters being used in many of the hospitals and clinics around you. HORIBA counters only require extremely small samples of blood to deliver on the spot results, enabling quick quantification of health conditions and identification of possible infection. Their accuracy and speed help medical professionals make accurate diagnoses and provide precise information to their patients. HORIBA’s products are also used in the automotive industry. For example, HORIBA’s automotive emission measurement systems and engine test systems are used to develop clean, ultralow-emission engines for environmentally friendly vehicles. Moreover, other HORIBA analyzers play pivotal roles in analyzing the structure and composition of new materials for rechargeable batteries and fuel cells, technologies expected to be central to future transportation solutions. In addition, a wide variety of our measurement instruments and sensors are used to improve product quality in manufacturing processes for solar battery panels and semiconductors, including LEDs (light-emitting diodes), which are essential components in LCD TVs and mobile phones.

  We have many ways to support public health and safety and security throughout a wide variety of situations through our technologies and products, thereby contributing to the creation of a more sustainable society. This is our pride and the essence of the HORIBA Group’s CSR activities.

  We are committed to enhancing our R&D and production capacities on an international scale, which will allow us to swiftly deliver our technologies and products across wider sections of society. As part of our efforts towards this objective, we will complete a Research & Development Center in France in 2012. This R&D Center will advance our R&D capabilities for analysis and measurement instruments, primarily in the scientific arena.

  Regarding production capacity, we recently completed a factory improvement in Shanghai to enhance our production capacity for several business areas and supply greater capacity to the Chinese market. In another area, we are now in the process of establishing global supply facilities for medical test reagents by expanding the Aso Factory (Kumamoto Prefecture) and commencing construction of a new factory in Brazil. Moreover, we are aiming to expand our automotive test system business model by developing and improving our various bases in Asia. In 2011, we merged our subsidiary in Japan that handle drive recorders and digital tachographs. In addition, we are integrating several subsidiaries in the United States in 2011 and 2012.

  We believe that we can better fulfill our responsibility of supplying the analysis and measurement instruments that people need by striving to increase our management efficiency by consolidating different functions from a global point of view.

  The ultimate goal of our business and CSR activities is to achieve HORIBA PREMIUM. In other words, we aim to create and provide premium quality and value for everyone. To this end we will continue our efforts to improve overall quality through the previously mentioned activities as well as our Product Quality Improvement (PQI) activities that are focused on improving the quality of our products, services and operations. We also seek to improve overall quality through initiatives such as our Technical Olympics and discussion sessions developed in cooperation with our production partner companies with a focus on improving manufacturing and processing technologies as well as product quality. We will also continue to invest in human resource development, particularly the HORIBA COLLEGE, which is our unique in-house college.

  We signed the United Nations Global Compact in April 2011 to express our conviction that we are a company that is committed to working together with our stakeholders to create a better, more prosperous future. This initiative is for companies that are committed to incorporating 10 corporate responsibility principles into their business operations and strategies, including addressing concerns related to protecting human rights, eliminating unfair labor practices, protecting the environment and anti-corruption efforts. We believe that this initiative will lead to a movement for the creation of a global standard for CSR activities in the future.

  Though we are now in the midst of turbulent times with social and economic conditions changing from moment to moment, HORIBA is nevertheless determined to fulfill its social responsibilities by steadily doing what it ought to do, one step at a time. We look forward to your continued attention to, and understanding of, our future activities. We appreciate your generous guidance and support.

  Thank you very much.