A newsletter from Sumitomo Electric USA Holdings (SEUHO) | |
Issue #53 (September 15, 2023) | |
SEG Global Awards / Mexico Kaizen Competition / New SEMX plant / SCI events / Recognition for SEG companies / Judd Wire anniversary / SEUHO updates | |
In this issue, we take a look at some of the interesting things that happened this summer around the Sumitomo Electric Group. | |
Sumitomo Electric award ceremony | |
One highlight for several companies in the Americas was the Sumitomo Electric Group Global Awards, which took place in Osaka, Japan, on August 3. This event happens only once every five years, and its purpose is to recognize companies and departments for their major accomplishments within that period. At this year's event, SEI presented 98 awards — which might sound like a lot, but not if we consider there are over 400 companies in the Sumitomo Electric Group. Companies in our region brought home 11 awards, including three Excellent Awards for outstanding work on specific business initiatives and eight Glorious Excellent Awards for top overall performance in quality, safety, financial results, and other factors. | |
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Excellent Award: Sumitomo Electric Device Innovations USA (two awards), Sumitomo Electric USA
Glorious Excellent Award: Judd Wire, Sumiden Wire Products Corporation, Sumitomo Electric Carbide, Sumitomo Electric Device Innovations USA, Sumitomo Electric Semiconductor Materials, Sumitomo Electric Sintered Components Mexico, Sumitomo Electric USA (two awards)
Congratulations to everyone at these companies!
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More than 300 people were at the event to congratulate the award winners and to hear various presentations from SEI. In this photo, SEI President Osamu Inoue is on stage speaking about our organization's Mid-term Management Plan 2025. | |
Mexico Kaizen Competition | |
Another great event, the annual Mexico Kaizen Competition, was held on August 15 and 16 in Sinaloa. The first day included a tour of host company CONTEC's manufacturing facility in Sinaloa, followed by a workshop on creativity, innovation, and leadership. Day two was the main event, where twelve teams from participating companies each gave a presentation on their best kaizen (continuous improvement) project from the past year. Winner of the trophy for best presentation in the manufacturing category was the team from ATR Nayarit. Quite fittingly, the site of this year's competition was a historical building called the Innovation and Education Center, where the group photo below was taken. |
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Front low, left to right: CONTEC Senior VP Carlos Salazar, CONTEC T&S VP Takao Morita, ATR President Tsuyoshi Tarui, CONTEC President Yuichi Dobashi, and SEWS President Tokiji Aoyama. Behind them are attendees from CONTEC, ATR, K&S, SEBN Mexico, and SEWS Mexico. | |
Industrial Materials companies | |
Next are some updates from companies affiliated with the Industrial Materials Business Unit, one of Sumitomo Electric's five major business segments. Worldwide, the Industrial Materials BU generated approximately 2.6 billion dollars in revenue last fiscal year, accounting for 9% of total SEG sales. Here in North America, the types of businesses we're involved in are cutting tools for precision machining; sintered components for the automotive industry; and prestressed concrete strand, which is steel cable that's used in the construction industry to reinforce bridges and other structures. | |
On May 18, Sumitomo Electric Sintered Components Mexico (SEMX) held a ceremony to mark the opening of their second manufacturing plant. SEMX was established in 2014 during a time when many car companies were making significant investments in Mexico to expand their manufacturing capacity. Those investment continue to be made today, and now, with the opening of their new plant in Aguascalientes, SEMX will be able to increase its output of high-quality components to customers in Mexico. In attendance at the ceremony were SEI Executive Managing Director Mitsuhiro Goto and representatives from customers and suppliers. | |
In the cutting tool business, sales in our region are driven by Sumitomo Electric Carbide (SCI), who took part in a couple of community events in Chicago this summer. In June, several SCI employees volunteered with their local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, spending two days to help build a safe, affordable new home for a family in need. It was SCI's first collaboration with this well-known nonprofit organization. | |
On August 1, there was an event at the Chicago Cultural Center to celebrate 50 years of the sister city relationship between Chicago and Osaka, where SEI has its headquarters. Several people from SCI attended this event to see Osaka Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama sign a new agreement with his Chicago counterpart Mayor Brandon Johnson. In a tweet, Mayor Johnson said the agreement "will continue to nurture a relationship that furthers our tech, innovation, and global economic power." | |
Left to right: SCI Assistant Manager Un Gaku, SEUHO President Kazuo Oe, Osaka Mayor Yokoyama, SCI GM Paul Ratzki, unidentified delegate. | |
As for letting people know about our own technology and innovations, SCI sales staff were at the Advanced Manufacturing Expo in mid-August to promote Sumitomo cutting tools to the vast audience of machinists attending the show. More than 4,300 people came to this event in Michigan to learn about the latest developments in factory automation, mechanical components, and metalworking solutions. |
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At the SCI booth, from left: Assistant Sales Manager Jim Davis, Sales Engineer Jeremy Wallace. | |
Recognition for SEG companies | |
Thanks to the remarkable efforts of people involved in their wellness program, Sumitomo Electric Wiring Systems earned a seventh consecutive Platinum Wellness Award from the Worksite Wellness Council of Louisville, Kentucky, in May. The healthy culture at SEWS has been diligently sustained for years by the many associates who volunteer to serve as Wellness Champions and promote good habits to coworkers at their respective locations. The overall effort is led by Wellness Program Manager Jeanie Dickerson, RN, who accepted the award on behalf of SEWS. |
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Speaking of health and wellness, GE Healthcare presented Sumitomo Electric Industries with an award at its annual Global Supplier Summit in Wisconsin on June 6. The award was in recognition of our organization's reliable & cost-effective delivery of high-quality cables for GE Healthcare's ultrasound systems. These systems are used in hospitals all over the country to monitor pregnancies, cardiovascular conditions, and internal health in general. Sumitomo Electric was one of 13 companies to receive an award from GE Healthcare, a big-name medical equipment manufacturer that has more than a thousand suppliers.
An even bigger customer is aerospace company Boeing, who relies on over 11,000 suppliers worldwide to provide the billion-plus parts they need every year to build their airplanes. Boeing also held a Supplier of the Year event recently, and among the nominees for one of the twelve awards was Judd Wire — nominated for the second year in a row for specialized electronic cable in commercial aircraft. Ironically, the award went to another company that Judd Wire supplies, Killdeer Mountain Manufacturing. But in a written statement to Judd Wire employees, KMM's President of Operations said that "you've been integral to our success" and thanked Judd Wire for its long-term commitment to excellence.
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At left: Judd Wire VP of Sales & Marketing Matt Hornick and Executive VP & GM Martin Daniell at the Boeing event. Right photo: GE Healthcare's award was received by Ming Ng, Assistant GM of Sumitomo Electric Interconnect Products (Hong Kong), shown here holding the trophy. | |
Judd Wire anniversary celebration | |
Back at Judd Wire headquarters in Massachusetts, on August 25 the company celebrated a double milestone: 70 years since their founding and 35 years as part of Sumitomo Electric. To mark the occasion, all employees and their families were invited to a fun-filled company picnic. HR Manager Magda Malejko said the event was planned so that "there was plenty to do for everyone regardless of age. We had food trucks, an ice cream truck, a mad scientist event for the kids featuring slime, henna artists, face painting, raffle prizes, and great music. We conducted factory tours and our families were able to see where we work and what we do. We also acknowledged our long-term employees with service awards." | |
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On June 28, SEUHO welcomed Yuichi (Joe) Sano as our Chairman and CEO. Sano-san was previously at SEI's Itami Works, where he was General Manager of the Special Steel Wire Business Unit. This is Sano-san's third assignment in the US, having worked at Sumiden Wire Products Corporation as their Chief Engineer in the 90s and then later as President from 2007 to 2013. This time around, Sano-san will work to promote further collaboration among SEG companies and help strengthen manufacturing.
Sano-san is the third new executive to join SEUHO this fiscal year, following Executive Vice President Tsuyoshi Adachi and Vice President of Risk Management Marty Todd. Before they came to SEUHO, Adachi-san was Assistant General Manager of the Finance Department at SEI headquarters in Osaka, and Marty worked at Engineered Sintered Components for more than 25 years, including four years as company president prior to ESC's merger with Keystone Powdered Metal Company last year.
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Left to right: Tsuyoshi Adachi, Marty Todd, Yuichi Sano. | |
On August 17, SEUHO hosted the Risk Management Committee's first in-person meeting since 2019. The committee met in New York to discuss cybersecurity risk, third-party risk management, plant security, crisis communications, and other topics. The discussion about cybersecurity was especially important due to recent trends — for example, ransomware attacks on manufacturing companies in the US have been increasing this year, with about 40% of attacks involving malicious emails and phishing campaigns. It was noted that as the methods of attack become more sophisticated, continued vigilance is essential. | |
Back row, from left: Leo Kohyama (SEUHO), Hiro Nakazawa (SESMI), Brian Burr (SWPC), Martin Daniell (JUDD), Roger Showalter (NIRE), Marty Todd (SEUHO), Dan Pemberton (SCM). Front row: Daijo Kusumi (SESMI), Ryu Goto (SEUHO), Ruben Soto (SEIP), Pavee Suvagondha (SEUHO), Un Gaku (SCI), and Erick Diaz (SEMX). Several other committee members attended the meeting online. | |
On a related note, the IT Committee recently distributed a set of posters to SEG companies to raise awareness of cybersecurity. The four posters provide tips on how to protect yourself against phishing, password theft, malicious emails, and ransomware. If you've noticed the posters in your workplace, please take a moment to read them and commit these tips to memory. As the posters all say, cybersecurity is everyone's responsibility! | |
Many thanks to this issue's contributors: Hikari Masaki (SEI); Henry Garcia (CONTEC); Erick Diaz (SEMX); Michael Byron, Yoichiro Hattori (SCI); Laura Upchurch, Jeanie Dickerson (SEWS); Martin Daniell, Magda Malejko (JUDD). | |
The Sumitomo Electric Group, in accordance with the Sumitomo Spirit and the Sumitomo Electric Group Corporate Principles, strives to be a group of companies worthy of society's trust by conducting our business activities with utmost integrity. To learn more about our corporate philosophy, click here.
The SEG Code of Conduct is a statement of our shared values and the standards of conduct that are expected of each of us. It describes the fundamental principles and key policies that govern how we conduct business. The Code applies to all Company employees, officers, and directors, at every level. To download a copy of the Code, click here.
The SEG Compliance Hotline is an anonymous, confidential reporting system maintained by an independent third party, Navex, who immediately refers all hotline reports to SEI's Compliance and Risk Management Office. Please note that the SEG prohibits retaliation against anyone who reports concerns or raises questions in good faith. To access the hotline, click here. | |
This newsletter is published for employees of Sumitomo Electric Group companies in the Americas by Sumitomo Electric USA Holdings (SEUHO). To send us your thoughts, please use this online survey or send us an email. Thank you for reading this newsletter. | | | | |
