Hello. I was appointed as president the year after the Lehman Shock, and I have been striving to continue the development of the company for a hundred years, return to our roots as a technology development company, create a comfortable working environment for employees, and provide useful technologies and products to our clients.
Four and a half years have passed in the blink of an eye.
We are deeply grateful for your continued support and assistance.
I'm just so grateful for all your support.
Now, as we have finished the first half of the year, unfortunately, sales did not meet the budget, but thanks to everyone's efforts, all profit items exceeded the budget.
We were able to turn things around. Although we considered an upward revision, we decided to hold off, taking into account factors such as the sales budget not being achieved.
The second stage is finally about to begin, but let me inform you of some recent topics.
As a group goal, we aim for increased revenue and profit for five consecutive terms (currently in the second term).
The efforts of all our employees are beginning to bear fruit.
The improvement activities driven by the efforts of the three departments, such as enhancing production efficiency, quality, and yield, as well as improving sales efficiency, employee quality, and cash flow, will be further strengthened and continued.
As a business strategy, unify the domain by 2016.
Without being particular about regions or organizations, many employees have come to possess multiple functions.
By 2015, we plan to develop a dynamic business with a more compact organization, and by 2016, we aim to expand globally. While we are thoroughly committed to technology and quality, by eliminating our attachment to specific regions and organizations, we aim to accelerate business speed and achieve more efficient management.
3. Start of businesses other than FPD
The various film business for glass window application has been renewed and restarted.
It's about turning around a business that was a loser.
The creation, editing, and operation of data compatible with laser measurement technology has officially started.
Since its founding, our image editing technology has been reborn, and we have begun to adapt to new measurement technologies.
We have started a 'Communication Design' business targeting the manufacturing industry.
We provide consulting to the global manufacturing industry on know-how for improving manufacturing workflows through enhanced communication.
4. New base
In April of this year, we established new offices in Seoul, South Korea, and Shenzhen, China, and began business operations.
Many of our existing sales offices (including those in Japan) were not sufficiently able to respond to market changes, so after obtaining approval at the shareholders' meeting in June, we are relocating our headquarters and working towards further enhancing the functionality of our offices.
Additionally, we are planning to establish a new office to adapt to future changes in the business environment.
Continue regional contribution activities centered on rice cultivation
This season's 'Century Harvest Rice' yielded 76 bales.
As part of our community contribution activities, it has been three years since we started rice farming using fallow land. From next year, we will further develop this into a sustainable business and continue our efforts to contribute to society, so please look forward to it.
November 14, 2013
KIMOTO Co., Ltd.
President and Representative Director Kazunobu Kimoto