Even as the COVID-19 situation improves in many parts of the Americas, there are still many things to learn about how business operations should be adjusted to best ensure everyone's safety. That's one reason why the COVID-19 briefings from SEUHO continue to be well attended by executives, HR managers, and risk managers from companies across our region. In this month's briefing on June 7, attendees heard about how safety protocols have changed at big manufacturers such as Toyota Motors North America and American Honda Motor Company. They also saw an example from SEUHO of using a state's Department of Health safety plan to prepare for an office reopening. Another topic that was covered was business travel. At present, SEUHO recommends that business travel be limited to essential travel only, whether it involves going to a customer site or to another group company. Further updates on these and other topics will be provided over the summer.

On June 22, SEI issued a video message from President Osamu Inoue in which he addresses two main topics: the company's financial results for fiscal year 2020, and his requests for the current fiscal year to all Sumitomo Electric Group employees. These requests are to move forward with initiatives relating to SEQCDD (safety, environment, quality, cost, delivery, development); to ensure business continuity and boost our organizational strength; and to ensure safety and compliance in our daily work activities. "The coronavirus pandemic is not yet over, but I am fully confident that the SEG will overcome this crisis and get back on track for solid growth," says President Inoue at the end of his message. For more details, please ask your company's HR Department to view the full 16-minute video.

Related info: FY20 financial results (PDF file)

Given the large scale of SEG operations in the Americas, maintaining good communication throughout the group is essential. One way we do this is through a series of regional meetings hosted every year by SEUHO, where the Managing Directors of group companies and Group Global Executives get together in small sessions and are updated by SEUHO on various topics and projects that matter to us collectively. This year's meetings were held online over four days in early June, with each day dedicated to a different region: US east/west/central and Mexico.

According to SEUHO EVP Fred McDuffee, the meetings were well received by all attendees. Managing Directors and GGEs were updated on matters related to HR and administration, risk management, legal and compliance initiatives, IT operations, accounting, and our various intercompany committees. Even with such a high volume of info to cover in just a few hours, the regional meeting format made it easy for participants to ask questions and discuss particular matters of interest. This feedback is especially helpful for making sure that actions from SEUHO and the committees continue to benefit group companies as much as possible.

It's always a good feeling to be recognized for hard work — and even better when you're recognized more than once, as Sumitomo Electric Wiring Systems can say from recent experience. In April, Toyota Motors North America presented SEWS with two awards: the Excellent Technology & Development Award for a pipe wiring harness designed for hybrid electric vehicles, and the Excellent Launch Performance Award for contributing to the successful launch of a new model of Highlander. And this month, SEWS received the Regional Contribution Award from Toyota Boshoku America, one of Toyota's major subsidiaries. It was the second year in a row for SEWS to receive this award from Toyota Boshoku, given only to the top global suppliers who continually provide high-quality products for many years. Congratulations to everyone at SEWS!

Over in Massachusetts, Judd Wire's Atsushi Shinchi is completing his first quarter as the company's new president. Shinchi-san came to Judd Wire at the beginning of the fiscal year from Sumitomo (SEI) Electronic Wire in Japan, where he was General Manager of Manufacturing. At SEIW, Shinchi-san worked to improve overall operations by introducing new production control methods, developing new products, and emphasizing personnel development. Asked to comment on his new role in the US, Shinchi-san said "My goal is to continue our legacy, building a company that our employees feel pride working for. In order to accomplish that, I am committed to growing JUDD by expanding sales as well as inventing products where both JUDD and SEIW utilize their expertise, uniqueness, and strength."

Also taking on a new role is Senior R&D Manager Steve Gullerud, who was recently elected chair of the AE-8D Wire & Cable Committee at SAE International. SAE is a professional association that develops standards for engineers in various industries, and the AE-8D committee in particular is focused on all aspects of aerospace wires and cables. Steve has been a member of SAE for 16 years. As a chairperson, he looks forward to recruiting new engineers to actively participate in committee work — something that's especially important these days as a large number of senior engineers are now retiring from the aerospace industry. For Judd Wire, Steve's leadership at SAE is significant because committee meetings are attended not only by wire and cable companies, but also by people from aircraft manufacturers and their suppliers, as well as the Federal Aviation Administration and other government agencies. Good luck, Steve!

In the field of communications, the Sumitomo Electric Group collaborated with Nokia, Ericsson, and other companies to release a technical paper for the 5G industry on June 8. Titled "Mobile Optical Pluggables," the paper put forward a series of blueprints for the high-speed fiber optic networks which are needed to support the expansion of 5G wireless networks. Ken Jackson, Product Marketing Director at Sumitomo Electric Device Innovations USA (and one of the paper's co-authors) explained that "as the 5G market ramps, system operators tend to deploy customized solutions — and this leads to a plethora of products, market fragmentation, and higher costs." But by working with others to spell out the high-level requirements for some common types of network setups, we hope to make it easier for 5G companies to further build out their networks and, in the future, reduce their costs for doing so.

Meanwhile, with a focus on today's customers, marketing staff at Sumitomo Electric Lightwave and Sumitomo Electric USA have been relying more on digital media to get the word out about the many great solutions they offer. On June 9, Product Manager Yuko Agano gave a webinar on the advantages of using SEL's air-blown fiber to build or upgrade fiber optic networks. It was Yuko's first time doing a webinar, and she said "it was definitely a great experience. Webinars are a great way to continue our marketing activities without traveling or attending trade shows." Her view is shared by Sabrina Belean, SEUSA Product Manager for fusion splicers, who was recently interviewed on a podcast. "These virtual events help us stay connected with our customers," said Sabrina, who added that doing a podcast was "a terrific experience to connect with others in our industry, particularly installers, project managers, and potential customers who aren't familiar with our products."

News of a recent safety milestone comes to us from Texas, where the Dayton Plant of Sumiden Wire Products Corporation celebrated three years of accident-free operation as of March 31. Plant Manager Robert Nelson attributes 100% of this success to everyone who works there. "From our production staff to the office staff, we simply have a great group of people," said Robert. "They deserve all the credit because they are the ones making it all happen. We're not doing anything special. Our key ingredient truly is our people."

Opened in 2017, the Dayton Plant is the newest of Sumiden Wire's three locations for manufacturing high-quality PC (prestressed concrete) strand, which are the steel cables used in the construction industry to reinforce bridges, commercial buildings, multi-level parking garages, and other concrete structures. As they work to continuously supply the industry with this important product, we wish everyone at the Dayton Plant continued success with their safety performance.

Despite the pandemic, the Management Program based on the Sumitomo Spirit (MPSS) is going strong as a series of online meetings this year. SEUHO supported two virtual workshops last month, one for US participants and the other for colleagues in Mexico. In these workshops, the 30+ attendees learned about the fundamental principles of our corporate philosophy, the Sumitomo Spirit, as they developed their managerial skills and leadership style.

Tammy Monday, HR Manager at SEWS, said the training "has been very helpful in deepening my understanding of the Sumitomo Spirit and how I can use these principles as a guide not only in how I approach work but in my personal life as well." As for the online format, Tammy said that "at first I was concerned the learning experience would not be as good in the virtual format, but I quickly found we could collaborate and share ideas just as easily as if we were in a classroom."

In the Mexico workshop, Alan Cervantes Padilla of ATR's engineering team, was similarly upbeat: "As part of the Sumitomo group, I consider this type of training as essential for the growth of the company. The MPSS training instills the basic principles of the company, and it really does it in a fluent and easy way to understand." For Alan, Tammy and others, MPSS will reconvene in the fall for the second and final part of the training.

The Purchasing & Logistics Committee works to find various ways for group companies to save money, and currently they are focused on a project to reduce the cost of less-than-truckload freight. Led by SEUHO's Yurika Jamison, the aim of this project is to "drive toward 40% or more savings by pooling our volumes," said committee chair Scott Harvey, Director of Purchasing at SEL. Over the past year, committee members have done a great job of helping each other find items in short supply due to the pandemic. And in recent meetings, they have continued to exchange info on relevant topics: risk management in import compliance, how to evaluate scrap suppliers (as shared by Lynna Hughes of SEWS), and pricing pressure on plastics, steel, shipping, etc.

The Sumitomo Monozukuri Development Committee had their monthly meeting on June 16, during which it was announced that this year's Kaizen Summit will be held as a virtual event in September. The summit is seen as a good opportunity for companies to jump back into doing small group projects for continuous improvement. Also on this call, best practices on items in the Monozukuri Fundamentals Assessment were shared by members from Sumitomo Electric Interconnect Products and Sumitomo Electric Lightwave. The items discussed were in the areas of safety, plant management, quality, and kaizen. Finally, Keystone Powdered Metal Company delivered an insightful presentation on how they have been promoting the 200 Kaizen initiative at their plants. (Below: SMDC's chart for keeping track of 200 Kaizen at multiple SEG companies.)

On June 17, the Environmental Health & Safety Committee met online to exchange info on safety-related topics. This included a review of safety bulletins from overseas SEG companies and a notification from SEI to perform risk assessments prior to physical tasks that require more than one person to complete. In addition, committee chair Jon Poyner of SEWS gave an overview of the Global Standards Handbook from Sumitomo Wiring Systems, which has more than 40 standards for many different plant operations. Information from SEUHO's COVID-19 briefing was covered as well.

SMDC and EHS committee members were also introduced this month to Kaz Kaminaka, who joined SEUHO as VP of Plant and Production Systems Engineering on June 1. Before SEUHO, Kaminaka-san was president of Sumitomo Electric Semiconductor Materials in Oregon. Now, one of his new duties is to support the activities of both committees. He takes over these responsibilities from SEUHO manager Kyousuke "Shibu" Shibutani, who will be returning to SEI in July.

Shibu-san has been with SEUHO since May 2019, and since then has provided tremendous support to the committees. "During my time in the US, by meeting so many people in various places, making different products, I got a much better sense of how big the Sumitomo Electric Group is," he said. "The connections I made here, especially through committee work, were my greatest joy and a personal treasure." We wish Shibu-san all the best in the next chapter of his career.

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.