Environmental Social Governance – The core direction of the new KANSAI HELIOS Group Management Board
From April 1, the new KANSAI HELIOS Group Management Board has been performing its function. Four executive directors joined their strengths to support the growth strategy of the KANSAI HELIOS Group. A strong focus on environmentally friendly products and processes, employee health and safety, continuous research and development as well as strategic investments represent big steps towards future success on the European market.
In recent years, HELIOS has been intensifying its activities for environmental protection. The company developed and designed solutions, which not only protect objects, but also extend their lifetime significantly. New coatings solutions to reduce the consumption of all types of resources and the products’ carbon footprint have been launched. Raw materials from renewable resources are step by step replacing conventional materials. Energy is generated entirely from renewable sources or produced in our own solar power plants. Production processes are continuously improved to reduce waste and respectively reuse the waste in the production process. A year ago, we launched our internal initiative “We turn it green” to raise awareness of each individual employee, because even the small actions in terms of environmental protection, such as reducing water or paper consumption, contribute to the realization of KANSAI HELIOS’ sustainability goals.
All of these efforts take an even greater importance with the start of the new KANSAI HELIOS Group Management Board in early April. The board is formed by four Executive Directors, who not only embody the further strategic growth course of HELIOS, but also express the closer cooperation and collaboration with both shareholders, KANSAI PAINT and MITSUI.
Mr. Junichi Kajima, President, Executive Director
Mr. Mitsuru Masunaga, Executive Vice President, Executive Director
Mr. Dietmar Jost, Executive Director
Mr. Bastian Krauss, Executive Director
Mitsuru Masunaga, Dietmar Jost and Bastian Krauss will split their focus to strategically important key areas according to their professional background, while Mr. Junichi Kajima, the President, will supervise all areas. The new structure will further improve management efficiency and support KANSAI PAINT’s growth strategy towards a unified global company group. Environmental Social Governance will play an essential role on that journey.
Junichi Kajima has made it his goal to further sharpen KANSAI HELIOS strengths and additionally improve its profitability:
“The KANSAI HELIOS Group has been delivering sustainable profit growth while building a solid business foundation in a challenging business environment. This is the result of excellent teamwork and ongoing investments in new technologies, products, and research & development. And these investments, as well as investments in human resources coupled with a safe working environment, will continue. Our responsibility as a chemical company is also to make a valuable contribution to the future of our planet and society. Together with the KANSAI PAINT headquarters in Japan, we are working on joint sustainability projects as part of our ESG management. And in this context, the area of compliance is fundamental, because it is our basic management principle to develop and implement honest and fair corporate activities. My mission is to extend and sustainably expand the company´s success into the future and thus contribute to making the KANSAI PAINT Group a leading global company.”
Mitsuru Masunaga will have a strong focus on upholding and maintaining the company’s reputation and will further strengthen and support the company´s growth strategy through organic and inorganic approaches:
“We live in rapidly changing times where employee values and corporate integrity are constantly being tested. At KANSAI HELIOS, we have defined our core values and a standard of expected business behaviour in our Code of Conduct, which helps our employees make the right decisions. As ethical behaviour is an integral part of our culture, we will continue to put a strong focus on its further development and implementation. How the public perceives us is a key success factor for the further growth of the company, which will be one of my main targets. Leveraging closer cooperation and collaboration with KANSAI PAINT and MITSUI will additionally open up new opportunities and synergies for us and our business partners.”
Dietmar Jost will primarily focus on the further development of the sales strategy in Europe:
“We are striving for long-term partnerships with our customers throughout Europe. A well-educated sales team is essential and sharing our know-how with customers goes one step further. Within the framework of our HELIOS Master Classes, we will further strengthen our training and information program and thus intensify our partnerships. Integrating and exchanging state-of-the-art products and technologies with KANSAI PAINT and MITSUI will continue to enrich our assortment and to create innovations which strengthen HELIOS’ position as a system supplier on the European market. Furthermore, we will continue to promote cross-industry partnerships with the potential to develop solutions that contribute to society.”
Bastian Krauss will work intensively to further upgrade production technologies and safety:
“Technologies in the industrial manufacturing change extremely rapidly in order to deliver products faster and create a more flexible production process. The size of our group allows us to draw on a pool of experience and integrate it into our production processes in line with our growth strategy. Best practice learnings, new technologies and optimized processes are steadily entering all our entities and operational fields. Additional investments will intensify our effort in environmentally friendly activities and developments. In these dynamic processes we will be regularly monitoring the safety and health of all employees by continuing and advancing our occupational zero-accident-policy.”
The company’s intense focus on environmentally friendly processes, a strong cooperation between all KANSAI HELIOS Group members and smart investments in new technologies as well as human resources can only intensify our good results. The new Group Management Board is using their expertise to further develop and improve all sides of business operations, our position on the market as well as our sustainability goals.