Diverse CSR Activities Effecting Warm Exchanges Among People

The "Tokyo Headquarters Front Flower-bed Care Activities" that we have conducted repeatedly since July 2006 have won the Shinagawa Environmental Prize. This Prize is given to groups or individuals with a record of environmental preservation activities in Shinagawa Ward that is deemed to have produced outstanding results. Employees are drawn to take part in these activities via Intranet within the company or in response to postings on noticeboards. Such voluntarily assembled employees engage in cleaning up the flower-beds, sprinkling water, planting flowers and so forth. They were unaware of the Prize's existence when they came together. One reason for their being awarded it was that their activities together with people of the neighborhood and people of other enterprises were highly appreciated. The Prize will be a source of encouragement in the future. As part of the "Tokyo Headquarters Front Flower-bed Care Activities", employees also participate in the "Flower-Filled Osaki" event that is held on two Saturdays in the year under the auspices of the volunteers in Osaki district. This event provides good opportunities to communicate with people in the neighboring areas through flower-bed creation activities.

Caring for Flower-beds

At the Tokyo headquarters of Kobelco Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. we carry out cleaning and maintenance of the flower-beds laid alongside footpaths in the neighborhood. Employees use these footpaths on their way to and from work, and seeing beautiful flowers calms them before the working day and soothes them after it. These activities can be an opportunity for our employees to meet people who have no contact with them in their ordinary work. In FY 2007, flower awards were given to employees who were particularly energetic in the activities.

Science Talks for Adults in Hiroshima

The Hiroshima Children's Museum hosts "Science Talks for Adults" aimed at the general public. Our General Manager of Engineering and Manufacturing Division was invited to be one of the lecturers. He gave a talk titled "Construction Machinery Supporting and Creating Our Daily Lives", which ranged widely from the mechanisms of hydraulic control through trends in the construction machinery industry to introductions to the SK3500D – recognized for a Guinness record – and our hybrid excavators. The audience listened with intense enthusiasm and filled the question session up with their queries.
At the end of the talk some people asked to go on study tours of our plants, an important outcome that has further increased ties with local communities.

Beautification Drives at Kobelco Construction Machinery Engineering

Since May 2004 Kobelco Construction Machinery Engineering Co., Ltd has conducted beautification drives involving activities such as picking up litter in the company's surroundings. This arose from breaktime chats among employees and started off with just three participants, but gradually spread to other departments and today is even making waves in neighboring businesses. Litter-clearing by volunteers takes place once a week and now generates communication with nearby residents. As a pleasing result of these four years of activities, the company's surroundings have become clean beyond recognition and the ripples of the beautification drives have spread out into the local community.
An expansion of the scope of the activities to include cleanups of parks in collaboration with neighborhood businesses is under consideration for the future.

Study Tours for Infants from Neighborhood Nursery School

Akashi Training Center
In March 2008, infants from a nursery school in the neighborhood were invited to take study tours of the Training Center. After touring through the premises the children came to a stationary SK30. When the General Manager of the Center pointed to it and said "You can get on it if you like", the kids gasped delightedly and all ran over to the machine. They took turns sitting in the operator's seat and touching the levers. Their happy faces were unforgettable.

Sketching Event for Neighborhood Schools

Akashi Training Center
In November 2007, 210 first-graders from neighborhood elementary schools were invited to take part in a sketching event that was being held for the second time. This time the purpose was to have the children learn about the structure of society through sketching large-size heavy machinery as one of their extracurricular activities. It was a memorable sight to see the children intently sketching these heavy machines of overawing size which they were viewing close-up for the first time. As in the previous year, this event presented good opportunities for contact with local residents.

Interaction with HIRO Gakuen

Gifu Training Center
In November 2007, 29 elementary schoolchildren from the HIRO Gakuen (school for Brazilians) visited the Training Center to participate in a sketching event and "test out" a mini excavator. After sketching heavy machinery for one hour, they got up onto a stationary mini excavator. By touching the levers and other controls they had a taste of how it feels to operate such a machine. It was said to be the first time that HIRO Gakuen – recognized by Gifu Prefecture as an independent foreign corporation for Brazilians (the first to be so recognized in Japan) – had experienced an interaction opportunity of this kind. We hope to be of service to Japan-Brazil friendship on more occasions in the future.

Work Experience for Disabled School Students

Akashi Training Center
In November 2007, students from a school for the disabled visited the Training Center for some work experience. Regrettably on this occasion the students only completed a study tour and did not get as far as actual work experience. But in February 2008, three students from the school's junior high section visited the Training Center, eagerly watched their escorting teacher operating a forklift.

"Flowers All Over" Campaign and Beautification Activities

In the surrounding area of the Ogaki Factory, along the roadsides where the local people pass to and fro, we have a "Flowers All Over" campaign underway that combines flowers with a diversity of messages. It initially concentrated on the surroundings of the main entrance but is continually increasing the flower locations to include parking lots, roads and so forth, offering more and more opportunities for visitors to the company to catch sight of flowers. Words of greeting and other messages solicited from employees are attached to the planters, which also bear the names of the flower species. Great care is taken with the early growing process from preparing soil through to seedling planting. Steadily increasing numbers of participants join after seeing the flower-planting posters, and the activities are working continually to proliferate flowers in all four seasons. Litter cleanups are also implemented during lunchbreaks at every weekend. Besides that, our employees take part actively as volunteers in the cleanup activities dubbed the "Clean River Campaigns" organized by Ogaki City.

Social Gatherings

Twice a year, the people who work at the Ogaki Factory come together inside the factory premises with their families to hold regular events – a Cherry Blossom get-together in the spring and a First Autumn Leaves get-together in the fall. Called "outdoor meetings" at the factory, these events feature lavish barbecues in recognition of the participants' daily labors and to encourage communication among them. The revelers gather at the end of the day's work, and the event kicks off with a toast. Then they all begin grilling the food, and all help in turning it over. Eating outside in a lively atmosphere, while viewing cherry blossoms in the spring or autumn leaves in the fall, makes the food all the tastier. As traditional events of the Ogaki Factory, these barbecues provide excellent opportunities for deepening friendship. The CSR Promotion Committee will be lending full assistance to these events as they continue to be held in the future.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Cujin Elementary School

Plant Study Tours at Chengdu Kobelco Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.

Students from this school, which we have been supporting since FY 2006, were invited on a plant study tour in April 2007. Most of them were going out of the city for the first time and had never been in an automobile before. Almost all of them suffered acutely from motion sickness on the journey, but once arrived at the plant they were beguiled by the machinery and recovered their spirits. After touring the plant they lunched at a fast food outlet, then went on to a zoo. Seeing for real the animals they had only seen in books made them very happy.
That day's activities were covered by the local media. The company plans to implement more activities of this kind in the future, as it believes that the information and experiences that they provide are appropriately stimulating for children who have never been out of the city.

Establishment of Library

In September 2007, Chengdu Kobelco created a library at the school. They were moved to do this when they learned that the school had no books other than textbooks because it could not afford to buy any. Constructing a new building was not possible, so a decision was taken to reconstruct a teacher's office to make the library. Desks, chairs and books were prepared, and Kobelco Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. donated Japanese books for elementary level.
The opening of the library received much attention – it was reported by the local media and officials from the Chinese government's Bureau of Education came to observe activities at Chengdu Kobelco.
Currently the library has been incorporated into the school's curriculum and knowledge of all kinds is being absorbed through its books. The children are said to all enjoy the lessons that make use of the library.

Gifts of New Year's Eve Goods

In January 2008 the company gave gifts of New Year's Eve goods to 33 students in advance of the Chinese New Year. Because of the soaring price of food in China, large amounts of food that keeps well were prepared for this purpose. Through numerous interactions that have now become regular events, the company has deepened its relationship with the children, even receiving letters of gratitude from them. One such letter expressed a robust sentiment: "I intend to achieve a good school performance in a spirit of independence, self-respect and self-confidence, and with a forward-looking attitude". Besides admiration, this sentiment also made us feel anew the importance of the role we are playing.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Southwest Jiaotong University

Kobelco Scholarship System

The Kobelco Scholarship System has been in place and operating since FY 2006. Diverse activities were carried out under this system in FY 2007. It is a scholarship system of extremely high standards, granting scholarships only to students who undergo and pass a series of various examinations after filing an application and obtaining a recommendation from the university. At the awarding ceremony the students expressed their sentiments of gratitude in Chinese and Japanese. Here and there among words chosen with much effort one could discern both the sternness of their environment and their upbeat stance not to be beaten by it. It was all very moving. After the ceremony there was a discussion session which went dynamically, though in a relaxed atmosphere, with questions and answers on many different topics being exchanged in Japanese and Chinese.

Kobelco Japanese Food Festival – Oden (Japanese Hotchpotch) Event

In a new endeavor, the university and Chengdu Kobelco have jointly begun holding Japanese Food Festivals aimed at the introduction of Japanese culture. The theme selected for the recent one was "Japanese hotchpotch". The intention was to have people get to understand about this Japanese food by cooking it, but it turned out that nobody knew the method and so it had to be made via trial and error. Not surprisingly the result was an ersatz dish that could hardly be called tasty. In spite of that however, the event proved to be time valuably spent as a part of the cultural exchange activities, since it taught all the participants that there exists a hotchpotch dish in Japanese cuisine and the enjoyableness of cooking in a group something one has never cooked before.
In the subsequent karaoke session an extremely enjoyable time was had, with participants using empty plastic bottles instead of microphones as they sang, danced and engaged in other frolics.

Kobelco Cup - Japanese Speech Contest

The company held a Japanese speech contest at the end of 2007. The speeches could be on any subject but had to be made in Japanese. The very fact that these students who had never been to Japan had attained the Japanese language skills to make speeches was itself quite marvelous.

The CSR Awards are an institution that began in FY 2007 and reward organizations, groups and individuals that have accomplished outstanding achievements or contributions from the perspective of society and the environment. This system of awards was established with the purpose of honoring such activities and encouraging further such efforts in the future. Also, by giving such activities wide exposure, it is intended to have them taken as models and be a source of invigoration for the endeavors of others. Alongside the founding of the system, CSR Awarding Rules were formulated that enable objective and quantitative assessment of potentially award-winning achievements so that the system can be appropriately applied. The Environmental Administration Office identifies deserving achievements in the fiscal year and determines the award winners (meritorious achievers). The awards are then given at the Founding Anniversary Ceremony in October of each year. The deserving achievements eligible for the award are of the four kinds below. ● Outstandingly meritorious achievement concerning environmental response, local contribution, human resource cultivation, etc., in CSR endeavors for areas where business is to be expanded. ● Meritorious achievement, via CSR endeavors, that augments the reputation or brand image of the company or its Group. ● Proactive prevention of industrial or other accidents, or the saving of human life in these accidents. ● Other achievement similar in nature to the above. Testimonials, medals and shields were presented as CSR Awards last year. Facility Repair for Cujin Elementary School (China) and Educational Cost Assistance for its Pupils   ●Award winner: Chengdu Kobelco Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.   We fitted windowpanes and provided assistance with educational costs and lunch fees for economically handicapped pupils. Also, in the winter we gave secondhand clothes, gloves and mufflers, and for the Chinese New Year we delivered New Year's Eve foods and educational materials. Our interaction with the pupils deepened as a result of our assistance throughout the year. Each time we encountered their earnestness we realized the importance of the assistance and felt our own responsibilities strongly. While continuing the present assistance, we hope to broaden the activities further in the future. River Cleanup and Personal Watercraft Experiencing for Disabled School Students   ●Award winners: Kumamoto Sales Office of Kobelco Construction Machinery (Kyushu) Co., Ltd. and Kumamoto Training Center of Kobelco Training Services Co., Ltd.   In collaboration with Team Seabreeze, to which some of our employees belong, we primarily conducted river cleanups and also implemented patrols and rescue activities at various events on water. In addition we enabled students from a school for the disabled to experience rides on personal watercraft and our excavators. Among them were some Kobelco fans who particularly enjoyed the rides, saying the experience had been "like a dream". A major outcome of winning the award has been that more employees have been made aware of the importance of our activities and of the CSR activities in general. Development of an Excavator Operable by Prosthetic Hand   ●Award winners: Kobelco Construction Machinery (Kyushu) Co., Ltd. et al.   We developed an excavator that is operable by prosthetic hand for operators with such hands who wish to resume work. Through vigorous testing with regard to control lever positions, stroke distances, lever stiffness and so forth, were able after much effort and repeated and detailed adjustments to complete a machine that enables such an operator to work with the same efficiency as a normal one. With the cooperation of many people and utilization of their know-how, we have already delivered two of these excavators. Having been praised to the effect that the machine "makes it possible to work just like a normal operator", we are filled with gratitude and a sense of achievement. Activities of Kobelco Training Services   ●Award winner: Kobelco Training Services Co., Ltd.   We carried out activities closely tailored to the local community – such as hosting an excavator sketching event and facility study tours for a nearby elementary school and giving traffic safety courses for riding a bicycle to members of the public. Hearing comments such as "I'd like to ride on one of those excavators of the future" and "Thank you so much" from participants was gladdening and at the same time made us feel strongly our corporate responsibility and realize keenly that continuing with small activities of this kind will enhance trust in our company. We express our thanks for the award and hope to move ahead further with our outreaches to the community.