In fiscal 2021, the Fujifilm Group set a new KPI for fiscal 2030 in the field of Work Style in SVP2030. The goal is to provide 50 million workers with work styles that help them increase their productivity and heighten creativity with solutions and services that drive business innovation. We aim to contribute to the transformation of our customers' business processes by providing various solutions and services, such as DocuWorks, document handling software that contributes to work efficiency, and electronic signature solutions that meet the need for faster contract processing.
In March 2023, FUJIFILM Business Innovation (FB) acquired an IT company, MicroChannel Services Pty. Limited., and relaunched it under the name FUJIFILM MicroChannel Services (MicroChannel). The acquisition marks the full-scale global expansion of FB’s ERP business. Going forward, FB will leverage the highly experienced IT personnel and advanced technological capabilities of MicroChannel to expand the value it provides to customers and accelerate the growth of its solutions business, including through collaboration with the Fujifilm Group’s existing businesses.
We also aim to contribute to the creation of innovation in society by providing solutions and services that lead to customers' work style reforms based on our own work style reforms. Going forward, we will continue to actively implement work style innovation initiatives utilizing DX in various fields within the company.
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In response to the growing need for digitizing contract preparation and management tasks for faster contract processing, we provide an electronic signature solution helping customers with their business process transformation.
The introduction of this solution at the Fujifilm Group has also resulted in a significant reduction in the amount of time spent on operations related to the conclusion of contracts, leading to improved work efficiency. It has also resulted in the reduction of transportation costs and the cost of stamps, as well as enhanced compliance including the reduction of the risk of losing a contract. This solution also permits the affixation of seals at home, saving people the trouble of having to go to the office just to affix a seal. Thus, it enables people to work anywhere.
CocoDesk is a personal workspace where people can work remotely including desk work and web conferencing in a safe and comfortable environment outside of their own homes, while avoiding closed spaces, crowds, and close contact. Since the commencement of the service, total 100 booths have been installed at such areas as the premises of railway stations, and the commercial facilities. (As of October 2022)
Employees who contact customers, including salespeople from FUJIFILM Business Innovation Japan, the Group company, use CocoDesk to reduce unnecessary travel. Customers are able to observe the flexible work styles of salespeople and engineers in places including the company's Toyosu Center Office in Tokyo, which is virtually connected to its bases across Japan.
Reform of the development and production processes through the full utilization of 3D data
Manufacturing sites, where the on-site confirmation of actual goods has been a basic practice, are also included in the targets of our work style reforms.
To prevent delays in schedules and process rework, which tend to cause cost increases, we have been working on front-loading*1 mass production design, with which quality is developed in the early phases of design. Our design department and production department cooperate by sharing design data, which has resulted in the significant reduction of the frequency of internal rework and the number of returns from suppliers. We have also established a system, in which cost is estimated automatically with a high precision in an early phase using 3D data. This has significantly reduced the number of cases where a product is redesigned to achieve the cost target. This system has been also provided outside the company in Japan, and it leads to problem solving at the manufacturing site.
- *1 Front-loading: Proceeding with tasks, which were done in later processes, at an earlier stage by investing resources in the initial process of product development
Customer engineers (CEs), who maintain multifunction devices and printers have changed their work styles using big data collected through remote services. Specifically, we have introduced the automatic remote diagnosis of the operational status of customers' equipment, which is conducted every day. We have thus replaced the previous style of maintenance services, which featured CEs' regular visits to customers to inspect equipment, with a style in which they visit customers only when a visit is deemed necessary as a result of a diagnosis. This permits CEs to understand the detailed condition of equipment and identify necessary work and parts in advance. As a result, the accuracy and efficiency of their maintenance work has improved significantly.
In the domain of commercial production printers, where a high level of skills and knowledge are necessary for maintenance, we use wearable devices all over Japan as a system for immediately sharing the expertise of engineering specialists. When highly difficult work is performed at a customer's site, the CE visiting the site shares video and audio information about the equipment with an engineering specialist in the back office. This permits the engineering specialist to provide remote support as if they were on site. This has resulted in a 30% reduction in time spent on highly difficult maintenance work, which is highly acclaimed by customers.