The Ideas Behind Our Corporate Philosophy

The JCU Group was established in 1968 as a joint venture between Ebara Corporation, Ebara-Infilco, and U.S.-based Udylite Corporation. By providing a wide range of surface treatment chemicals and equipment, centered on plating technology, the Group has contributed to the growth of the automotive, electronics, and other industries.

In 2017, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the company changed its corporate philosophy to the current “Creating the Future through Surface Treatment Technology.” This corporate philosophy reflects our employees’ desire to contribute to society through surface treatment technology as well as their desire to create the future as inspired by their own imagination by building on knowledge from the past. Although via filling technology̶which originated and was developed in the decorative and functional sector̶is not something that we can visually see directly ourselves, it is an essential technology that contributes to society as a behind-the-scenes process for miniaturizing and enhancing the performance of smartphones and various other high-performance electronic devices.

Based on our corporate philosophy of “Creating the Future through Surface Treatment Technology,” we are committed to continue our pursuits in surface treatment technology and contribute to the growth of our societies.

How Our Medium-Term Corporate Plan is Progressing

In May 2021, we announced the “Next 50 Innovation 2nd”,our three-year Medium-Term Corporate Plan starting in FY2021,and also set forth the corporate vision that we strive for: a global company that continues to grow sustainably. This vision embodies our commitment to become a company that is able to manage its business in accordance with ESG and SDGs, and is viable in any country. In realizing our vision, our basic policy is to “strengthen our core businesses” and “build our corporate foundation from an ESG perspective.” In strengthening our core businesses, the JCU Group as a whole is bolstering partnerships, and formulating development and sales strategies based on information acquired through systematic market research activities. In terms of building our corporate foundation from an ESG perspective, we aim to expand our global operations and create systems that are able to respond to changing business environments surrounding companies, and we give top priority to developing the human resources needed to achieve these goals.

As a result, we were able to make significant progress in “strengthening our core businesses.” Among these efforts, we were able to develop a succession of environmentally friendly products; products that we defined to be our themes in our medium- to long-term development roadmap. In addition, with respect to surface treatment technologies that will be needed going forward, we are conducting R&D on new plating and etching technologies for next-generation semiconductor package substrates for the electronics sector, and environmentally friendly surface treatment technologies for the decorative and functional sector.

In building a corporate foundation from an ESG perspective, we place the highest priority on human resource development,and since a large percentage of our sales is generated overseas, it is especially critical for us to have human resources who are able to play an active role globally. We always keep in mind to encourage our employees to actively take on challenges overseas. To this end, we are promoting human resource development while seeking initiatives to keep employees highly motivated, such as by introducing overseas training programs and organizing dialogues with employees who return from overseas assignments.

In addition, more than 30% of the nearly 100 employees at our R&D Center are women, and we have elected a female executive officer last year. With the ratio of women in management positions domestically standing at 11.9%, and at higher than 20% on a consolidated basis, including our overseas operations, we are actively expanding the areas in which women are able to play an active role.

Furthermore, as part of our CO₂ reduction efforts, we have installed additional solar panels at all of our domestic sites, and have renovated and made upgrades installing the latest equipment with smaller environmental footprints. As a result, in FY2022, we were able to achieve our goal of reducing CO₂ emissions by 20% of FY2013 emissions, one year ahead of our original target year, FY2023. As of now, we are vigorously pushing forward toward our goal of achieving “zero CO_₂ emissions” at our Niigata Plant by FY2030.

New Site in Japan with Our Sights Set on the Future

In September 2022, we announced that we will be establishing a new business site in Mashiki Town, Kumamoto Prefecture. Japan is currently aiming for a revival of its semiconductor industry, and companies are aggressively developing technologies to revive the industry. We will establish a base in Kumamoto, the center of this industry, equipped with an integrated system from research and development of semiconductor-related chemicals to their manufacture. By doing so, we hope to contribute to the revitalization of the semiconductor industry in Japan. In R&D, we plan to promote R&D efficiency by utilizing DX, and in manufacturing, we plan to actively introduce robots and other automation technologies to make this a smart factory. We also aim to recycle wastewater in consideration of the environment. The creation of the Kumamoto Plant (provisional name) will speed up the process from R&D to commercialization, and will also function as a BCP measure for domestic production. Construction is scheduled for completion in April 2025.

Business Continuity Initiatives