Linking people to the future with OMRON窶冱 perspective on cutting edge technology
In recent years, especially in the millennial generation, the concept of "Purpose", meaning the significance and value of the existence of organizations and companies in society is receiving a high attention. What is required for a company aiming to run a sustainable business is not only to look into the future, but also for each and every employee to think about the significance of what they work for and put it into practice. OMRON has inherited the spirit of its corporate motto, established by its founder Kazuma Tateishi: " To improve lives and contribute to a better society". From this perspective, to expand the circle of empathy and resonance by sharing stories of how all employees have put this principle into practice and how they have worked and contributed to creating a better society on a global scale, "TOGA (The OMRON Global Awards)" is held. The following is an introduction to this initiative, which generates thousands of challenges around the world every year.
The concept of "Purpose," which is rooted in the founding spirit and corporate culture is attracting attention to run a sustainable management. Purpose is the reason and the significance for a company's existence, in other words, "What is this company for? Why we run a business?".
OMRON, which aims to contribute for creating a better society through its businesses, has long been developing technologies and businesses focusing on solving social issues. Employees sublimate this company-wide perspective from their own standpoint while being aware of "Why do I work?" in their daily work and contribute to creating a better society by putting OMRON Principles into practice. TOGA is held every year as an initiative to share these individual stories on a global scale and encourage all employees to put OMRON principles into practice, which is the source of OMRON's strength. TOGA was launched in 2012 as an initiative to support practice of the OMRON Principles and is a year-long program. OMRON Global Meet, where employees present the results of our year-long practices, is held every year on May 10, OMRON Founder's Day. This year, due to the global outbreak of COVID-19, it was held online in December.
In fiscal 2012, the first year of TOGA, approximately 20,000 people participated in the event. By the eighth year, the number of participants had grown to 52,780, and the number of themes entered had risen to 6,405(*1). The cumulative number of participants exceeded 300,000 and the number of entries per employee has been increasing every year, too.
The process of TOGA is unique. Employees form their own teams, share their goals and aspirations with their team member, declare their implementation of the principles, and then share their initiatives with the entire company. The project that best embodies the principles is highly evaluated and awarded. The key questions in this process are: "What is the purpose of this initiative?" and "How is it connected to social issues?" in their own words. Putting commitment into practice, the social value are created, shared and spread throughout the company.
The themes entered by each participant will go on to the area competition after the selection in each division, where the criteria for selection are not the tangible results, but rather the degree of challenge and the degree to which the theme is more related to solving social issues. The theme selected for the Gold Theme in area competition will move on to the Global Meet (*2), where they share the practice of the OMRON Principles with all employees around the world. The other teams' initiatives and evaluation from the management team become topics of conversation in the teams and workplaces, and by sharing their stories with their peers, the circle of sympathy and resonance spread around the world.
*1: TOGA allows entries to multiple themes, and the number of participants is the total number.
*2: There is no selection process in the global award and it only consist presentations.
At the eighth year of TOGA, 16 themes were shared, including a special award selected from the global.
From OMRON Healthcare (CHINA) CO.,Ltd (OHC) , initiatives to build an optimal healthcare infrastructure for diabetes "Metabolic Management Center (MMC) Health Convenience Store" was shared. In China, the number of chronic disease patients has rapidly increased and there have been many cases that patients were not able to receive the proper treatment at the proper time because patient information was handled separately by each department and hospital in its own system. OMRON group in China solved this issue by establishing MMC, a one-stop shop for sharing patient information among departments and hospitals providing optimal treatment by professional medical staff. The circle of resonance to this theme shared in the sixth year of TOGA has spread wider. It led to sharing a new challenge of OHC to create MMC Health Convenience Store that is easier to access and seamlessly connecting home and medical care. MMC Health Convenience Store made patients possible and easier to receive latest medical treatment at pharmacies in town which were previously only available at hospitals and clinics. The town's pharmacies serve as hubs to link patients and hospitals and it improved convenience for patients and create new opportunities for cutting-edge medical treatment.
The story of challenging to the rise of the wearable blood pressure monitor, which was world's first to be certified as a medical device from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was also shared. The home blood pressure monitor was a great step forward in preventing the onset of cerebral and cardiovascular diseases caused by hypertension, but to achieve OMRON's goal of Going for Zero (*3), a wearable blood pressure monitor that captures blood pressure fluctuation during the day is required. OMRON Healthcare focused on the cuff (airbags inside the inflating portion of blood pressure monitors), which is indispensable for blood pressure measurement, and developed a wristwatch type wearable blood pressure monitor with an innovative triple cuff configuration. The product has been released with medical certification in the U.S., Japan and Europe, contributing to the realization of Going for Zero.
All themes in TOGA also reflect the aspirations of employees who take on the challenge of implementing OMRON Principle into practice, and the results of their sincere efforts have led to many social contributions.
*3: refers to preventing the onset of serious events attributable to hypertension
Yoshihito Yamada, President and CEO of OMRON Corporation, shares his thoughts on TOGA as follows.
"OMRON has great stories of practicing its principles into practice. The reason why I have started TOGA is because by I wanted to expand the circle of resonance by digging out each story of each employee's initiative of implementing OMRON Principles into practice and sharing them to all. A deep understanding and resonance with our principles can draw out the passion and unleash potential of each and every OMRON employee. As a result, we will be able to solve social issues through our businesses and enhance our corporate value. This is what OMRON Principles management is all about. I look forward to continuing to work together with all of you and put our principles into practice."
In line with these words, through TOGA, OMRON is expanding the circle of sympathy and resonance for the practice of its principles by sharing and praising their initiatives made in their daily work and workplace. TOGA, in which all employees actively participate, will continue creating opportunities for the next generation to innovate and create new values to the society. OMRON will continue challenging to solve social issues through implementation of its principles.
