Silicones have the characteristic of having a diverse molecular structure, and we have developed over 5,000 different product varieties. These products play an important role in a wide range of fields from everyday products to solar and wind power generation and hybrid and electric vehicles, and are also essential components for achieving carbon neutrality. For example, silicone used in tires reduces rolling resistance and contributes to improved fuel efficiency.

My main role is to take silicone prototypes that are still in the development stage and produce them in mass quantities in the plant for commercialization, while working every day to improve productivity.

The plant I am in charge of manufactures more than 300 product varieties per year. Because some of these products require highly accurate monitoring of reaction rates, operators used to take samples every hour and bring them to the research department for measurement. However, once a certain sensor was found and integrated into the production line, we were able to measure reaction rates in real time, eliminating the workload on operators and the research department. At the same time, we increased the reaction temperature to shorten the reaction time. This increased the solubility of the raw materials, enabling us to reduce the amount of organic solvent used to dissolve the raw materials by 90%. This organic solvent was incinerated, so by reducing the use of organic solvent, we were able to reduce CO₂ emissions by 50% (15 tons of CO₂ annually). Combined with the increased reaction speed, this increased the yield that could be produced at once, doubling productivity.

There is room for improvement everywhere on the manufacturing sites. The examples of improvements I mentioned here were inspired from the perspective of reducing the workload on operators and the research department, so I was very surprised that they led to higher productivity and less environmental impact, which were unexpected benefits.

Our products compete in the global marketplace, so if we just keep doing the same old thing, we will have no future. I believe it is important to always imagine the ideal of how things should be, identify challenges, and continue to make improvements every day in accordance with fundamental principles. Knowing that even small improvements, when accumulated daily, can become significant competitive advantages in five or ten years, I will never stop relentlessly pursuing higher quality and productivity in our processes.