Japan Group’s DX Strategy

Since early 2024, Japan Group has been progressively implementing a series of reform initiatives aimed at fundamentally revamping the independently operated systems and suboptimized processes of each partner company. This effort seeks to achieve rationalization and standardization of business processes across the organization. The traditional approach, where each partner company owns and operates its own system, has led to several escalating issues: significant time and effort needed to ensure data consistency across companies, suboptimization of processes within individual partner companies, and an increased risk of security vulnerabilities due to the end of system support. As a result, we have identified the optimization of systems and processes across the entire Japan Group as a top priority. To address these challenges, we are promoting the implementation of standardized processes and an integrated ERP system throughout all partner companies within Japan Group. We are leveraging the successful track records and previous case studies of system implementations by our overseas partner companies. This initiative goes beyond merely introducing a new system: it is focused on thoroughly simplifying and standardizing operations across Japan Group.

Japan Group is revolutionizing value creation with the deployment of "NP ASSISTANT," a proprietary AI tool that harnesses the power of generative AI. Since its launch in October 2023, we have been diligently creating a secure and effective usage environment while progressively expanding its adoption across the entire organization, encompassing partner companies, departments, and divisions. In parallel, we have been sharing prompt examples via the intranet and organizing case study presentation sessions and workshops. These initiatives are designed to enhance operational efficiency and quality while boosting the digital literacy of our employees. Consequently, the utilization of NP Assistant has been steadily rising to the extent that one in every three employees now uses it regularly. Moving forward, we will work towards deepening the usage, including leveraging company information. Additionally, each employee, acting as a "Citizen Developer," is proactively utilizing RPA and low-code tools to contribute to organizational growth and business expansion by creating new value through innovative approaches.

As part of our process reform initiatives, Japan Group has been unifying the entire operational process—from order acceptance to shipment and receivables collection—through the ongoing implementation of standardized processes and a supporting ERP system (as described above). This effort aims to provide visibility into individual operations across all businesses and ground-level activities within Japan Group, allowing us to optimize the allocation of management resources, enhance decision-making processes, and accelerate management decisions. By achieving data-driven management early on, we seek to drive the growth of existing businesses, develop new markets and ventures, and swiftly respond to rapid changes in the business environment.

Nippon Paint Group's digital transformation is in its early stages. As digital technology advances rapidly, promoting DX to revolutionize operational processes and business models has become a critical strategy for corporations. We understand that the key to success lies not only in revamping systems but also in enhancing each employee’s digital skills and implementing process reforms at the ground level.
By advancing our DX strategy in this manner, we aim to adapt flexibly to the ever-evolving management environment, create new business opportunities, and improve the profitability of our Japan-based operations, all with the ultimate goal of achieving MSV.