Message from the Top Management
Hirokazu Hamada
Representative Director, President of Anritsu, Group CEO
Working toward a Sustainable Future Together with Our Two Pillars of Business and ESG Initiatives
The Anritsu Group intends to contribute to creating a better future for society through sustainability management. Working together with our stakeholders, we will contribute to the development of a safe, secure, and prosperous global society by focusing on our two pillars of sustainability management: solving social issues through business and taking on challenges to meet the needs of society (ESG).
Being a Company that Is Necessary for and Useful to Society
A series of global challenges such as COVID-19 and the Ukraine crisis have been threatening the sustainability of society and reshaping it by undermining the very foundations of the SDGs, which are to be achieved by 2030.
Despite these circumstances, we have set up a structure in which I myself will serve as chief sustainability and environment officer starting in April 2022 to promote efforts to resolve social issues to which Anritsu can contribute. Under our Company Philosophy of “sincerity, harmony, and enthusiasm,” we will continue to implement our Sustainability Policy and contribute to the realization of a safe, secure, and prosperous global society as a company necessary for and useful to society in creating a better future.
Sincerely Addressing the Needs of Society
Recognizing that addressing ESG issues will minimize adverse effects on the environment and society and lead to a future that facilitates the full and active participation of everyone throughout every aspect of life, we set sustainability targets in our GLP2023 Mid-Term Business Plan, formulated in 2021.
One of our highest priority ESG activities is addressing climate change. Anritsu is undertaking activities that directly lead to reducing power consumption through the Anritsu Climate Change Action PGRE 30, an initiative for generating private renewable energy for our consumption. We will continue these efforts to increase the generation of renewable energy while regarding this as the Company’s own responsibility.
PGRE 30 calls for private solar power generation at major sites, and the ratio of private power generated in FY2021 was 16.8%, exceeding the GLP2023 target of at least 13%. However, given that climate change continues to progress every day, we will further strengthen our efforts and formulate a plan to raise our SBT-certified CO2 emission reduction targets to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Although the annual electricity consumption of the Anritsu Group (about 30 GWh) is not large enough to meet the requirements for participation in RE100, we will join other frameworks that promote the realization of carbon neutrality.
As for the social aspect of sustainability, our targets encompass the diversity of human resources and respect for human rights throughout our supply chain. We plan to achieve a ratio of women in managerial positions of at least 15% on a global basis by promoting diversity and inclusion.
To increase the number of female managers, we are hiring more new graduates and mid-career workers, focusing on women in technical fields, and enhancing systems that allow flexible work arrangements. We are also focusing on raising awareness among male employees and creating a corporate culture that encourages them to confidently take childcare leave.
Diversity unlocks innovation and drives business growth. In the future, we hope to be a company that has human resources representing a variety of values, ideas, and experiences, regardless of gender and nationality, and who are capable of playing a central role in decision-making. We will promote health and productivity management that enables our employees to work in a safe, healthy, and vibrant manner and to demonstrate their unique strengths and abilities.
We look to the level of achievement of sustainability targets as an indicator for calculating bonuses for officers. This confirms my strong commitment to ensuring sustainability, which must be pursued not only by departments closely related to sustainability, such as the Human Resources and Environment Departments, but by all officers in their respective areas of responsibility.
Expanding the Areas in which We Contribute to Solving Social Issues through Our Business
The technology of testing, a major competency of Anritsu, lies at the core of our business efforts. The evolution of information and communications systems has always brought about social innovation, prosperity, and development. During the COVID-19 pandemic as well, information and communications networks have been connecting people to each other. During the state of emergency, up to 80% of our employees engaged in telework, which effectively reduced the number of face-to-face interactions, thereby preventing the spread of infection.
Anritsu’s test and measurement solutions help to ensure the quality of connectivity in the development, manufacturing, and maintenance of smartphones, communications terminals, and data centers, and supporting the evolution and development of information and communications systems. We are also expanding our technology of testing into food production. We offer solutions to customers in the food industry that help prevent foreign body contamination while supporting the automation and management of production without excess or shortage of raw materials, thereby contributing to the effective use of food resources, safe and secure food distribution, and reduced food loss.
Our effort to support the evolution of IT systems and protect the safety and security of people’s lives will continue to be at the core of Anritsu’s operations. In addition, we have established new areas of contribution, including Private 5G (referred to as “Local 5G” in Japan), EVs and batteries, optical sensing, and medical and pharmaceuticals.
EVs and batteries is a particularly new business area for Anritsu and the first business in which we can directly contribute to solving social issues related to the environment through our business. To enter this business, we acquired TAKASAGO Ltd. through M&A in January 2022 and made it one of our newest Group companies. The company provides testing equipment to support the research and development of EVs with improved performance and energy efficiency. We intend to significantly grow this business as a major contributor to the realization of a carbon-neutral society.
Incorporating related goals of SDGs into Business and ESG Initiatives to Engage All Employees
The Anritsu Group as a whole is committed to contributing to the SDG No. 9 and aims to “secure infrastructure which leads to the building of a sustainable society and encourages innovation.” In addition, each of our business units, corporate divisions, and Group companies are undertaking initiatives under GLP2023 by drawing up a vision of the future society that they aspire to from their own perspectives and formulating plans incorporating the SDGs to realize this vision. The Sustainability Promotion Committee, comprised of business divisions, corporate divisions, and Group companies, reviews the progress of each initiative and implements PDCA cycles. Under the supervision of the Management Strategy Committee and Board of Directors, we will ensure that the progress of these initiatives lead to enhanced corporate value in line with our Sustainability Policy.
The Vision for a Digital Garden City Nation, launched by the Japanese government, is linked to many of the SDGs and will enable people in rural areas to work and live the same way as those in large cities, by making administrative procedures, education, and medical care available online and promoting the automated driving of automobiles. One essential component of the initiative is digital transformation (DX), which will be realized through 5G and cloud computing.
Since the dawn of optical, digital, and mobile communications, Anritsu has been providing telecommunications carriers, manufacturers, and related customers around the world with measuring instruments for testing the standardized operation and connectivity of terminals and devices as well as devices that are integrated into telecommunications systems. Measurement technology is a vital part of further technological innovation in 5G and 6G, an area where Anritsu can significantly contribute to the creation of a better future society, so keep your eyes on our progress.
