Message from the President and CEO

Since its establishment in 1929, the Sumitomo Riko Group has steadily expanded its business domain while accurately grasping the direction of the times and the needs of the market, and has introduced products that provide safety and security for society. In an era of rapid change and uncertain prospects, we, as a member of the Sumitomo Group, aim to achieve further growth of the Sumitomo Riko Group and realize a prosperous world by providing unique value to our customers and society, based on the “Sumitomo Spirit” that we have inherited over the years.

In the “2029 Sumitomo Riko Group Vision (2029V),” our long-term management vision with 2029 as a milestone, the 100th anniversary of our foundation, we have announced our aspiration to be “A Solutions Leader that takes on social challenges with the power of Science and Technology” by 2029, and have identified three directions and six key issues (materialities) to be addressed to achieve what our group aim to be.

In an era when changes in the environment are common and foreseeing the future is difficult, our Group places particular importance on the power of "People.” Since taking office as president, I have positioned each and every employee not merely as a management resource, but as an entity that creates value, based on my belief that "there is no better business strategy than human resource development.” As a global supplier with various business domains and a wide range of offices around the world, I believe that the most important management issue for us is to create an environment in which each of our diverse human resources can maximize their capabilities.
Based on this concept, 2029V created the “Formula for Human Capital Improvement,” which is a human resource strategy that crosses four themes and is positioned at the center of our activities. Since FY2023, we have introduced an engagement survey focusing on “job satisfaction” and have been promoting the development of SMART managers: supervisors who can take the initiative in promoting work styles in line with the latest trends.
As a result of these efforts, we were certified as a “White 500” corporation for excellent health management in 2025, as well as a “Welfare Promotion Corporation” under the “Hataraku Ale (Send cheers)” program. Furthermore, with the aim of “developing autonomous human resources with high aspirations and who will pioneer the future,” we have revamped our Group's human resource development policy and launched a new training program for next-generation management candidates and DX personnel, and we are promoting those efforts.
We will continue to further deepen our efforts to improve employee engagement.

There is a limit to what a company can do on its own to address increasingly complex social issues. That is why we believe it is essential to collaborate with colleagues who share the vision of the future society we should aim for and create value together, transcending the boundaries of divisions, companies, industries, and industry-academia-government. For such a purpose, it is important for us to respect each other's autonomy and to make use of each other's areas of expertise and characteristics.
In April 2025, we concluded a “Collaboration Agreement on the Realization of a Society in Harmony with Nature” with Komaki City, Aichi Prefecture, where our head office and manufacturing plants are located. In addition, starting with the establishment of a joint laboratory with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in October 2020, we have been promoting the development of riding comfort and comfortable cabin space suitable for the new era of mobility by utilizing a test track for vehicle experiments. Furthermore, in the general industrial products division, we established “Sanwakai” to further strengthen partnerships with our distributors, aiming to expand our business through co-creation. In October 2024, we entered STATION Ai, an open innovation base in Nagoya City, to further accelerate collaboration with startups and other external parties.

Global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions, resource depletion due to mass consumption, and the destruction of nature due to deforestation and ocean plastic pollution are common global issues. As a company, we, too, are working to achieve carbon neutrality and a circular economy. However, as the Sixth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates, current global warming countermeasures are inadequate, and more efforts and initiatives are needed than ever.
Because of this sense of crisis, we have formulated our “Long-Term Environmental Vision 2050” and our long-term environmental target “Environment 2029V”, believing that we must face the issues of resource depletion and destruction of nature head-on at the same time we are considering 2029V.
Currently, we are engaged in production activities at 54 bases around the world. As environmental regulations and demands for conservation increase, we are striving to further enhance our environmental management and actively disclose information to our stakeholders so that our efforts can be understood and appreciated better by them.

Since assuming the position of President in June 2020, I have repeatedly emphasized the importance of "responding flexibly to change without being bound by past concepts.” I, as well as all of our employees, must keep an eye on the “common sense and values of the world,” that are constantly changing with the times, and continue to update them on our own. I believe that the key to sustainable corporate growth is to reflect these changes in our management.
To achieve this, an open corporate culture is essential. Based on the Sumitomo Spirit, we regard “Safety, Environment, Compliance, and Quality (S.E.C.Q.)” as the foundation of the Group's business operations. For early detection and prevention of problems, we place importance on daily frank communication between supervisors and subordinates under the slogan "Bad News First & Thanks.”
Furthermore, in order to further develop our group's strengths and increase productivity, we are also working on manufacturing innovation using DX and strengthening our global business foundation. In 2025P, we will stabilize our profit structure and build a stronger financial base by promoting business structure reforms and making investment decisions with an awareness of capital efficiency.

The automotive industry is undergoing revolutionary changes in every aspect, from the way cars are structured, made, used, and sold to the regulations surrounding the industry. The way of “Monozukuri” (manufacturing), which has been a strong point of Japanese companies in the past, is about to undergo a major change due to the progress of automation, electrification, software defined vehicles (SDV), and the connected society. As the "car" evolves from a "means of transportation" to "next-generation mobility" that "adds value to transportation itself," we will continue to create new value with our advanced technologies backed by our "materials capabilities.”
As electrification accelerates as the gateway to next-generation mobility, we will implement global sales strategies that meet the needs of each region in our five global regions and automakers' shift to electric vehicles, while strengthening our response to growing infrastructure demand in emerging and developing countries. Furthermore, in addition to reducing the environmental impact of our business activities, we will further accelerate our development efforts to contribute to the realization of a decarbonized, recycling-oriented society and a green society, including new energy, through the development of environmentally friendly products and technologies that comply with environmental regulations.

Our vision of the future society we want to realize in 2029V is “Green & Pleasant Society Connecting the Nature, City and People.” Each and every one of our approximately 25,000 employees of diverse nationalities, occupations, and working environments has set their own challenges to realize the future society they wish to realize, and they are taking on the challenge of solving these challenges through manufacturing.
In the fields of “anti-vibration technology” and “environmentally friendly materials,” which we are good at, we already have strengths that other companies do not have. One of our challenges is to further evolve these technologies and open up new markets and values.
In addition, by integrating technologies through co-creation with colleagues inside and outside the company, the range of issues that can be solved will be greatly expanded. In addition to developing new technologies for the transition to a circular economy that utilizes rubber, resin, urethane, metal, and other waste materials, we are also working to create value through co-creation in collaboration with the Sumitomo Electric Group and startup companies, such as highly efficient cell culture bags for cellular agriculture.