Are The Japanese Textile Enterprises Toray, Asahi Chemical And Emperor Living Under The Epidemic Situation

With the gradual stabilization of Xinguan epidemic, Japan began to resume normal production and social activities from late May. However, Xinguan epidemic is still fluctuating, economic activities are still in the trough, the performance of clothing industry is generally low, and its impact is expanding to the whole supply chain. Under such a difficult situation, how can Japanese fiber enterprises overcome this difficulty and face the future? Toray, Asahi and Diren gave their respective answers.

Guests:

RI Jue Zhaoguang, President of Toray

Asahi Asahi President xiaohori Xiuyi

Suzuki Chun, President of Emperor

Taweekly: how does the new epidemic affect the company's operation?

RI Jue Zhaoguang, President of Toray: affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the company's situation from April to June is very serious. We are ready for a substantial decline in the first half of the fiscal year. However, some people think that the new coronavirus will come to an end after the summer, and if it can be realized, it is expected to grow significantly in the second half of the fiscal year. In the second half of fiscal year, it is still expected that the performance of the second half of fiscal year will be recovered, but it will be ready to pass the performance in the second half of fiscal year.

Asahi Asahi's president: the world economy has been on the direction of slow recovery, but now it has changed. Last year was the year when the new medium-term business plan of the company started. The sustainability promotion department and marketing & Innovation headquarters were newly established, and appropriate measures were taken. It is planned to implement about 800 billion yen of equipment investment, investment and financing in three years, and more than 400 billion yen of investment has been determined. However, due to the change of business environment, the investment and financing of equipment in the future should be strictly considered. The forecast for the current financial year itself is difficult because it is extremely severe. Fiscal year 2019 is a transition period. In addition to the impact of the new coronavirus epidemic, the downturn in personal consumption has a great impact on business. From the perspective of Japan, the impact of the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games and Paralympic Games can not be ignored, but as a manufacturing industry, even if the operating rate is reduced, it is also very important to maintain continuous production.

President Suzuki Suzuki: from the number, it is very serious, but the business is still making progress. In particular, the material business is basically carried out as planned. The yield of aramid fiber is improved, and the basic earning ability of resin is enhanced at the same time of structure transformation. Although carbon fiber is not obvious in the data, American factories have perfected the system that can expand sales in the field of aircraft intermediate materials. The company can continue to operate independently. As for the healthcare business, there are not so smooth parts, and the new business is not enough in terms of numbers. However, the existing business is more stable than expected, and the performance has gone well.

Taweekly: what changes will the new outbreak bring to the industrial development?

Toray president RI Jue Zhaoguang: the restriction of personnel movement is one of the impacts of the new crown pneumonia epidemic. Many businesses are forced to work from home or on the phone. At first, we were not used to it, but later we felt that we could still do this. 5g communication will be much more efficient than ever if there is a demand for it. The second is the restriction of various countries and regions. Although internationalization has progressed, the demand for aircraft has fallen to a very low level due to entry restrictions. Some people expect that demand will continue to decline in the future, but I have different opinions. It is not only communication, but also face-to-face communication. The demand for aircraft as a means of movement will certainly recover in a few years.

The world population is growing, and the demand for textile and clothing products is also expanding. In this case, the demand for comfort, environmental protection response and high performance is also growing with the high-end section as the center. But there are very few companies in the world that can provide such fibers. In terms of quantity, Japanese enterprises can not compete with Chinese enterprises in terms of comfort, environmental protection and high performance. Textile and clothing products are necessary for life and can change life through their functions. There is still a great opportunity for the textile industry to expand.

Asahi Asahi president Shoichi Koichi: the rapid spread of new crown pneumonia in the world has become an opportunity, bringing another future different from the previous trend. The supply chain structure, market map and industrial structure will change greatly. After the outbreak, we need to carefully observe what the world will look like. New coronal pneumonia is expanding rapidly in the world, and the ending period will be different due to different countries or regions. Therefore, countries and regions have adopted different response methods, and the relationship between countries and regions will be different from before. It is undeniable that great changes may occur in the world economy. In the medium and long term, environmental protection response is a problem that can not be ignored, but when the new crown pneumonia is a sudden problem related to human life, the related industries should play an extremely important role. Considering the importance of information and telemedicine, 5g will accelerate the development process.

The scope of the textile industry is not clear, but fiber yarn, raw cotton and technology will have a lot of new things to be used in a variety of fields. One of them is the field of medical devices such as protective clothing. In the field of healthcare, including doctors' and nurses' clothing, textile technology can be said to have a lot of active space.

Suzuki Chun, President of the Emperor: according to different industries, the recovery speed is also different. Cars are recovering at an alarming rate and are likely to increase production. The aircraft may not be able to recover quickly due to the severe situation faced by airlines, but I think it will recover slowly. Aramid fibers and resins are used in a wide range of applications and I want to be able to recover. In this way, according to the different causes, the coping methods adopted are also different. In order to cope with the changes, we should earnestly promote the preparatory work. But I think "life first" and "employee first" remind employees that "they can't work hard".

Taweekly: what measures will the company take to cope with the changing situation?

The vision of Toray group is described as "visionary vision" of Dongli group in the year of 2050. In this way, we have been thinking from a long-term point of view how to make contributions to the society, and implement them in the medium-term management project. Therefore, the current direction of efforts will not change greatly in 10 years. To contribute to the society is the company's basic policy, not simply to pursue sales. In the future, we will continue to promote the efforts to contribute to the society, green innovation aiming at achieving sustainable low-carbon society and life innovation focusing on improving medical quality.

The basic policy of "continuously contributing to the sustainable development of man and the earth" will not change. The three fields of "material", "housing" and "healthcare" are positioned in the growth field. Due to the outbreak of new pneumonia, we have also found new values in the five fields of "Environment & energy", "mobility", "lifematerial", "home & living" and "healthcare". The advantage of the company is that it has many pillar businesses, and the policy of establishing the composition of the business has not changed. According to different undertakings, it is very important for us to consider the problems in the medium and long term while paying attention to the current situation. This is greatly affected by the politics and economy of various countries. The world economy will change, so it is necessary to analyze and judge the supply chain and market.

After the end of the epidemic, new business models using 5g and other technologies will emerge in the world. Manufacturing and services may also be integrated. In such a situation, it is important to collect information closer to the market. Textile is also the same, the key is to use textile technology, what can be explored. I think one of the key words is healthcare.

Suzuki Chun, President of the Emperor: the new medium-term business plan is formulated with the target of 2030. I believe that if we can move in this direction, we will not "stand in the wrong place". Business is divided into material business, healthcare business and other businesses. From this time on, we use the words "profitable growth" and "strategic focus" to cultivate the future revenue source.

The sales of resin, aramid fiber and carbon fiber yarn of material industry will become profitable growth. These materials are very strong in themselves and have many products that can be active in the forefront for a certain period of time. Take the processed products with higher added value as strategic focus. For example, carbon fiber intermediate materials for automotive and aircraft applications.

Based on the idea that "materials will be caught up one day", we actively develop new materials of the next generation. However, a certain material can not always win, and it must have evolution.