Message from the President

We will advance toward the goal of becoming a sustainable company that can solve issues facing society through our unique ceramic technologies.

I believe that a company’s existence is meaningless unless it contributes to resolving social issues. At the NGK Group, our purpose is to contribute to society by using ceramic technologies to resolve social issues. Across generations and in the face of a changing environment, we must never stray from this guiding principle.

In April 2023, we formulated the NGK Group Basic Sustainability Policy to further clarify the direction the NGK Group intends to take. And, we also identified materiality. In 2024, we disclosed targets and results for each materiality.

My greatest dream is to use ceramic technologies to contribute to reducing greenhouse gases. At the same time, reducing greenhouse gases is a major medium-term issue for our Company, and our greatest mission. Ceramics can certainly lead to resolving the social issues that, in turn, help prevent global warming. I hope to fulfill this mission by collaborating with other companies towards accomplishing what we cannot achieve on our own.

We are steadily moving towards achievement of the goal we have set for this purpose: New Value 1000 (NV1000). It sets a target of 100 billion yen or more in sales from newly commercialized products by 2030. Many employees are keenly aware of NV1000, and I believe people are able to more freely take the approach of, “Well, I might fail, but it’s still worth trying.”

This kind of challenge is what has spurred the current development of new products for realizing carbon neutrality. These include direct air capture (DAC) ceramics, which absorb and recover carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and sub-nano ceramic membranes, which separate specific gases and liquids from mixed gases and liquids at the molecular level. These types of products are successes achieved by taking on challenges. Also, our organic compound crystal search service and NR-Power Lab Co., Ltd., a power operator founded jointly with Ricoh Company, Ltd., were major gains for the NGK Group and represent our expansion into businesses focused on providing services beyond manufacturing.

I believe that the most important critical mission of a company is to be trusted by its stakeholders. I view enterprise value as an expression of how much a company is contributing to the world. If we listen carefully to all stakeholders, I believe that we have the power to create more products that can make a greater contribution to society.

To achieve our ultimate goal of becoming a company trusted by all stakeholders. The NGK Group will continue to move forward and pursue constant innovation and challenges.