In recent weeks, our CEO Ando San has toured our various plants to take stock of the situation on our performance. The participation in the meetings was excellent, but here are the highlights of his speech for those who were unable to attend.  

As we all know, the 2022 fiscal year was complex for a number of reasons: increased costs, difficulties in finding raw materials and absenteeism. Nevertheless, our overall results were very good with total group growth of 24.3% (MEHITS +26.5%, CCU +8.3%, CVI +101.9%). 

We therefore closed the fiscal year with a total turnover of € 376 million and a good recovery on margins, which returned positive, also thanks to the revision of the price lists (EBIT 8%). All the BUs have grown and had a good margin, even the Air BU has become profitable. Thank you all for contributing to these great results! 

We have put in place numerous actions and efforts to increase our production capacity, which, last year, grew by 26%. Our efficiency is also improving, thanks also to the 15 Kaizen weeks organized during the year. This is shortening the delivery time of our units. Last year punctual deliveries were only 63%, today they are around 82% and we expect to close the year at around 92%. 

One of our priorities certainly concerns the improvement of the quality of our products, starting from their design to the choice of suppliers, and finally to the assembly of the units, we can and must all contribute to the improvement on this front! 

Ando-San then addressed the issue of accidents, which despite prevention and information activities, have grown in recent months. We must understand together what the causes of these injuries are (haste, lack of standards, lack of awareness?) and work together to reverse the trend. Turnover is important but working safely is more important! 

1. The challenges for fiscal year 2023 are many and important, winning them will allow us to achieve our goals for 2025. 

2. Working on corporate culture: the 5S is the tool that allows us to lay the foundations of a culture of safety and quality.  

3. Have a customer-oriented orientation, thinking of the customer not only as who will use our products, but also who will be influenced by our daily activities. This can be an element of strong change and for this reason it is considered a priority. 

4. Respect all rules and procedures, and always apply them. If they exist there is a reason!  

5. We take advantage of this year that promises to be quieter to strengthen our presence on the market and return to the basics, without the frenzy of the past months. 

The floor then passed to our CPO Andrea Marchioro commented on the HR report shared recently, recalling all the initiatives launched this year, from Fidelity to the Talent Awards, passing through all the promotional activities at schools and universities.  

In closing, Seki-San greeted and thanked everyone for his experience in MEHITS, you can read his message here to know what he will take home from this experience and what he will do when he returns to Japan.