Top Message

Looking back on FY2024

When the global pandemic finally came to an end in 2023, semiconductor supplies generally normalized, but the business environment remained challenging due to spiking costs of energy, raw materials and personnel, as well as elevated geopolitical risks.
Despite these challenges, our net sales for FY2024 increased year-on-year to ¥4,909.5 billion (+¥506.7 billion YoY). This is largely attributed to the depreciated yen, the increase in electric units sold and the number of vehicles produced primarily in Japan and the USA due to recovery in semiconductor demand. Although some quality-related expenses were recorded, operating profit increased to ¥143.3 billion (+¥85.4 billion) due to the realigning of our corporate framework and business environment.
Our continuous improvements to our corporate structure and operations since the start of our management integration in 2021 as well as the fruits of our active investment in the electrification domain are key factors to this outstanding performance. We can truly see the concrete results of our past efforts beginning to make a difference. In 2023, AISIN created a three-year medium-term management plan that would result in a “full model change.”
Building strategically, this three-year plan calls for “hop,” “step” and “jump” phases, and in 2024 we made some big steps. Moving forward, we will rapidly accelerate our efforts to bring about more internal change and continue building our strength as a company.

Growth Trajectory to 2030

Growth Strategy to 2030

We established the medium- to long-term business strategy in 2023 as part of our vision for 2030. In the automobile industry, there are accelerating trends towards carbon neutrality, electrification of mobility, and incorporation of intelligence. Businesses that adapt to trends and resolve social issues are positioned as growing domains as we transform our business portfolio. It is our goal to achieve revenues of ¥5.5 to ¥6 trillion in 2030 by bolstering our earning structure in other businesses, including automatic transmissions and body products, to efficiently generate profits that can be reinvested as capital into growing domains.
AISIN's strengths lie in our wide-ranging product portfolio (including powertrain, chassis, brakes, and body); our various production technologies that cover everything from raw materials to processing and assembly; and our global-scale manufacturing capabilities. While enhancing our individual products, we will also systematize through function consolidation and integrated controls to bring high value-added battery electric vehicle (BEV) products and wholly new user experiences to the market.

Restructure Business Portfolio for FY2031 (Conceptual Image)

Our shift towards BEV production is fueled by our diverse technology offerings and specialized manufacturing techniques to develop new products that increase vehicle-wide power consumption efficiency. Examples of these include the electric drive unit eAxle, regenerative brake systems, heat management, aerodynamic devices, battery frames, and giga-cast/mega-cast. With integrated vehicle controls, we expect that we can improve electric consumption efficiency by at least 18% across the entire vehicle, greatly exceeding our 10% improvement target set in 2021.
Hybrid vehicles (HEV) have been gaining popularity in Europe and North America as a practical solution to achieving carbon neutrality, while the shift to BEV has accelerated in China, resulting in an ongoing lack of clarity in the road ahead. Our ability to respond with flexibility is one of our greatest strengths, and AISIN remains the only global automotive parts manufacturer that provides a full lineup of electric drive units for HEV, PHEV, BEV, and FCEV. This full lineup is appreciated by our customers and has led to new orders and inquiries. We also agreed to collaborations with SUBARU and BMW in 2024.

Development of Battery Electric Vehicles

Our intelligent technology vision includes IT systems that take over for humans in the mobility context by detecting, judging and acting on a human’s behalf with great precision. In addition to AISIN’s specialty in core vehicle functions - driving, turning, and stopping - we are also developing IT products and services for the mobility space that learn user preferences in real time and enhance their mobility experience through added safe, comfort, and convenience. For example, we are developing a unique entry system that connects people and vehicles with peripheral monitoring technology and IT systems to enable safe vehicle entry and exit with greater peace of mind.

Example of intelligence
(Safe and comfort entry)

Connect people and vehicle by peripheral monitoring technology and door system

We will continue developing systems that autonomously support users in our mission to “inspire movement and create tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, AISIN’s goal is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, with carbon neutrality achieved in manufacturing by 2035 and zero-emissions factories by 2040. At the core of these activities is power source, heat source, and waste reduction; clean energy; and resource cycling aimed at zero waste. We are striving to develop clean energy technology, and in 2023 we began demonstrations of Perovskite solar cells, CO2 separation/capturing/fixation, and bio briquette charcoal. In addition to achieving carbon neutrality at AISIN, we will promote the development of technologies that improve the environment and society while advancing new lines of business that also contribute to carbon neutrality.
We could not jump to our goals for 2030 without taking the necessary steps in 2023 to bring about internal change and gain strength. That is why we formulated the medium-term management plan for 2025 and are steadily pursuing structural changes. We are reducing our business assets, eliminating cross-shareholdings, and reducing inventory in our efforts to reform our balance sheet. By 2025, we will generate ¥400 billion in cash (equivalent to 10% of our total assets) and invest that in growing domains. We worked to further accelerate our growth strategies in several ways. We conducted large-scale organizational changes and bolstered the Corporate Strategy Division that manages all regions, groups, and businesses. We established a manufacturing division that monitors all production cross-sectionally across product and regional categories. We also created a value chain business center aimed at expanding businesses beyond new vehicles. By 2025, we will transition resources and conduct reskilling with more than 3,000 of our team members to accelerate the shift of personnel to growing domains. By completing these structural changes, we will solidify the groundwork for our transformational 2030 jump.
The Board of Directors continually discusses and evaluates these structural changes and growth strategies, as well.
Members of the Board of Directors actively share their opinions from their respective areas of expertise, and Board of Directors meetings are becoming noticeably more vigorous.
Recently, initiatives on human capital and the environment are playing increasingly important roles in the lines of business they are linked to. We believe it is necessary to further deepen discussions to include sustainability perspectives, thereby achieving further growth for AISIN and improving corporate value.

The Evolution of Human Power

People are the most important part to achieving our goal of a full model change. It requires a diverse group of employees who are striving and growing. AISIN’s 2030 vision for itself and its members involves taking on challenges through the Group’s global consolidation, and empowering all employees to develop themselves into workforce and industry leaders. To achieve this, we are investing in people.
To maximize the benefits of the Group’s global consolidation, we are gradually reforming our HR evaluations to reward growth and challenging oneself, and there has been an uptick in people who volunteer to take on challenges and be active. In particular, we see mid-career employees exhibiting changed attitudes and approaches to their work. The mixing of various personnel through management integration, along with the culture of taking on challenges, has led to expanded business in completely novel domains such as Choisoko and YYSystem.
These new businesses were so well received that we were selected for inclusion in the Digital Transformation (DX) Stocks for the first time ever in 2024.
To empower all employees to become the world’s best workforce, we will continue our efforts to support women in the workplace, we will draw on veteran employees with their wealth of experience, and we will cultivate personnel at overseas subsidiaries to serve important roles. AISIN has received special recognition for four consecutive years through its selection as Nadeshiko Brand where women play key roles.
In preparation for the increase in production conducted overseas, we are also working to optimally assign the overseas personnel who will lead our global businesses. Our five European companies are currently led by local personnel in top management positions. Giving these local subsidiaries the discretion to respond quickly to customers’ needs has bolstered our sales capabilities overseas.
It is essential to cultivate a more open culture at workplaces in order to support these challenges and ensure that all personnel can thrive. Quality related misconduct has been prevalent in recent news, but the key to eliminating such issues is an open workplace culture where employees can openly and honestly discuss concerns they encounter. The Toyota Group Vision was announced in January 2024. The Toyota vision of restoring authority to the “Genba” (front lines) is mirrored by AISIN’s efforts to reform our own corporate culture. I believe that an open workplace culture that supports taking on challenges is essentially the same as an open workplace culture where employees can frankly discuss problems they encounter. We will continue the work we have started with workplace culture reforms over the past two years. I truly believe that AISIN’s increased success in the future depends on our ability to become a company where all employees vigorously take on challenges and grow.

Communication with factory technicians on-site at the workplace (Genchi Genbutsu)

Inspiring ”Movement”, Creating Tomorrow

As a parts producer with a deep understanding of auto manufacturing due to our close work with OEMs, AISIN provides a plethora of products and services that support mobility. Even as mobility itself continues to change, AISIN's goal of “Inspiring ‘movement’, creating tomorrow” remains unchanged.
The automotive industry is in the midst of rapid change, and we are keenly aware of the importance of flexibility and adaptability in achieving our aspired goals. For 2024, AISIN’s management has adopted a simple slogan: SPEED & AGILITY.
We will keep a close eye on global market developments, making careful but decisive investment decisions as we adeptly respond to changes.
We will also engage in deeper dialogue with our customers, suppliers, investors, and other stakeholders as we work towards further growth. We listen to a range of voices, striving to improve AISIN’s corporate value. Please watch for AISIN's further growth in the years ahead.