Management

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January 4, 2017

Happy New Year to everyone.

The year 2016 brought many unexpected events, including the departure of the U.K. from the EU and the United States presidential election result, while the continued instability has resulted in growing protectionism around the world. With ongoing currency volatility, the uncertain outlook for crude oil prices, and financial instability in Europe, 2017 is likely to be another unpredictable year. Meanwhile, regarding technology, the global trend toward digitalization is accelerating backed by progress in technologies such as AI, deep learning and IoT.

The uncertainties brought by such drastic changes may exacerbate increasingly complex social problems. By providing solutions to these problems, we can contribute to the wellbeing of society and create business opportunities at the same time. In other words, the ability to turn solutions to social problems into new values is essential to our sustainable growth.

At Konica Minolta, since 2014 we have been dedicated to transforming conventional ways of doing business to deliver greater value to our customers under our three-year medium-term business plan, TRANSFORM 2016. We will continue working to create new values for society and drive innovation by making more effective use of evolving ICT for our management, and working in partnership with external entities. We will thus capture data and images by using devices that employ our proprietary technology, visualize the invisible through on-site, real-time analysis of such data and images, and extract valuable information from the flood of data, thereby dramatically improving the workflow and operational efficiency of customers in line with the specific needs of each business type and category. For example, we launched the Care Support Solution system in Japan in 2016. This system uses a smartphone as a platform, combined with sensing, digital image processing and voice input technologies, to help solve problems faced by nursing care facilities. We remain committed to offering such customer-centric solutions to evolve into a problem-solving digital company.

If we are to continue growing as a global company, we must be recognized as a vital contributor to society. Thus, we will foster partnerships with external companies and people beyond the Konica Minolta Group, whether customers, suppliers or otherwise, to create new values and drive innovation in society while also solving global environmental problems and enhancing quality of life around the world. We aim to become indispensable to society at all times.

In concluding my greeting, I sincerely hope this year will be a healthy and happy one for everyone. Your continued support of the Konica Minolta Group would be greatly appreciated.

Shoei Yamana
President and CEO
Konica Minolta, Inc.