President's Message
Restoring trust
The issues of recycled fiber content as well as violation of emission standards have deteriorated the trust in the Nippon Paper Group. We are required to renew our corporate culture which brought such disgraceful affairs, and should return to our fundamentals as a manufacturer that contributes to the society through its products. Restoring the trust is not easy but we, from top management to all the Group employees, are ready to persevere in our effort for that. Introducing the preventive measures summarized in the Final Investigation Report and making organization reforms, which include an establishment of a CSR division in the Nippon Paper Group, Inc. effective June 27, we are committed to strengthening our compliance system.
The Nippon Paper Group has grown steadily since it was founded in March 2001 with the merger of Nippon Paper Industries and Daishowa Paper Manufacturing.
In the year to conclude our Second Medium-Term Business Plan, we may review how much we have practiced time-critical management with aggressive capital investment in order to create a management foundation that enables to achieve the Group Vision 2015.
Featuring the #N6 paper machine newly installed at Ishinomaki Mill, we optimized the Group's paper production structure. At the same time, we strengthened our cost competitiveness by promoting energy shift through the deployment of alternative fuel (e.g. biomass, wastes) boilers. For expanding our business, we announced strategic alliances with not only domestic partners Hokuetsu Paper Mills, Rengo and Sumitomo Corporation, but also overseas partnersYuen Foong Yu Paper Mfg. of Taiwan and SCG Paper of Thailand.
On top of those, we have reorganized the Group's business structure into four core businesses, Paper, Paperboard, Household Paper Products and Specialty Paper. This enables an efficient allocation of management resources that will facilitate the Group's growth strategies. We will continue to pursue these measures until they add value to the bottom line.
Faced with a severe situation after three consecutive years of declining profits, the Group's managing executives recognize that recovery to profitable growth is one of the urgent issues. Assuming the president of Nippon Paper Group, Inc., I aim for "Growth-Oriented Management," which seeks any new possibilities and actively takes every opportunity so as to embody corporate values that meet the expectations of all stakeholders. With this idea, we pursue our goal to be ranked among the world's top five pulp & paper companies in terms of business scale, profitability, material procurement, financial stamina, human resources development and any other criteria.
I am confident that we can achieve the Group Vision 2015 when all the Group people display their full potential. To be more open and transparent a company, we are also committed to communication with our stakeholders. We respectfully ask for your continued support.
Nippon Paper Group, Inc.