Message from the responsible officer

According to the WMO (World Meteorological Organization), 2023 was the hottest observed year in history, with the average world temperature up 1.45ºC since the Industrial Revolution and July and August the hottest months in observed history. Furthermore, 2023 saw heat waves, droughts, and forest fires occur throughout the globe. These led to a severe situation with crop shortages, bringing a sharp rise in food prices. These are all attributed to a rise in CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, which leads to global warming, making a speedy shift to a decarbonized society an important social issue. In addition to climate change, there is also a wide range of nature-related risks that have become pressing issues, such as loss of biodiversity, depletion of natural resources, and the pollution of underground water due to hazardous chemicals.

In order to do our part in solving these social issues, we have placed environmental initiatives as a priority management issue and are taking steps to strengthen the promotion of environmental management. As stated in our medium-term management vision, “Vision 2025”, we are working to create environmental value and economic value by strategically allocating management resources to the growth areas we have identified, such as renewable energy-related areas launched for decarbonization and electrification areas in the automobile industry. Furthermore, in 2024, our headquarters converted all of its electricity usage to renewable power with non-fossil certificates in an effort to reduce the environmental burden that comes from business activities. Additionally, we are addressing regulations on products containing chemical substances that prohibit the use of hazardous chemicals, and we are contributing to the Green Fund of the National Land Afforestation Promotion Organization.

In terms of quality control, we have established quality assurance departments in each region and formulated a quality assurance system to ensure that we provide our customers with high-quality products. We also established internal regulations concerning quality fraud prevention last year in response to the recent societal problems surrounding the issue, implementing quality fraud prevention training and inspections for group companies that have manufacturing divisions both inside and outside Japan Our employees in Japan and overseas will work together with the awareness of "environmental protection" and "quality first" to receive the evaluation from our customers that "TECHNO ASSOCIE can be entrusted with a sense of security" and we will contribute to the sustainable development of society as an environmentally friendly company trusted by society.

The TECHNO ASSOCIE Group is committed to "putting customers first" and doing our best to provide services that meet their needs, while expanding our business in Japan and abroad with products and quality that are environmentally friendly and safe. The importance of CSR initiatives in the international community is becoming increasingly diversified and sophisticated, including matters such as global warming prevention, environmental protection, and improving labor environments with respect for human rights, and the scope of these initiatives is expanding beyond our own efforts to include our entire supply chain.

In order to meet such social demands, the TECHNO ASSOCIE Group has established the "TECHNO ASSOCIE Group CSR Procurement Guidelines" which we use when engaging in CSR activities with all members of our supply chain. We are making ongoing efforts to strengthen communication with our business partners and promote initiatives aimed at solving social problems and enhancing corporate value, with our first priority being contribution to a sustainable society. We are also conducting surveys to our major suppliers regarding their own CSR initiatives in order to gain an understanding of what efforts they are making and provide feedback on their status for the sake of making further improvements. We will continue to promote these initiatives throughout our supply chain.

TECHNO ASSOCIE will place particular effort on promoting proposals for environmentally friendly products that contribute to carbon neutrality, and will also work to improve customer satisfaction and protect the global environment, with the aim of becoming a company that plays an essential role in society.We would like to ask our business partners for their continued understanding of the TECHNO ASSOCIE Group’s efforts as well as for their ongoing guidance and encouragement.

Since its establishment in 1946, TECHNO ASSOCIE has continuously proposed a variety of products, technologies, and solutions with new value, creating a diverse lineup of products that respond to the needs of our customers by combining the technologies and products (Seeds) of a wide range of suppliers with our knowledge and know-how that has been cultivated over many years.
The development of our company is due to the power of the people responsible for this, and the importance of people is further increasing in the current business environment of globalized business and diversified needs.

In order to increase the power of people, the most important driving force for business development, we believe that the following two items are important:

ⅰ．Environments that allow each person to fully demonstrate their capabilities
ⅱ．Initiatives to help each person strengthen their capabilities (= capacity development)

We regard the following three points as important elements for enhancing and improving environments and capacity development and are promoting initiatives for them:
・Development of a corporate culture where individuality and values are respected to strengthen the capabilities of the team as a whole
・Create a work environment that allows rewarding, challenging, and a personal growth.
・Corporate behavior that enables employees to work with pride

Specific activities to create a comfortable work environment include the ongoing promotion of diversity and inclusion through the implementation of various types of training, realizing flexible working styles according to life stage, and efforts to promote the participation and advancement of women in the workplace. We are also taking steps to increase employee satisfaction and fulfillment by way of measures such as the introduction of a new next-generation personnel award system. We are also bolstering our efforts in activities relating to health promotion and workplace safety.

Commitment to "Business and Human Rights"
International norms such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct stipulate that corporations have an obligation to promote respect for human rights.

We clearly mention in our Charter of Corporate Behavior that we respect human rights. Based on the TECHNO ASSOCIE Group Human Rights Policy, we strive to spread awareness about preventing infringement of the human rights of people affected by our business activities, not only within our Group but also among all business partners, including our supply chain (suppliers and operations upstream from them). At the same time we conduct human rights due diligence.

Our Code of Conduct also recognizes respect for human rights in all local communities where we conduct business as one of the important themes for pursuing business with integrity, and we are committed to promoting it.

The TECHNO ASSOCIE Group will continue to pursue these kinds of human resource measures to support people-driven business activities and will create workplaces where each person can grow and fully demonstrate their capabilities.