Our Group's Approach to CSR

We aim to contribute to a richer, more sustainable future by providing analog semiconductor-based solutions. The CSR Policy was formulated in March 2017 and has applied to the group as a whole since January 2018. It sets out and clarifies our philosophy concerning the social responsibilities of our group, the direction of our initiatives, and our commitment to our stakeholders.
The policy is a set of guidelines providing details of our aims and initiatives for achieving our corporate philosophy. Although our operations are centered on business-to-business transactions, we are focused on the consumers and future society that exist ahead of our clients, and strive to develop products and solutions that will bring happiness to people and promote sustainable communities. We have identified four important means of achieving this: (1) creating innovative social value through our operations; (2) conserving the global environment; (3) providing safe, health and worthwhile working environments; (4) instilling energy and pride in our group.

CSR Policy

We use our innovative solutions centered on analog semiconductors to bring new joy to people's lives and contribute to achieving a sustainable, prosperous future.

For this goal, we are committed to taking the following actions with passion:

  1. We integrate all our knowledge and technology to provide innovative products and solutions that influence customers and society.
  2. We provide products and services which achieve a leading position worldwide for environmental performance, while striving to minimize the environmental impact of business activities.
  3. We prioritize the safety and health of all employees and provide a rewarding work environment.
  4. On a foundation of strict compliance in accordance with laws and regulations and social demands, we foster a vibrant working environment that respects human rights and diversity in order to build a company group that all employees can be proud of.

Effective January 5, 2018

Framework for Promoting CSR

A CSR Committee was established in March 2017 to promote socially responsible operations and sustainable development. The Department of CSR Initiatives acts as Secretariat. It is chaired by the President & Representative Director, and comprised of the full-time members of the Board of Directors and the heads of the corporate departments.
The CSR Committee is responsible for and authorized to formulate the basic guidelines concerning CSR for the group as a whole, discuss and approve goals for each year, monitor and review CSR activities, foster CSR within the company, formulate and foster charters and codes of corporate behavior, investigate and address compliance-related issues, and discuss and make decisions concerning the establishment of rules for risk management, etc.
In 2017, the Internal Control Department undertook the hands-on work for promoting CSR from March to September. In the remaining months of the year, this was done by the Internal Audit Department, which reports directly to the President, and has been done by the Office of CSR Initiatives since March 2018. The Department of CSR Initiatives is responsible for promoting CSR.

CSR Management

From April to December 2017 (when ABLIC was still consolidated with Seiko Instruments Inc.), the CSR Committee led the way in formulating the annual CSR goals and putting in place a framework for compliance, risk management, labor health and safety, etc. for the forthcoming de-consolidation in January 2018. Specifically, it provided relevant company regulations, educated members of the board, division heads, and rank-and-file employees about compliance, put in place a framework and systems concerning risk management for the corporation as a whole, unified the management of labor safety and health, and undertook the sharing of information and education for the corporation as a whole.
CSR activities—such as education on compliance and employee awareness surveys— are promoted in accordance with PDCA-style management (plan, do, check, act) by having the CSR Committee discuss and approve the annual CSR goals that are formulated by each department in accordance with the new CSR Policy from January 2018. We are phasing in CSR management across other companies in the group and promoting it at the group as a whole.
In April 2020, we became a member of the MinebeaMitsumi Group. In order to further strengthen our CSR activities, we will identify materialities (material issues) and formulate/implement CSR activity planning focusing on materialities in order to achieve sustainable development.

Materialities

In December 2020, our group identified materialities for responding to the expectations and demands of society including our stakeholders and achieving sustainable development as investment in the CSR field through the appropriate use of limited resources. As our group has a single business that engages in the manufacture and sale of semiconductors, our materialities differ slightly from those of our parent company MinebeaMitsumi, which has multiple businesses.

Materiality Identification Process

<Identification Process>
Step 1: Identification of targets for evaluation
We set evaluation targets in accordance with our parent company, MinebeaMitsumi. MinebeaMitsumi has established 20 candidate material issues based on GRI Standards (an international framework for CSR), SDGs (sustainable development goals set by the UN), and ISO26000 etc.

Step 2: Stakeholder evaluation
As with Step 1, we used data obtained from MinebeaMitsumi.

Step 3: Internal evaluation
An interview survey was conducted on members of the Board of Directors and the heads of the corporate departments closely involved in CSR activities. We scored and evaluated the 20 items based on the results of this survey.

Step 4: Identify materialities based on deliberation by CSR Committee
Our CSR Committee conducted careful deliberation based on the evaluation results obtained in Step 3 and ultimately identified 10 materialities.

Evaluation results up to Step 3 are shown below.

Investigated/Identified Items and Evaluation Results

The ultimate materialities were identified based on the above evaluation results, and the results of deliberation by the CSR Committee in Step 4. In particular, “5. Effectively utilize resources” was selected taking into account the fact that a very large amount of water must be used in the semiconductor manufacturing process, and “Water crises” are constantly a top issue in the Global Risk Report.

Material Issues and Actions for Material Issues

Our materialities were identified as shown below by means of the identification process described above.

Material Issues and Actions for Material Issues

CSR Goals

Internal Auditing of CSR Activities

In accordance with the Code of Conduct of the RBA (Responsible Business Alliance; formerly “EICC”), the Internal Audit Department conducts a conformance audit (*) once per year.

*Of the RBA frameworks of “Labor,” “Health and Safety,” “Environment,” “Management Systems” and “Ethics,” the internal audit will target “Labor,” “Management Systems” and “Ethics.” “Health and Safety” and “Environment” are confirmed in the PDCA cycle for ISO45001 and ISO14001.

In-house Promotion of CSR

Activities for spreading knowledge about CSR inside the corporation were carried out in 2016 and 2018 to foster greater understanding about CSR and familiarity with the CSR Policy. A study session was organized for members of the Board of Directors in 2016. Sixteen people took part. In the following year, a total of five seminars were organized for managerial staff and rank-and-file employees. They were attended by about 600 members of staff. In addition, harassment seminars were conducted targeting all employees in 2018. The seminars were attended by 1,195 employees. In April of each year, new employees receive training on the basics of CSR.

Findings of questionnaire concerning Basic CSR Seminar for Managerial Staff

Q. Did the seminar help you understand CSR?

Q. Mention any parts of the seminar that made an impression. List any comments.

・Gained a good understanding of CSR. ・Gained a good understanding of how the company stands to benefit; common assumptions in Japan won't work, etc. (approx. 40%) ・Need to take a moral view ・Felt the need for CSR ・Need to familiarize people across the corporation ・Labor and human rights ・Specific activities ・Changes to the key theme of CSR

Q. Expectations, requests, etc. concerning CSR activities

・Conduct seminars for rank-and-file employees (approx. 30%) (need for understanding across the corporation as a whole; education for local staff outside of Japan) ・ Briefings on specific initiatives (approx. 30%) ・ Effective use to enhance corporate value ・ Putting CSR into practice ・ Making work worthwhile ・ Need to draw attention to CSR inside the corporation ・ Provide arrangements for responding to clients ・ Instilling pride in the corporation ・ Dealing with CSR-related risks ・ Contributing to community development ・ Make all employees familiar with the ideals and policy (approx. 12%)

CSR seminar in progress

The President speaking at a CSR seminar

Familiarizing Staff with CSR During 2018

Briefings were held in various locations of the ABLIC Group between February and May 2018 to familiarize staff with the ABLIC Corporate Philosophy, CSR Policy, Code of Conduct, etc.

Briefing in Seoul

Briefing in Shenzhen

Briefing in Shanghai

Briefing in Hong Kong

Briefing in Taipei

Briefing in Taipei

Briefing at the Takatsuka Unit

Briefing in Los Angeles

Harassment seminars (November 2018 to February 2019)

CSR Management