100 Stories2011 oneAK Activities Leveraging the Full Abilities of the Group

“oneAK ” is a phrase that means “Asahi Kasei is one,” representing the group’s teamwork.

Prior to the FY2011 mid-term business plan “For Tomorrow 2015,” Asahi Kasei listed out the things it had been supporting in its 90-year business history and redefined its meaning, direction of business activities, and the strengths it needs to focus on.

Shortly before announcing the mid-term business plan in April 2011, the oneAK committee was established. The committee was chaired by the president, Taketsugu Fujiwara, while the Corporate Planning Department, the HR and Labor Affairs Department, and the PR Department served as its secretariat. The committee started operating toward uniting the group.

Fujiwara explained the goal of the committee when it was first launched.

“The primary goal of this committee is to share the values that we would like all Asahi Kasei employees to have. The second goal is resource sharing. I do not believe in putting a limit to investments based on the scale of the company. That is why the second goal is mobilizing and sharing resources.”

Unifying the entire group after it had split into separate companies would make both individuals and the companies stronger. By splitting into separate groups, we had created a flexible system that provided us with the momentum to move forward, but from then on, we were ready to rebuild and share Asahi Kasei’s philosophy and vision.

The oneAK that was chaired by Fujiwara started working on various measures aimed at unifying Asahi Kasei. These included creating a group philosophy, disseminating this philosophy (shared values), holding discussions between executives and employees, adding the group’s philosophy and values to the human resource goal management sheet, and creating a work uniform.

The first accomplishment was the senior executive manager forum. Executives and senior executive managers gathered to discuss the essence of Asahi Kasei and what the Asahi Kasei Group should continue doing and pass on to the next generation and what it should change. They also prepared for sharing their own business vision and the means to realize it with their division.

In addition, they made a video featuring the group’s philosophy consisting of two parts: comprehension and compassion. This helped all employees of the group understand and share this philosophy. This video was translated into English and Chinese and delivered to the employees, including those working at the overseas group companies.

Moreover, discussions between executives and employees were held to promote interactive communication, which could not be achieved through the video. The discussions were held between one executive and about 10 employees. Based on their own experiences and business visions, they discussed the future course and group synergies of the Asahi Kasei Group.

In addition to large-scale measures oriented toward the entire group, there were also measures targeting each employee. This demonstrated the level of commitment. In the company’s newsletter A-spirit, a series featuring the history of Asahi Kasei Group was created to frequently enable employees to get acquainted with the history and philosophy of Asahi Kasei.

They also unified and created new uniforms. At the Asahi Kasei Group, work clothes and uniforms were not unified across districts and plants up until then. Unifying their design, material, and supplier would also potentially eliminate the need for ordering new uniforms when employees move from one district to another when expanding productions lots or reducing management or inspections. This would contribute to cost reduction in the entire group.

The chairman of the committee, Fujiwara, says the following about oneAK as a group concept.

“When people hear the phrase ‘oneAK,’ they often think that it is about the organization, but that is just the result. oneAK mainly focuses on the essence of Asahi Kasei’s business framework. It is not about having the multiple branch companies unite in the existing businesses, but rather in the new businesses that Asahi Kasei has created. If we operate Asahi Kasei with this concept in mind, Asahi Kasei will be unified.

We do not need to unify our thoughts, but rather think about business first, and the organizational part will follow as a result. On the other hand, this concept focuses on creating new businesses that have the essence of Asahi Kasei instead of forcing the entire group to think about the existing businesses of branch companies.

The oneAK Committee was decided to be dissolved with the end of the For Tomorrow 2015 plan. The committee continued operating for two years after its establishment in 2011. It completed its activities and finished its role in 2013.