Awards presented and initiatives outlined for a post-COVID world.
Pictured above from left to right: Chairman Ikeda, who awarded the Chairman Appreciation and Special Awards to Matsuzaki, Yamamoto, and Kondo during JBMIA’s 60th Anniversary Ceremony.
The Japan Business Machine and Information System Industries Association (JBMIA) held its 60th Anniversary Ceremony in Tokyo on November 13, 2020. JBMIA is a Japanese office equipment manufacturer group whose current sales of copiers and printers account for 80% of the total sales in the office equipment industry, including data projectors, calculators, electronic dictionaries, and POS equipment.
JBMIA’s 60th anniversary was last February. However, the celebration was postponed to November due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 150 people gathered at the venue for the rescheduled celebration, and another 100 people viewed the live stream.
Special awards are presented at JBMIA anniversary ceremonies every 10 years. This year, Director Akira Hayama, also president of Riso Kagaku Corporation, received the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award, and Director Toshikazu Koike, also chairman of Brother Industries, Ltd., received the Commerce and Information Policy Bureau Director’s Award. In addition, Masatoshi Matsuzaki, chairman of the board of Konica Minolta; Tadahito Yamamoto, former chairman of Fuji Xerox; and Shiro Kondo, former chairman of Ricoh—all of whom have served as chairman or vice-chairman of JBMIA—received the Chairman Appreciation Award, which was presented by Chairman Talayuki Ikeda.
Other Special Awards bestowed included the Chairman’s Award, and awards for long-term officers, committee chairman of merit, department chairman of merit, and secretary of merit. General Awards, which are presented every year, included the chairman appreciation (to individuals) and the chairman award (to groups).
JBMIA Managing Director Hirotoshi Tanaka addressed the organization’s progress and detailed its activities of the last 10 years. Managing Director Hiroshi Hashizume discussed expansion of JBMIA initiatives created in response to COVID-19 and the introduction of the new pandemic-related initiatives. These presentations were followed by one from a representative of the Future Vision Study Working Group, who introduced “the future of working” brought on by social changes.
Discussing JBMIA’s three latest initiatives, Ikeda referenced the document authenticity platform, which enables reliability, security, and safety of documents and data using advanced fields.
“Work-style reforms have progressed in the last few years, and with the influence of COVID-19, the work locations and hours of users have diversified,” explained Ikeda. “In response to these social shifts, we are working to create an environment where prints and scans can be performed anytime, anywhere. For this effort, it is important to have two areas coexist: the area in which each company competes in its own business and the area of co-creation that can be developed through collaboration. We would like to proceed with speed, without delays, to address these rapid changes in society.”
The second initiative is the MFP gateway platform.
The third initiative is the arterial logistics cooperation activity where similar products of each company are loaded on a single truck and delivered.
“This is a co-creation project that transcends the boundaries of each company,” said Ikeda. “We have already collaborated with logistics that serve to collect used MFPs. But this time, we will cooperate and share the last mile in arterial logistics that delivers new machines to users. Through this arterial logistics cooperation activity, we aim to contribute to white logistics and to SDGs (sustainable development goals) by reducing CO2 output.”
Ikeda also outlined the association’s three most pressing themes. These include global business development that contributes to the promotion of SDGs; prompt response to changes in the social environment; and further improvement of the association’s management and presence.
“The current issue is how best the association and the industry can contribute to society now and after COVID-19,” said Ikeda. “We would like to propose solutions that are unique to JBMIA to address complex and multi-layered issues and produce results that can only be achieved by JBMIA. ”
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