President and CEO Izumisawa Offers New Employees Words of Welcome and Encouragement as New Members of MHI Group

Summary of Mr. Izumisawa's Message

It is with pride and pleasure that I welcome you as the newest members of MHI Group. We are especially grateful that of the many corporate groups you have selected to join us here at MHI Group. Today, you start on a brand-new path as corporate men and women. I sincerely hope that you will all proactively take up the challenges ahead and, with strong determination, open up new paths toward successful and fulfilled lives.

Today, the world is in the throes of a number of challenges of major scale: uncertain economic prospects stemming from COVID-19 and trade frictions between the United States and China; rising concern toward global environmental issues; and developments involving the Fourth Industrial Revolution. As a result, the environment surrounding MHI Group today is severe. But it is precisely in times such as these, I believe, that we, in our corporate role, must firmly stay the course and continue to contribute significantly to the betterment of society. If we all pull together, we, as a solidly unified Group, will be fully prepared to take the first steps toward that goal.

MHI Group's Mission

Since its founding, MHI Group has embraced a mission to provide solutions to issues affecting society through its technologies and knowhow. Mitsubishi's origins trace back to 1870, when our founder, Yataro Iwasaki, launched Tsukumo Trading Company. This year, 2020, we are therefore celebrating our 150th anniversary. Business operations of MHI Group got underway in earnest in 1884 with the opening of the Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works. Since then, for more than 135 years MHI Group has developed and grown in tandem with Japan's modernization, continuously responding to society's changes and evolving needs. Our product offerings have included ships and aircraft, satellite launch vehicles, power systems, and machinery and plants of all kinds to support both social and industrial demands.

Over this long course of our history, we have continuously responded to our customers' needs by steadily improving our technologies and developing and manufacturing numerous innovative products unprecedented in Japan or worldwide. The path has not been without its major failures. However, from our failures we have always acquired new knowledge and wisdom, and through these accumulated experiences we have nurtured the ability to take on ever more advanced challenges. At MHI Group, our social mission passed down through the years has been to boldly pursue development of what the customer and society are seeking, to provide solutions the world has never known before. This remains our mission today, when we have grown into a global corporation encompassing approximately 300 companies having operations all around the globe.

MHI FUTURE STREAM: MHI Group's Long-Term Vision for Responding to Social Changes

In recent years, much attention has focused on the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs. Social issues have become increasingly complex, and the values sought by customers and the market have changed. Meanwhile, innovations are accelerating in artificial intelligence, 3D printing, biotechnology and other technological areas. Until now, MHI Group has contributed to social progress through provision of machinery systems that make up our social infrastructure. But in order for us to continue contributing to society and humanity going forward, as a corporate entity we will need to look deeply into the new issues at hand and changes taking place in values and technologies, and respond flexibly.

To enable us to accomplish this, in 2018 we launched a new initiative we call "MHI FUTURE STREAM." Under MHI FUTURE STREAM, we focus on recognizing emergent social trends and on continuously transforming ourselves toward our Long-Term Vision so that, amid times of severe and uncertain changes, MHI Group will continue to be needed by society well into the future. Through this initiative, today we are implementing specific plans in two areas in particular: decarbonization, and innovations in machinery systems in tandem with the trends toward electrification and AI.

As new members of MHI Group, I ask that you will at all times keep in mind our corporate mission: to provide solutions to issues affecting the customer and society through our technologies and knowhow, never fearing changes or failures, always taking up new challenges with strong determination. Innovation doesn't happen when an organization is rigid and everyone thinks in the same box. Together with your many colleagues, I hope you will keep a broad view of the world, think out of the box, and be curious about everything you encounter.

Finally, I wish to remind you that you have joined us as we celebrate our 150th anniversary. Together, let's write a new and exciting page in the history of MHI Group as a truly global company.