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| New Year's Message |
| 06/02/2007 |
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Speech given by Haruyuki Niimi, Chairman of Showa Shell Sekiyu, to the staff on 5th January, 2007. |
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A Happy New Year. Many of you have probably spent the New Year's holiday with your friends and family, while some of you have been doing your parts at work. I am glad to be able to begin another year with each and every one of you. I would like to work together with all of you to make this year an improved year from the last. Today at the beginning of the year, I would like to express my observations for this year.
In my speech at the same time last year, I talked about the three determinations of 2006: to be a domestic customer and market oriented company; to encourage each one of you to take a leadership at work; to ensure compliance and HSSE in all business operations. Let us now recollect last year with respect to these three determinations. Since the launching of the new management structure last year, the sales volume of oil products, especially that of gasoline, has increased. This can be perceived as a sign of our success in forming new relationships with more customers. We have also started a variety of new businesses in the field of what we call "home solution business", such as security and cleaning services for households. Beyond these, the number of our shareholders of institutional and individual investors seem to have also increased to fifty thousand after we made public offerings of nine million shares of Showa Shell Sekiyu in December last year. This proves how we have won trusts from our shareholders as making adequate returns of their investment by ensuring compliance and HSSE as important parts of building good relationship with our customers and surrounding markets.
Having said that, there are still much to be improved in order to accomplish the end desired as a customer-oriented company. The misalignments of gasoline pipes that resulted in selling wrong type of gasoline over a considerable number of years, and the troubles caused by the delivery of off-spec products are not to be overlooked. There were also a series of problems at our refineries more than ever, and although none involved human causalities many of them could have developed into serious problems if adequate measures had not been taken. Investigations on the cause of the problems proved that there was a lack of know-how to predict possible problems so to prevent them from happening. We realised once again the importance of prevention. In order to serve our most important responsibility of stably supplying energy and maintaining product quality, we must learn from the past, and begin the year with a determination to start anew.
On the lighter side, the construction of the Miyazaki Plant for CIS photovoltaic with production capability of twenty megawatt was completed in October last year. I would like to acknowledge each staff for his or her leadership in working together to complete the construction despite the tight schedule. The completion of the Plant is a good example of how "co-operation" can bring good outcome. The Plant is now in experimental operation, but we will shortly begin full-scale commercial production and sales. To make this new challenge a success, I expect to see more leaderships, efforts and co-operations.
Based on my observations on our delivery last year, I would like to cite three keywords to explain our aspirations for this year. I shall need your co-operation to realise these aspirations.
The first keyword is "fundament". It is true that the business environment in which we operate is getting tougher every year, and we must take new measures to improve the efficiency of our operations and boost our competitiveness. To do this, we must understand the importance of "fundament" and should always leave a space in our hearts to go back to it. Going back to the "fundament" requires you to question yourself everyday so you do not take your job as a pile of routine works, but will be able to get insights into the element and the added values of that daily works.
"Education" is our next word. Without education, all the good traditions and important skills and methods will be lost. Yet the value of education is so easily forgotten after a few experiences of success. There are numerous skills, knowledge and methods you can learn through training but there are also things that you can only learn through experience, and that is why I emphasise the value of OJT (On the Job Training). I hope our staff recognise the value of education at workplace and take it as one of the significant operations.
The last keyword is "co-operation". In order to create an active and successful organisation, we need staff and workplace that can cooperate with one another while respecting different values. In other words, we should all tell ourselves that the company's success depends on how well each staff and workplace can cooperate with and respect one another under our "enterprise first" philosophy. It is crucial for each staff to keep in mind and reconsider the importance of co-operation despite the different cultures and environments of each workplace.
Last but not least, a company, like us, is a living creature. It has limit to its lifetime, and hence each staff has to put his or her individual work to make its life last longer. I ask you all to always imagine what Showa Shell Sekiyu should be like ten years from where you stand now. I hope that through education we can keep our tradition, have grand ambition and activate the company to make 2007 another fruitful year.
I wish you and your family a happy and healthy new year.
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