Top Message

We Aim to Realize Our Vision and Build Our Future.

Tell us about your initiatives after recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake?

The Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011 forced the Renesas Electronics Group to halt production at eight sites, including the Naka Factory, one of our main manufacturing sites. With help from people outside the Group, we were able to get all damaged factories back online by September. I would like to take this space to sincerely thank all those who assisted in our recovery.

As for our post-recovery initiatives, the Group has a social responsibility to provide customers with a stable supply of products, no matter the situation. Thus we have revised our business continuity plans (BCPs) based on lessons learned from the earthquake.

Specifically, we are bolstering our previous initiatives by 1) seismically reinforcing our production plants so they are sturdy enough to recover promptly after disaster (to be completed by the first half of 2013) and 2) building alternate production networks to maintain a continuous supply of products, even in emergencies such as production stoppages. We are also working vigorously to 3) reduce risk by sharing risk information with customers and cooperating with them. This means that we aim to share inventory and other information with customers and work with them on business risk reduction measures.

How do you define CSR at Renesas Electronics?

The Group's Corporate Philosophy is: "Harnessing our collective expertise in new technologies, Renesas Electronics contributes to a world where people and the planet prosper in harmony by realizing our vision and building our future." By this we mean that ours is an enterprise that helps create a future while supporting livelihoods and society and coexisting with the earth. We accomplish this by continuously providing customers with semiconductors made from the Group's high technology, and by giving customers sincere service.

We established the Renesas Electronics Group CSR Charter, which states our position on initiatives for stakeholders, to ensure that we achieve our goal at the heart of this Corporate Philosophy, which is to be an enterprise that coexists with society and contributes to it.

We believe that when all employees share in the stance spelled out in the Corporate Philosophy and CSR Charter, and when each one practices CSR on the job, then we can contribute to society through our business activities. The Renesas Electronics Group hopes to use its advanced technical strengths to contribute to the development of a sustainable society.

Since 2008 we have also endorsed and supported the 10 Principles of the United Nations Global Compact in the four areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. We will continue our proactive efforts against environmental and human rights problems.

Participant in the United Nations Global Compact

What do the Corporate Philosophy and CSR Charter mean when they talk about "realizing our vision and building our future" and "conducting business that helps build a better future for people?"

The international community faces numerous problems that must be dealt with by society as a whole: planetary problems like global warming, water resources and energy as well as poverty and human rights. We cannot realize our vision and build a future unless we solve these problems.

Although one enterprise cannot solve such problems by itself, we believe that there is much we can and should do to help.

The Renesas Electronics Group considers CSR a strategy to simultaneously solve social problems and achieve sustainable growth for ourselves, and for that purpose we provide our technologies, products and services.

The nuclear power accidents of March 2011 brought Japanese energy policy to a major turning point.

Energy conservation will continue to be a critical social issue, one that will constantly require solutions for optimizing energy consumption. With its microcontrollers, analog & power and SoC products, the Group has excellent technology and strong products to meet the needs of a smart society. We take pride in our ability to develop optimal solutions.

A smart society is what we call the future society that will achieve both eco-friendliness and a comfortable lifestyle. By providing excellent technology, strong products and exacting service meeting the needs of a smart society, the Group hopes to help achieve that society.

What kind of environmental protection initiatives are you taking?

Since the semiconductor industry uses large volumes of resources like energy, water and chemicals, it creates a major environmental load. Energy consumption is a particularly large part of that load, so the Renesas Electronics Group is systematically transitioning to energy-saving equipment to cut power consumption on our production lines. We are also optimizing production conditions to reduce emissions of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases and we are promoting the reuse of water resources as we endeavor to use limited resources effectively. We are furthermore replacing the environmentally burdensome chemicals that we use with more eco-friendly substances, and we are optimizing our processes to reduce the amount of chemicals used. We are taking zero emissions initiatives by reducing waste emissions from production plants and reusing waste that does occur.

As for the semiconductor products we make, they are the subject of world efforts to reduce environmental load, as typified by chemical regulations in Europe. We are building and operating systems that precisely control the chemical substances contained in Group products and endeavoring to reduce their environmental load so that customers can use these products with confidence. Additionally, we do product environmental assessment of all products in development to reduce their environmental load.

In these ways we seek to minimize the environmental load of the manufacturing of semiconductor products and of the products themselves, and to help reduce the global environmental load through our customers' products that incorporate Group products. Our hope is ultimately to help build a sustainable smart society.

What is your message for your stakeholders?

The Renesas Electronics Group aims to increase sales to the smart society and newly emerging economies by providing technologies, products and services meeting the needs of the smart society.

To do so, it is essential to gauge customer needs quickly and respond accurately to their expectations. An enterprise cannot survive otherwise. We will conduct our business to meet the needs of all stakeholders involved: customers, suppliers, shareholders, employees and the local community.

As a member of society, the Renesas Electronics Group promises to be more attentive than ever to its stakeholders by listening closely to what our customers and suppliers are saying and by interacting with the local community. Through these initiatives, we aim to be an enterprise trusted by and essential to society. Thank you for your ongoing support.