Message from the Chief Digital Officer

Hirotsugu Takeuchi
Senior Executive Officer
Chief Digital Officer (CDO)

Digital technology is essential to shaping the future of our business and enhancing organizational competitiveness. I believe it is my mission to create an environment where all employees can leverage information assets to find data-driven solutions to current issues.

As we advance digital transformation (DX) and use more digital technology, the feedback we hear from various workplaces has revealed some issues, such as concerns about information sharing, a lack of individual skills and managerial understanding, and the inability to invest time and resources due to the demands of regular duties.

In light of this, DENSO is taking a pragmatic approach to DX aimed at enhancing competitiveness. Rather than rushing ahead with digitalization, we are first simplifying and standardizing current work processes, aggregating data and knowledge, and then moving toward automation in a methodical manner. This approach ensures that the IT Digital Center, which is spearheading our DX, is advancing digitalization with a keen awareness of on-the-ground realities and issues. In fiscal 2025, we are advancing our digital strategy along the following three objectives.

The first objective is establishing a digital platform. In fiscal 2022, DENSO confirmed that multiple cyberattacks had taken place, including unauthorized access, targeting Group companies in North America and Europe. Determined to prevent such incidents from affecting stakeholders, we reinforced our security platform with more effective countermeasures across the entire Group. Moving forward, we will extend our security platform to companies in our supply and value chains, ensuring a safer, more secure and comfortable working environment.

Additionally, we are upgrading infrastructure that digitally connects approximately 160,000 Group employees worldwide. We are transforming work practices through the creative use of data generated on the front lines, with all employees using digital handsets, including those in manufacturing. We intend to enhance this platform by incorporating generative AI in the future.

The second objective is cultivating a digital mindset. No matter how advanced digital tools become, the tools themselves are not the main actors. We are conducting training for all employees to cultivate digital talent capable of leveraging advanced digital technologies and data to improve competitiveness. This initiative is positioned as a Companywide measure, with human resources and IT departments working as one team to visualize the use of digital technologies across organizations, positions, and individuals, and provide support tailored to each workplace and individual.

The third objective is standardizing and automating business processes. Building on DENSO’s core idea of lean automation, i.e., an automated production system that eliminates as much waste as possible, the Company is advancing the transformation of business processes through simplification, standardization, centralization, and automation. By digitizing core information, we are dramatically improving the integration of information across processes and domains. Employees who have become digital talent will take the initiative to review and improve their workflows, utilizing our digital platforms to drive improvements and transformation.

In fiscal 2025, one of our priority initiatives is the application of generative AI to enhance operational efficiency and reduce costs, in order to free up capacity and increase vitality in the workplace. In the medium to long term, we plan to harness this extra capacity and vitality to drive comprehensive DX across DENSO, changing business processes that support operations, as well as enhancing the capabilities and competitiveness of our organization, with the ultimate aim of sustaining growth.

From a broad perspective, DENSO’s ability to identify and use technology to solve workplace issues will translate into value that benefits society. The QR Code® that DENSO introduced in 1994 is a prime example of how the Company’s innovations have become deeply integrated into daily life around the world, contributing to society’s advancement. By embedding the power of digital technologies into DENSO’s businesses and organization, the Company will enhance its competitiveness and transform itself into a company that provides even greater value to society.