We have high expectations for Noritake's growth, which clearly indicated the Long-term Vision and materiality and shared the direction we aim for throughout the company.

In FY2022, the Noritake Group launched its 12th Three-year Business Plan. In the first year of this plan, profits declined as customers' industries have been significantly affected by changes in global environment, such as soaring resource prices and semiconductor shortages. However, we appreciate that we achieved an increase in sales.
What is more important than the business performance of a single year is the establishment of a foundation such as investment and human resource development toward the goals of the Three-year Business Plan or the Long-term Vision. Since we are generally advancing as planned, we believe that we are taking positive steps to achieve these goals. Management is a process of accumulation, and the content or the background of the figures and the factors are the most important. Focusing too much on the figures alone can result in conflicts between areas of the organization and lead to a loss of balance. As an outside director, I recognize that it is also important to look at the growth of the organization before results appear as figures.
Noritake identified the Long-term Vision and six materiality issues, clarified our goal, and linked each business group with this vision and materiality. More specifically, four taskforces have been established across business groups to advance this, and each business group would have understood the direction which it should take to reach the goals. I believe that this will lead to organizational reforms and the creation of sustainability management in the true sense of the term.
I am particularly monitoring the activities of the taskforce, which is working on organizational culture reform. We need a firm foundation to ensure the speedy progress of the 12th Three-year Business Plan. The key to this is people. We will train people to acquire experiences, to achieve decision-making skills, and to have wide perspectives. Then, we will assign them to various departments within the company to accelerate the plans for the next year and beyond. The corporate culture will become evident as a result of building up initiatives like these, and will have a significant impact on the power for the company to grow.
Now that expectations to companies from society and stakeholders grow increasingly, the company is not merely expected to raise earnings, but are also expected how it will impact and contribute to the society. That is the key to the sustainable growth of the time. It is difficult for each division to create such social value on its own, without working as a whole company. I have great expectations for the future growth of the Noritake Group, for the entire company is moving toward its Long-term Vision as one.

I hope that the Company will steadily achieve the targets of the 12th Three-year Business Plan and lead to the growth of the Company.

In June 2023, Noritake transitioned to a company with an Audit and Supervisory Committee. This decision was made through thorough discussion at the Board of Directors meetings, and I highly appreciate that we embarked on a new organizational design. However, the appointment of Audit and Supervisory Committee members and the establishment of the Committee will not simply leads to the strengthening of Noritake's governance. How to operate this organizational structure in the future is very important. This means the Group is shifting to monitoring-type governance that oversees execution. We should appoint several outside officers who do not execute business by themselves to separate the execution of business and supervision within the Board of Directors. The Audit and Supervisory Committee, which is centered by outside directors, has to act as a monitoring function for the execution of business while fulfilling the audit function.
On the other hand, it is also important how quickly internal directors, who are also executives, can perform their tasks. It is important for the Board of Directors to thoroughly examine the contents of the process and evaluate whether there are any unnecessary risks being taken, how valid the actions are, and whether the actions are generating profits to decide on investments and to implement policies. Directors will then monitor to verify whether the results of expeditious action by the executive side are contributing to the achievement of management goals and whether they are leading to enhance the corporate value. I believe that if such a good cycle is completed, Noritake's corporate value will improve and will grow sustainably.
Beginning in 2021, the Board of Directors devoted a great deal of time to discussions related to the formulation of the Long-term Vision and the 12th Three-year Business Plan. I recognize that the direction presented here reflects the consensus of the directors and is extremely important. Accordingly, it is vital to achieve the targets of the 12th Business Plan which have been defined as the initial step of the company reform. As a result of the first year, we will make a severe judgment of the results and set a new path to achieving the targets, and support the executives in a flexible manner.
There are many excellent engineers at Noritake, and I have always admired their abilities. If they can grasp social trends more quickly and respond immediately to changes in the market, I expect that we will get closer to achieving the goals. Management also needs to be active in deciding on investments for human capital and digital transformation to meet the proposed profit targets and leverage the skills of their human resources as much as possible. By achieving them, I think the company will be able to accomplish its 12th Business Plan targets and lead to the company's growth.