Canon 2008 Annual Report Download - page 8

6
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Priority Goals
f
or Fiscal 200
9
In 2009, we are charting a major change o
f
course
f
rom
soun
d
growt
h
to improve
d
management qua
l
ity as we
d
irect
our energies over the year toward preparing
f
or the Compa
-
n
y
’s next leap forward. Moreover, we have returned to the
ori
g
inal intent of our Excellent Global Corporation Plan to
achieve speed and qualit
y
with the realization that now is
the time to start ever
y
thin
g
anew. Specifi call
y
, we will pur
-
sue the followin
g
priorit
y
g
oals
.
Our
fi
rst priority goal is the timely launch o
f
highly
competitive new products that excel in terms o
f
f
unctional-
ity, design, ease-o
f
-use, reliability and cost per
f
ormance. The
essence o
f
competitiveness is innovation, beginning with the
enhancement of the Compan
y
’s ke
y
components. Further-
more, we consider “cross-media ima
g
in
g
” to be the
g
uide
-
line for innovation. Drawin
g
on the Compan
y
’s shared di
g
ital
platforms of color mana
g
ement, wireless and user interface
technologies, cross-media imaging enables a high level of
co
ll
a
b
oration among input an
d
output
d
evices an
d
increases
pro
d
uct synergies an
d
a
dd
e
d
va
l
ue.
Our secon
d
priority goa
l
is to
l
ower t
h
e cost to sa
l
es ratio.
W
e believe that achieving sustainable growth into the
f
uture
re
q
uires the dedication of a considerable volume of resources to
R
&D and, consequentl
y
, the Compan
y
must maintain stead
y
cash fl ows. That is our main reason for workin
g
to establish
optimal SCM. For this purpose, at the end of Januar
y
2009,
Canon had alread
y
completed the introduction of a new,
highly e
ff
ective production in
f
ormation system to 20 produc
-
tion
f
acilities,
f
ollowing its initial deployment at Oita Canon
Inc. in 2003. T
h
is system not on
l
y centra
l
izes pro
d
uction
in
f
ormation
f
or the entire Group, but also links technical
in
f
ormation
f
rom the development side and in
f
ormation
r
elated to demand
f
rom sales and marketing.
In addition to this system, in the
f
uture we will move
f
orward with the establishment o
f
an integrated system
f
or
m
ana
g
in
g
product qualit
y
information as well as a next
-
g
eneration lo
g
istics s
y
stem that links information from the
m
arketplace directl
y
to production while handlin
g
the ship
-
p
in
g
, stora
g
e and transport of allocated products. We are
carr
y
in
g
out innovation initiatives, includin
g
our pull produc
-
tion system, which allows us to e
ffi
ciently respond to demand
fl
uctuations. By uni
f
ying all the in
f
ormation through IT re-
f
orms, Canon will
f
urther improve its management e
ffi
ciency
.
The main advantage realized by centralizing in
f
orma
-
tion throu
g
h these IT reforms is the abilit
y
to make pro
g
ress
in all business processes at the same time. Full
y
implement-
ed, this unparalleled s
y
stem will enable such results as
timin
g
the completion of product desi
g
n to coincide with
the completion of production equipment design, keeping
inventories o
f
goods in transit only and entirely eliminating
the need
f
or warehouses. The Company is determined to
ultimately realize such a system o
f
centralized in
f
ormation
.
C
l
ose
l
y connecte
d
wit
h
t
h
ese activities is our t
h
ir
d
p
riorit
y
g
oal of carr
y
in
g
out sweepin
g
reforms to further
r
aise qualit
y
. Problems with qualit
y
can cause considerable
d
ama
g
e to a brand ima
g
e and lead to a loss of public trust.
M
oreover, lack of qualit
y
durin
g
product desi
g
n results in
w
asted materials and ener
gy
. With this in mind, the Com
-
p
any
h
as esta
bl
is
h
e
d
new ru
l
es covering a
ll
pro
d
uct commer
-
cia
l
ization processes. In t
h
e event t
h
at any pro
bl
em s
h
ou
ld
arise, we wi
ll
strict
l
y a
dh
ere to t
h
e
b
asic qua
l
ity contro
l
p
rinciple o
f
diligently
f
acing and working to resolve it. This
With speed and quality in mind, we wi
ll
reorganize
the Compan
y
into a fi rm structure that
completely eliminates ine
ffi
ciencie
s