1. Message

Message

Outline of the Seventh Medium-term Management Plan (“NE-24”)

The Group has achieved steady growth in the 70 years or so since its foundation in 1949, but in recent years, it has continued to face extremely severe circumstances, such as a structural shrinking of demand due to the digitalization of paper and increasingly intense competition in the global market, along with the global economic stagnation caused by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the situation in Ukraine. Responses to the drive toward carbon neutrality and other major changes are also envisaged in coming years.

Amid this kind of business environment, we have studied and considered megatrends in the global economy and society in 2030, declared how the Group would engage with those changes in the social structure, and finalized our “IK VISION2030,” which sets out our goals that everyone in the Group will move toward.

IK VISION2030

We will become a company that contributes to a sustainable society and that offers a high degree of satisfaction for all who support Ichikawa—our employees and executives, business partners, shareholders, and nearby local communities.

To proceed in the direction presented in IK VISION2030, the Group will achieve our vision with our next three medium-term management plans. As the first step toward that goal, we have formulated our Seventh Medium-term Management Plan (“NE-24”).

  • Management policy:
     “With an Ichikawa that that co-exists with society as our foundation” 

      •  1. Paper making equipment-related business:
        •   Aim for “the best quality in the world” as a general solution company
        •   for paper making press parts.
        •   ・Strive to be “customer-oriented” and, by offering solutions, transition
        •    to a brand that signifies Ichikawa as a trusted presence.
        •   ・Become a global company that has a concrete share of the global market.
        •  2. New business:
          •   Create businesses to deliver environment-friendly products and parts that enrich
          •   people’s lives.
          • NE-24 Management targets:
            •  ・ Consolidated net sales: 12.0 billion yen or more
            •  ・ Consolidated operating income to net sales ratio: 5.0% or more
            •  ・Consolidated net income per share: 150 yen

            The Group is the only company in Japan, and one of only a handful around the world, to develop, produce and sell all three types of products used in paper making parts, namely paper making felt, shoe press belts, and transfer belts. Leveraging the strength of that position, in our previous Medium-term Management Plan, in addition to forging ahead with our global advancement, we developed more efficient production systems in our efforts to improve our earning capacity. However, in terms of strengthening our profit foundations in the highly competitive overseas market, some challenges still remain.

            As we seek to achieve our long-term vision, IK VISION2030, we have positioned the three years of the NE-24 as a period in which we will “recreate the company.” We will strive to improve productivity by focusing on reducing production costs and making effective use of data and digital technologies, and establish a firm profit foundation by strengthening our ability to advance into overseas markets. At the same time, to make sustainable growth possible, we will embark on the strengthening of our systems for the development of new products and new production methods and on activities designed to build new businesses, including contributing to the environmental issues of our business partners. Further, positioning SDGs actions as key management issues, we will work to reduce our environmental burden through corporate activities and aim to achieve sustainable growth alongside local communities.

            The Group will continue to take on innovative challenges and fulfill our social responsibility to our stakeholders, including shareholders, business partners, employees and local communities, as we carry on our day-to-day efforts to be a company that grows together with society. At the same time, to build the foundations to achieve those goals, we will strive to further enhance our internal controls and wok vigorously toward the expansion of our corporate value.