President's New Year Message from Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding

Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding's president Takao Tanaka has released a new year message:

Global increases in energy demand and the progression of structural changes in the industry resulting from the shale gas revolution have created a positive business environment for certain business segments. Our chemical plant business, environment and energy business, and container crane business are all benefiting from the current environment. Furthermore, our subsidiary Mitsui Ocean Development & Engineering Co., Ltd. is enjoying solid performance in its ocean resources development business. Conversely, our new shipbuilding and marine engine businesses are facing a decline in the ocean transport market that has led to a decrease in profits. Achieving recovery in these markets will require time and conditions remain difficult for the entire group. 

To adapt to such significant change in the market and overcome severe condition, it is vital that we address issues facing management with sense of urgency. As such, in June of last year not only did we launch a new operating structure but we also drafted our “Mid-term Business Plan 2014 (MBP14)” nine months early. The direction in which our company will head is one that enables us to realize “a balanced business portfolio that combines continuous growth with stable earnings” by the final year of the plan in FY2016.

In order to realize this goal, we will work specifically toward two types of reform. Our first goal is to innovate the business areas. With our current core businesses of shipbuilding and marine engines, we are facing intensifying product competition. We will strive to make a qualitative shift in our product lineup so that we can achieve a competitive advantage when the shipbuilding market does recover.

Our second goal is to innovate the business models. In the past, our business model was a build and sell model through which we sold either finished products or plants such as EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) projects. Moving forward, we will expand this model to include follow-up services, operational maintenance, and business management to create a comprehensive business model that covers the entire life cycle of our core business products. This business model will help us achieve profit stability. 

There is no future in simply continuing conventional methods. These two reforms are vital to our becoming a company with future dreams and a company that has meaning in society. 

Three years from now in November 2017, our company will celebrate its 100th anniversary. We have adopted “Creating Prosperity for Our Next 100 Years” as the catch phrase for the MBP14. This catch phrase embraces our commitment to achieving business structure reforms that will carry us to the next 100 years.