Third-party Opinion

Highly evaluated points

• Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions: To reduce the environmental impact of products, Brother has changed the design of multi-function centers including fax machines and printers by significantly reducing power consumption during product use (in particular, during the standby mode), therefore successfully offsetting carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions during production by energy saving during product use. Brother Technology (Shenzhen) Ltd., one of the major manufacturing facilities producing fax machines and printers, has worked on a large-scale greening initiative on the rooftop of a newly constructed building. These accomplishments represent the progress in activities through proposals and practices by local employees.
• Improvement in customer satisfaction: The "product returns and servicing" rate has helped Brother visualize and identify issues and has led to various achievements, including reduction in the number of troubles and failures as well as the time required for repair.

Efforts that have shown progress but require more commitment

CEO, IIHOE (International Institute for Human, Organization and the Earth)
Hideto DeDe Kawakita

• User- and eco-friendly product development: All models of Brother's new multi-function centers released in FY 2010 have been certified with major eco labels in Europe, while some models have been shipped with automatic double-sided printing set as default, which deserves recognition. I hope that Brother will continue to further reduce environmental impact during use. Specifically, I would like Brother to promote the use of universal design fonts, and to ship printers with toner saving, 2in1 printing, etc. set as defaults, too.
• Commitment and response to biological diversity and water resource issues: Brother supports environmental conservation activities around the world, and Brother's commitment has been clearly stipulated in the new mid-term plan (up to 2015), which is valuable. I hope that Brother will increase its understanding and raise awareness about the impact of paper (indispensable for printing) and textile (indispensable for sewing with machines) production on the ecosystem, and enhance its conservation efforts.
• Increase in diversity and utilization of human resources: Brother has made progress on this front based on its mid-term human resources development strategy. For example, university graduates (international students who graduated from universities in Japan and students who graduated from universities overseas) account for 28% of new recruits and Brother Industries continues to send employees to facilities overseas under the group trainee program. Regarding group companies in China, efforts have been made to develop human resources (general managers or their equivalent) while promoting appointment to managerial positions and delegation of authority. These efforts should be highly recognized. I hope that Brother will further upgrade the framework for utilizing and developing global human resources, including integration of compensation systems.
• Creation of workplaces where employees can easily continue to work: Brother Mothers' activities (involving working mothers who work for group companies in Japan) have been gaining momentum, while one-month transition periods have been introduced under the labor agreement so that women can easily come back to work after maternity leave, which is highly noteworthy. I hope that respective workplaces will identify and resolve issues so as to increase the rate of taking leave and/or part-time shifts for child care, family care, and nursing care (3.19% at Brother Industries). Manufacturing facilities in China have also made progress in giving consideration to and taking care of expectant employees, against the backdrop of the increasing trend among employees to continue working for Brother while pregnant. Such efforts deserve recognition. I also hope that the living environment at the dormitories will be further improved.
• Involvement of suppliers: Brother has launched CSR procurement workshops (reflecting the aspects of environment, human rights, labor, health & safety, fair trade, corporate ethics, information security, and social contribution) in China, Vietnam, and Malaysia. Brother also conducts surveys of its suppliers to visualize their CSR efforts and puts in place a commendation system, which should be recognized. I hope that Brother will introduce a framework for facilitating the process of solving problems through communications among suppliers.
• Social contribution activities: More than 8,900 employees (accounting for approximately 30% of Brother's global workforce) have joined Brother eco point activities to reduce environmental impact on a day-to-day basis. Brother employees are also engaged in activities using in-house resources, such as producing reusable shopping bags with sewing machines. These efforts are highly evaluated. I hope that Brother will continue to systematically promote these activities as part of social investment under a global vision.

Efforts that Brother is expected to promote as a global company

• The top management including the president and officers send more than ninety messages to employees each year in eight languages. Brother also disseminates information regarding CSR efforts on its website in three languages. Such multilingual information dissemination efforts are highly evaluated. I strongly hope that Brother will actively provide opportunities for communicating with NGOs and other external stakeholders in Europe in particular, identify social issues that Brother should work on next, and seize opportunities for collaboration.