President's Message
From waiting for a call from clients
to actively knocking on doors,
we are committed to taking
a new approach at UBE heading to 2030.
Yuki Nishida
President & Representative Director
My intentions as president and thoughts on our new purpose
Breaking through with the chemistry of hope.
Branding arises when employees can speak
about this purpose as their own
Our company's history dates back 128 years to 1897 with coal mining operations in what is now the city of Ube. In April 2022, we changed our name from Ube Industries to UBE Corporation, launching a new group management structure as a chemicals enterprise. Moving ahead to 2030, we aim to expand our specialty chemicals business.
I became the company's fourteenth president on April 1, 2025. Although the position comes with great responsibility, I feel a strong sense of purpose in transitioning us into a specialty chemicals firm, having spent my entire career in the chemicals business.
We also publicly announced our new purpose the same day: Breaking through with the chemistry of hope. I was personally involved in drafting this new, short statement of our direction, and I consider it very exciting. Allow me to share a few thoughts on it.
In the past, when I was the general manager of one of our divisions, I used to say that we needed to be the company that our customers would come to first. But one day while waiting for that contact to come, I realized it was not enough to merely wait. Since we are a specialty chemicals firm, we need to proudly go out there and knock on doors and announce our presence. That means not limiting our efforts to existing clients, but go knocking on doors that can lead to solutions for a range of issues and problems in society today. I felt that actuating this shift from waiting to proactively seeking business partners would require a significantly different focus, which is why we drafted the new corporate purpose.
Looking back at our history, I recognized parallels from the past where the company overcame difficulties and managed to innovate and continue growing. That success was guided by our two founding principles--"coexistence and mutual prosperity" and "from finite mining to infinite industry." We have also inherited the persistence approach of our predecessors who never gave up when faced with unfavorable conditions. This is part of our corporate DNA. We intend to go out and solve problems using the power of chemistry to bring new promise to all industry sectors, and our purpose expresses that intention succinctly.
However, it is not enough simply to state our purpose. First, we need engagement at all levels within the group so that every employee can come out and say that what they are working on serves that purpose. Only then will society come to see the group in a new light. This is the truest form of branding.
To help this kind of engagement spread and flourish, we have created a new catchphrase--"Facing the challenges of an uncharted future. We plan to display the phrase on business cards, factory helmets, and in other ways such as at recruitment activities and exhibitions. Also, we will enable the phrase to be personalized to: "I'm facing the challenges of an uncharted ____" to raise awareness and encourage every employee to take a stake in group efforts.
Growth as a specialty chemicals company
Major, historic capital investments made all at once
One of my first goals is to push forward with the transformation of our management structure to become a specialty chemicals firm based on our medium-term management plan starting in fiscal 2025. As an important step, we have decided to cease domestic production in the ammonia chain in fiscal 2027, two years earlier than originally planned. We have also decided to stop production of caprolactam (CPL) in Thailand in 2026. Although this has been a major business for us for over five decades, halting the production of basic chemicals with a very high GHG (greenhouse gas) impact is a vital step toward achieving a carbon-neutral society that drives the transition away from dependence on highly volatile commodity products.
At the same time, to expand the specialty chemicals business, we have decided to invest in a new manufacturing facility in the state of Louisiana in the United States. In anticipation of significant market growth for lithium-ion battery electrolytes, this facility will establish production lines for the C1 chemicals DMC and EMC. Although the company has chemical business sites across Europe and Asia, entering the U.S. market--where raw material procurement is easier and population growth is anticipated--has been a dream of ours for many years.
We also expect growth in inorganics, which is why we have acquired the urethane systems business of LANXESS. Urethane elastomers are a downstream domain in the C1 chemical chain. We are very pleased to have made this investment in high-performance urethane and also enter the U.S. market--two major related overseas investment decisions--at around the same time.
Strengthening R&D capabilities, reforming our HR system
R&D is investing in human capital and our future aspirations; reforming HR is also essential for personal growth
To achieve growth as a specialty chemicals company--our first goal--we have no choice but to bolster our investment in research and development, differentiating UBE from our competitors. At present, our R&D expenditures as a percentage of sales are about 2-3%, but we want to increase this to around 4%, which will be an investment in our future aspirations. That is our second goal.
We consider R&D expenditures to be an investment rather than a cost--an investment in people that fosters the development of researchers, which includes personal growth. This will require a change to our HR system.
Over the past three years, I have served as general manager of the DX Promotion Office, focusing primarily on transformation (the "X" in DX). We have been driving the development of systems that will fundamentally change the company--what we refer to as business transformation (BX). This naturally includes human resources. To create an environment where every employee can maximize their potential, we have also defined 10 specialty-focused talent profiles across a range of occupations. The ability to recognize exceptional talent in individuals is, in my view, the most critical factor in a company's development. From this perspective, I will continue to lead DX efforts, including bringing comprehensive reforms to our HR system to facilitate individual career ownership and career management.
Environmental conservation, community engagement
We actively pursue activities that benefit the local area through environmental conservation and community engagement
Our third goal involves the continuation of environmental conservation and community engagement to fulfill our social responsibilities as a corporation. We engage in environmental conservation and activities suited to each local community wherever we have business sites, including such locations as Ube, Sakai and Chiba, Spain and Thailand, both in and outside of Japan. Such activities will also be very important in the United States, where we will now have a presence. From the outset, the construction of a chemical plant cannot proceed without the approval of area residents. It is therefore vital to provide a full range of information and explanations so that people will understand that a chemical plant is not a danger to the community. It is also important to foster a sense of reassurance by introducing the company's history and showcasing our community engagement at existing business sites. In Louisiana, I earnestly conveyed our desire to engage in business as an upstanding corporate citizen of America. After extended dialogues, we eventually gained the community's understanding and obtained legislative approval to begin plant construction. We plan to continue these dialogues and pursue initiatives that bring benefits to the local community.
What I value as a business leader
Speed is the secret to work; surprising clients with speed that exceeds their expectations
I have long been a proponent of speed in business operations. Rather than spending extra time to reach an 80% line, I would prefer to deliver something quickly that meets the passing standard (60%). If, for example, we are providing data or samples to a customer, I want to surprise them by exceeding their expectations. This is closely related to what I mentioned at the beginning about being proactive in knocking on doors because when you deliver something with surprising speed, even if it's at the 60% line, it can often appear as 80% in the eyes of the client. Moreover, with faster delivery, you get the customer's feedback sooner, which allows you to make improvements and boost the result to 100% very quickly.
I've also never believed in setting self-limiting parameters. Even if I thought something might be impossible to achieve, once I put my mind to it, I was able to find clues that somehow led to a possible solution, and that happened many times. Sometimes I would get an unexpected hint from the customer's response. So, this approach of quick initial action combined with a persistent and dynamic follow-up gradually built up my confidence over time.
As a business leader, I recognize the importance of making careful decisions, but I want to avoid delays in making decisions simply due to slow judgment. This is a core principle of mine--to take the first step, keep thinking while moving ahead, and adapt to change. I believe this approach also applies well to changing the company's culture and mindset.
To our stakeholders
Driving UBE Group's business transformation through DX
Even as president, I will continue to be the top person responsible at the DX Promotion Office. DX is not limited to human resources, as I described earlier. It applies to all areas of the company. Since the launch of the DX Promotion Office in 2022, we have expanded its scope of activities to drive business transformation aimed at expanding the specialty chemicals business and addressing global environmental issues. We are now advancing DX initiatives across 10 different domains.
We have appointed directors to lead the initiatives in each domain, and in fiscal 2024 the efforts generated benefits of ¥1.5 billion, with projected increases to ¥8.9 billion per year by 2027 and ¥30 billion by 2030.
We are fully committed to establishing ongoing, sustainable business transformation through DX as an integral part of UBE's corporate culture, and seeing it through until we achieve our vision of becoming a specialty chemicals company. I make this commitment to all of our stakeholders.
Yuki Nishida
President & Representative Director