Message from the President November.2020

2025, five years from now, is said to be a turning point for Japan from two perspectives. The first is the Year 2025 Problem, when all of Japan’s baby boomers will be 75 or older, which was demonstrated in statistics released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. The second is the 2025 Digital Cliff mentioned in the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry’s Report on Digital Transformation (DX).

The Year 2025 Problem is that everyone born during Japan’s first baby boom will be at least 75 in 2025, creating a super-aging society where one in every three citizens will be 65 years old or older and one in every five will be 75 years old or over. The 2025 Digital Cliff suggests that there may be an annual economic loss of up to 12 trillion yen in 2025 unless companies achieve digital transformation (DX) through efforts to free themselves from their existing infrastructure and legacy systems, which have become complicated and obsolete.

Companies have been forced by the COVID-19 pandemic to revolutionize their existing service models as individuals have been forced to adapt to the new normal. Another big wave of environmental change will arrive in 2025. “How long do I have to stay inspired and continue to transform?” you may be asking yourself. The answer to that question is, “Forever.” We must understand that reviewing the present and continuing to evolve in anticipation of the future while taking geopolitical risks into consideration is the normal state in the drastically changing future society.

It will become increasingly important to use artificial intelligence (AI) and robots to improve labor productivity in Japan, where the size of the workforce is decreasing. DX will be indispensable, as well. Throughout time, jobs and occupations have disappeared. From now it is predicted that the jobs and occupations undertaken by humans will decrease exponentially. Meanwhile, new jobs and occupations will also emerge. For example, look at the rapidly advancing virtual space during the COVID-19 pandemic. I believe that demand will grow for designers and creators able to construct virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) worlds. I also think that new occupations will be created that take charge of material transport and the movement of humans if and when flying cars reach the stage of practical use.

Let me add that in 2025 Osaka will host an international exposition for the second time. It previously hosted an exposition in 1970. Let’s contribute to the realization of manufacturing that carries with it the destiny of Japan as a company that designs a future society by supporting its clients in the manufacturing industry through our high-value-added services.