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Message from the president

What Asai Sangyo Can Do in This Once-in-a-Century Period of Change

Asai Sangyo is a trading company specializing in metals and solutions with a 100-year history. While we handle a wide range of products, mainly steel and machine parts, we are positioned as part of the automotive market. The environment surrounding the automobile industry has changed drastically since the latter half of the 2010s as we enter a phase that is sometimes referred to as the "once-in-a-century period of change." As the options for vehicle power sources expand beyond gasoline engines to include electricity and hydrogen, we must also change to respond promptly to increasingly diverse and sophisticated needs.

In light of this background, our medium-term management plan for FY2022 stipulates that we will develop our business by identifying what will shrink, what will remain the same, and what will grow while keeping our focus on the automotive industry and viewing these structural changes as an opportunity. For example, even if the need for materials for engines decreases, the need for automotive components such as suspension will not change. Our goal in the future will be to develop new materials in such fields and to engage in PR and sales expansion. To this end, we plan to develop our business in the four categories of nonferrous metals, other processed products, machinery, and steel, which accounts for 75% of our total transaction value, with a firm eye on the market in the near future.

In the past, we have provided solutions such as coatings that enable longer life for conventional metal tools and parts and have developed a market for oil smoke recovery equipment that improves the factory environment. Similarly, we believe that we can continue to leverage our strengths in new areas such as carbon-neutral society and disaster response with our sales force and entrepreneurship. At the same time, we intend to pursue steady growth for our seven domestic and overseas group companies which have expanded over the past decade.

Changing Ourselves to Lead a Changing Society

Personally, what I have been mindful of in communicating recently is to be not afraid of change. Although the phrase "change often" sounds negative, I believe that it is more problematic to remain the same if we are to lead a changing society.
The same applies to the way we work. In the past few years, we have changed the way we work out of necessity, such as introducing a flextime system in time for the Tokyo Olympics and remote work during the pandemic. As a result, we are now creating an environment in which a diverse range of people can work comfortably. This is a good example of how we can happily say that we tried something that may have been difficult or required courage at first. We will continue to actively promote DX as well as the diversification of work styles, including at group companies, and, as stated in our corporate philosophy, we will continue to achieve results by "taking on challenges without fear of failure."

On the other hand, there are some things we must not change, which, at Asai Sangyo, is integrity. Today, many of our business partners have placed their trust in us because each and every one of our employees, who have been the "face of Asai" over the past 100 years, has worked with sincerity as a part of a window trading company for various companies. We are determined to continue to lead the way in this era of change while valuing the spirit of each individual and fully utilizing our expertise in the field of iron and steel.