The 50th Anniversary of the Founding of OMRON Taiyo

• April 8, 2022

OMRON Taiyo Co., Ltd. (HQ: Beppu, Oita Prefecture; President: Ikuo Tateishi; hereinafter “OMRON Taiyo”) celebrated its 50th anniversary of its founding. OMRON Taiyo is a special subsidiary of OMRON Corporation (HQ: Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture; President and CEO: Yoshihito Yamada; hereinafter “OMRON”) and the first welfare plant in Japan.

A welfare plant producing electronic components, OMRON Taiyo was established in 1972 through joint investment by OMRON and the social welfare corporation Japan Sun Industries (Location: Beppu, Oita Prefecture; President: Tatsuo Yamashita). Its establishment was grounded in the shared convictions of Kazuma Tateishi, OMRON’s founder, who believed that a business should create value for society, and Dr. Yutaka Nakamura, the founder of Japan Sun Industries, who asserted that, even if there were some physically and mentally disabled people in society, they should not have to face barriers at work.

Of the 72 employees of OMRON Taiyo at present, 33 have physical, intellectual, or mental disabilities. These employees are engaged in the production of sockets for control devices, OMRON’s mainstay products, as well as thumb rotary switches and various other types of switches and sensors. Ever since its founding, OMRON Taiyo has made various adjustments in areas including personnel assignments adapted to the handicaps of each individual employee, automation of processes on the manufacturing site, and process improvement using jigs, in order to prepare workplaces and environments enabling all to work, regardless of whether or not they have a disability. In this way, it is promoting the construction of workplaces where employees can leverage their individuality and abilities to the fullest. Cases of action on proposals for improvement from the site of production totaled 1,361 over the ten-year period beginning in fiscal 2011, and led to a commendation from Oita Prefectural Government. It may also be noted that OMRON Taiyo accepts about 2,000 visitors for tours of its plant every year. It continues to strive for the creation of employment opportunities for the disabled and expansion of chances for exercise of their skills, together with other companies and administrative institutions promoting employment of the disabled.

With the approach of the 50th anniversary, President Tateishi of OMRON Taiyo offered the following comments.
“As I see it, the 50-year history of OMRON Taiyo, which showed the way to the rest of society as Japan’s first welfare plant, is one and the same as the history of employment of the disabled in Japan. OMRON’s long-term vision is encapsulated in the words “innovation driven by social needs, through automation to empower people.” At its base is “respect for all” stated in the OMRON Principles and the idea of OMRON’s founder that “people who most make others happy become the happiest themselves.” In keeping with this vision, we at OMRON Taiyo are determined to continue leading the building of a truly inclusive society that brings together all people and their know-how and conveys a genuine feeling of well-being to all of its members, as a pioneering employer of the disabled.”

OMRON’s long-standing approaches to employment of the disabled may be exemplified particularly by its establishment of OMRON Taiyo in 1972 and OMRON Kyoto Taiyo in 1985 with a view to helping the disabled lead self-supporting lives. Currently, the percentage of employees with disabilities at the OMRON Group is 3.1%,*1 and the group continues to achieve a level of disabled employment above the legally prescribed minimum.*2In addition, as one of the management targets (non-financial) in our long-term vision launched in April, we posted “achieving employment of the disabled at our 28 overseas sites and maintaining the ratio of employees with disabilities at 3% in Japan.”

Going forward, OMRON will continue to develop environments in which people with varied beliefs and value perceptions can fully demonstrate their capabilities and bring out their unique potential, in line with the idea of “respect for all” stated in the OMRON Principles. In so doing, we shall aspire to innovation driven by social needs for the solution of social issues, and the achievement of an autonomous society reconciling the pursuit of greater enrichment for society as a whole with that of personal fulfillment.

*1 As of June 2021
*2 Legally prescribed minimum rate: 2.3% (as of March 2021)