During the last fiscal year, there have been numerous events such as the withdrawal of the UK from the EU and the start of the Trump government in the USA that could influence the global economy. With the global economic and political changes, we have expanded our business by analysing the geopolitical risks and market trends.

We have launched our 2^nd factory in Mexico and have acquired a 2^nd factory in the USA through the acquisition of the Electric Stamping Corporation. We have also established Advanex Deutschland GmbH; our first operation in mainland Europe. Finally, we now have a wholly owned subsidiary in Indonesia, through the purchase of all shares of PT. Yamakou Indonesia; a precision components manufacturer.

During this fiscal year, we have plans to launch new factories in Czech Republic and India. We are also planning to launch a 2^nd factory in Vietnam to satisfy an increase in customer demand.

We have been developing new markets and have seen an increase in sales in the automotive and medical markets. As these markets evolve, we will be offering our expert manufacturing capabilities to the next generation products such as electric vehicles and self-medication.

The slogan of our group for the fiscal year 2017/18 is „Set your heart on…“(„執心“ in Japanese).

It is said that as AI (Artificial Intelligence) and IoT (Internet of Things) evolve, computers may exceed a human’s ability and judgement by 2045.  However, putting your heart into something is very difficult for a computer or other device to do.

It is essential to put our heart into our job to pursue excellence in production, which emphasizes not only the importance of following the drawings and standards when manufacturing products, but also the user-friendliness and overall enhancement of customers‘ production yields.

We will put our heart into our job, so that we can be proud of our job and we can pursue excellence in production.

Thank you for your continuous support and encouragements in the future.

Tsuneo Shibano

1^st April , 2017