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An Outside Opinion of Our Environmental Initiatives

　I visited Azbil Corporation’s Fujisawa Technology Center on October 25, 2022, and toured the solar thermal solutions, thermal environment laboratory, BOSS Center, and other facilities. After presentations of the company profile, its sustainability policy, the production line at the Shonan Factory, etc., we exchanged opinions. In addition, I gave a lecture at Azbil on December 13, 2022, when we also exchanged opinions. Based on these activities, I would like to express my outside opinion.

First of all, Azbil Corporation’s technology is reliable, and it is working seriously on the process of manufacturing. This is being done in its advanced automation, building automation, and life automation businesses. Each business is important for supporting the infrastructure of society, where safety and reliability are strongly required. I hope that Azbil continues to make earnest efforts to improve its technology and to apply itself to manufacturing. The issue of how to seamlessly combine, integrate, and unify the strengths of these companies and at the same time to manage sustainability in the new era is a common issue not only for Azbil but for other advanced companies who are striving every day by trial and error to take on this challenge. It seems that Azbil is making sincere efforts in this regard as well. My impression of Azbil is that the word sincere describes it well.

　Needless to say, putting sustainability at the heart of business activity is now imperative. In this regard I would like to raises three points. ESG-based financing etc., is giving a strong push to these points. (1) As was often the case with corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the old sense, the situation that only some departments, such as the Environmental Department, do their best, while the majority of departments in the company are indifferent, is no longer acceptable. It is necessary for company management to take the lead so that all employees are aware of the company’s vision and goals regarding sustainability, so that they think constantly about how their own operations contribute to the achievement of sustainability. (2) In my field, the term absolute sustainability (that is, sustainability measured by absolute quantities) is used. A relative approach, like “Let’s reduce garbage” or “Recycle as much as possible” is no longer appropriate. It is necessary to set quantitative targets, such as reducing GHG emissions to zero by 2050, and to continue to use the PDCA cycle to reach those targets. (3) It is necessary not only to strategically analyze the market and supply products and services that sell well, but also to talk about corporate philosophy and vision, to have a shared purpose, and to provide products and services as a manifestation of that purpose.

　Azbil Corporation is sincerely working on these points and is doing what it should be doing, which deserves a good grade. In particular, the overall picture that starts with the corporate philosophy and goes through the guiding principles of business, the code of conduct, and the management strategy, and leads “in series” to a sustainable society, as described in the azbil Report 2022, is very impressive. It is very important to continue to put this into practice, especially (as I mentioned in the previous paragraph) the way in which product and service development and onsite business are integrated into this picture. Furthermore, in relation to point 3, more outreach will be necessary. To be honest, even for me, as something of an expert in this field, I had not heard much about Azbil. Since Azbil’s main type of business is B2B, it may be difficult to make it known to the general public, but as needs increase in B2B for exchanging specific information about carbon footprints or hazardous materials across the supply chain, the day may come when businesses evaluate each other’s stance on managing sustainability.

In terms of resource recycling, which is my field, I believe that the circular economy, which has been rapidly attracting attention recently, has two pillars. One is, of course, the trend to establish resource recycling in society, and the other is to break away from mass production and mass sales business and shift to business that provides value. Discussions in recent years have given more weight to the latter. On October 25, I was also given a tour of remote building management facilities, and I think that Azbil Corporation is actually developing business in this respect as well, and is in a position where it is easy to have a value-providing business. I think that it is desirable for Azbil to develop business that can generate long-term earnings from services through operation and maintenance in addition to supplying high-quality products, and to increase added value by utilizing Azbil’s strengths in technology like the IoT, data processing, and knowledge processing. The future of the industrial automation product business is expected to lie in that direction.

When it comes to eco-friendly design, which is another of my specialty areas, I believe that Azbil’s two goals are appropriate: to make all new products with a sustainable design unique to the azbil Group, and to make all new products 100 % recyclable. Every company is struggling with how to make indexes for sustainable design, and there is no correct answer. Looking at the entire life cycle of each product, we have no choice but to search for appropriate targets in terms of both sustainability and economic efficiency. As for the latter goal, recycling is important (but not the first choice) as the last bastion of the circular economy, so it is appropriate. The word “all” is important, and if Azbil gains a reputation that any Azbil product is recyclable, it will be of great significance.

Finally, in the future, I expect that Azbil will continue to seek ways to embody the overall picture that leads “in series” to sustainability, as described in the 2022 azbil Report, in its daily corporate activity, especially in the development of products and services and on business sites, building and implementing a system that will gradually become more sophisticated.