Value Creation Activities

The source of the Brother Group's value creation comes from the spirit of "At your side."—the company spirit that places our customers first in every situation, every time. Under this spirit, the Brother Group companies all over the world provide a diverse range of products, services, and solutions for consumer and industrial applications by investing the six capitals and Brother's strengths, and by practicing Brother Value Chain Management (BVCM) which is Brother's unique customer-centric management system based on our medium-term business strategy. By addressing the six materialities, we support the productivity and creativity of our customers closely, contribute to society, and help protect the earth. Through this expansion of customer value, we will achieve sustainable growth as a company.

• The Story of Brother's Value Creation [PDF/689KB]

Brother contributes to customers' ability to improve their productivity and unlock their creativity by making the most of a variety of unique technologies cultivated over its history of business evolution, as well as its global networks.
To support all those who wish to keep progressing, we will apply our strengths as a global company with multiple businesses, and while utilizing knowledge gained externally, we will create value, in addition to manufacturing products. In this way, we will help customers to realize their goals.

Since its foundation, Brother has generated new businesses by utilizing commonalities between various customer segments and sales routes and technologies and capabilities in order to meet the changing needs of customers and markets. We have used this continuity as the warp and weft and broadened our business scope by weaving the threads. This breadth, along with a corporate culture enabling collaboration across business domains and new value creation through the combination of technologies, are the unique strengths of Brother.

To date, Brother has expanded its facilities for development, production, sales, and services in more than 40 countries and regions. Utilizing these global networks, we have developed flexibility to meet customer needs, agility to provide products and services quickly, and cost competitiveness based on efficient networks. These are also part of our strengths. We will continue to leverage knowledge gained externally and collaboration with partners and provide outstanding value promptly through the collective efforts of the Brother Group companies in Japan and overseas.

During the "CS B2024" period, we simultaneously developed multiple models, including the H series for processing large and diverse parts, the U Series for processing complex contoured objects, and the first small machine tool model to have a capacity of 100 tools mounted, as well as a Deburring Center. Since being launched during that period, all these models have met with a positive customer response. One of the key factors behind our success in developing these products was the appointment of young leaders and collaboration between staff members both inside and outside the Development Department. We have a review meeting every week, where we candidly brainstorm themes brought by each other, regardless of differences in age or department, in order to hone ideas from diverse perspectives. This meeting not only helps us solve problems but also supports the growth of younger staff. The second key factor was to modularize parts and standardize the designs of component parts in order to increase the efficiency of our development work. The third factor was to detect customer needs by actually visiting them. Over a period of more than 10 years before then, we had detected strong demand for high-mix, low-volume production, and we had been mulling over an idea for a small machine tool model that could be mounted with 100 tools. The COVID-19 pandemic changed people's values and increased demand for high-mix, small-lot production, allowing us to rapidly commercialize this product, of which we are very proud.

• SPEEDIO Blue Technology

B-PACS is a digital production assistance system built at the Kariya Factory. We have focused our efforts on introducing and operating this system at our company, Brother Machinery Xian Co., Ltd. Previously, work managers used a paper checklist with more than 100 pages for process management. However, B-PACS has enabled digitalized process management, allowing us to go paperless and manage progress and quality in real time. The system automatically records measurement data, such as data on screw tightening, resulting in a significant reduction in work errors. In addition, now that traceability and labor-hour management are also digitalized, we can quickly detect the causes of defects and take countermeasures. Meanwhile, workers can confirm the entire work process on tablets and view the details of their work in a quantified form, so they can precisely do their work without uncertainty. This has also helped shorten the period of onboarding training. Skilled workers who have mastered high-quality production techniques throughout the entire production process aim to further increase their skills at Takumi Dojo.

We sell our products through agents both inside and outside Japan, and have established sales systems tailored to regional characteristics. For example, when our Japanese corporate customers select machine tools to be used at their factories outside Japan, we need to have them confirm and agree on test processing, quality, costs, the delivery date, the maintenance system, etc. in Japan. In the event of a post-delivery defect, we place high importance on sending our local staff to visit the customer to accurately understand the feedback from both the customer and agent and quickly identify and resolve the problem the customer faces. If our local staff cannot visit the customer or address the problem by themselves, our sales staff in Japan and the customer's staff in charge of the factory outside Japan works with our local staff via online meetings or other means so that necessary responses can be implemented as promptly as possible. We also regularly exchange information with Brother service facilities and agents both inside and outside Japan, sharing best practices and unsolved challenges globally. In Japan, we have achieved 90% recovery from machine breakdowns within 48 hours, and we hope to expand this achievement worldwide. We will further enhance our global support system and strengthen the foundation for growth under "CS B2027" in the Machinery Business to build long-term relationships of trust with our customers.

As a salesperson, I sell Brother machine tools with confidence and pride, as they excel in productivity and consistent quality. One of our customers, a parts manufacturer, introduced 600 units of Brother products over five years to match their own ongoing growth. We not only accommodate customers' requests to meet short delivery deadlines and provide them with prompt support in the case of a machine failure, but our sales, technical, and service staff also always work together to approach key persons in equipment introduction at customers by holding technical networking events and on-site educational programs. We have therefore been making efforts to make our customers Brother fans by providing them with the opportunity to experience and learn more about the high customer value of Brother products. We have built such close relationships with customers that they feel they can rely on us when a problem occurs, believing, "We can resolve it just by asking Brother." I believe that these relationships inspire them to place a high priority on Brother products when they consider introducing new equipment. The corporate customer I mentioned earlier says that the company will probably eventually have 1,000 units of Brother products. The growth of our customers makes me happy. As a fan of Brother products myself, I will continue to do my best to support our customers.

• Technology Centers

We work with our business partners (suppliers) on QKY activities and cost reduction activities. For example, working with sheet metal suppliers, we predicted quality risks, such as adhesion of unnecessary paint and welding in the wrong direction and thoroughly implemented specific countermeasures, such as masking and jigging. This resulted in a significant decrease in the number of abnormalities identified and quality improvement. These activities have contributed to increasing the appeal of doing business with Brother and strengthening of our relationships of trust with customers. In addition, we are also focusing on sustainable medium- to long-term cost reduction activities, rather than seeking short-term results, enabling flexible responses while broadening our choice of sourcing channels through local sourcing, exploration for new suppliers, etc. Cooperation with our business partners in these cost reduction activities enables us to grow together and create new business opportunities We will continue to value building trust-based relationships with our business partners while growing together with them to achieve the common goal of creating value for our customers.

Brother Machinery India Private Ltd., which started operating in December 2024, is the first Brother Group factory dedicated to machine tools. We made the most of the know-how we have developed in Japan and China in establishing factories to prepare for the start of the Indian factory's operation while addressing various challenges, such as building systems for parts procurement and production management and communicating with and training local staff. Even after the new factory began operations, the three factories in Japan, China, and India have continued to work together as a global team, with the Japanese and Chinese factories sending important parts to India, for instance. Each of them is committed independently to pursuing the common goal of achieving the growth of the entire Industrial Equipment Business. In India, we are in the process of continuing to strengthen collaboration between Sales and Production. Staff of the Indian factory appear to have a strong sense of mission to definitely produce positive results, reassuring us about their reliability.

Seven years ago, at Terry's Challenge Academy, I proposed using Brother's technologies to develop a solution to troublesome, hard-to-mechanize deburring work. That was a starting point for me to produce an idea that led to the Deburring Center, a processor dedicated to deburring, and serve as the project leader. Since there was no machine based on the same concept on the market, we produced many prototypes while listening to customer feedback to refine the specifications and functions of the tool. Initially, even within the Company, some people voiced doubts about the project. However, I continued to work with project team members while thinking: "I'll regret it if I don't take up this challenge. I'll definitely achieve a good result." Once we began to hear staff outside the project team say, "This is great. I think it will sell well," we were able to significantly advance the project. We finally succeeded in creating a product that made customers say, "This is the machine I've been looking for." I was able to have the unforgettable experience of taking on the challenge of developing a product from scratch with my teammates, each of whom grew with me while facing difficult problems but demonstrating their own strengths. I'm deeply grateful to have been able to have such an experience.

Customer

"Value" chain starting with customers

The opinions of "existing" customers who have already purchased Brother products and "potential" customers who may purchase Brother products in the future are the starting point for all our business activities.
Our call centers, which serve as our important points of contact with customers, receive various inquiries and requests from them. We register such information in our database and share it globally across the entire Brother Group.

Demand Chain (Choosing Value)

Based on opinions received by call centers around the world and information acquired through sales and service activities and marketing surveys, sales and development departments work together to analyze customer expectations and demands from various angles, such as "how product use environments will change," and "what improvements would satisfy more customers." Through these efforts, they formulate product concepts.

Concurrent Chain (Creating Value)

Product concepts created in the demand chain are given a concrete shape. Product simulations and focus group testing by intended users are run again and again before and after prototyping. Through this process, we develop and design our products speedily while ensuring high product quality. The production engineering department designs optimal production lines to deliver our products at the right time for our customers.

Supply Chain (Delivering Value)

At the Brother Group's manufacturing facilities, we are working closely with business partners, such as parts suppliers, and strengthening manufacturing processes and quality control systems, so as to produce high quality products. Products are delivered to customers through our sales facilities in countries and regions all over the world. We are also providing customers with swift, cordial support via online support over the Internet and call centers in order to make each individual satisfied.

Bidirectional approach toward a circular economy (Green dotted line)

Flow to achieve resource circulation by collecting and reusing

The Brother Group is helping society achieve sustainable development by positively and continuously considering the environmental impact in all aspects of our business operations. Concern for the environment shall be the cornerstone of all operations. The green dotted line represents the realization of resource circulation based on consideration of safety and environmental impact throughout all stages of the product lifecycle, from product development and design to manufacturing, customer use, disposal, and reuse. With "the end of life" of products in mind, the Brother Group has been working to (i) increase the reusability and recyclability of products and consumables and (ii) build recycling systems.

• Printing Business Develops its Ink Cartridge Remanufacturing Capabilities
• Collection, Remanufacturing and Recycling Efforts in Various Countries

Maximizing value through collaboration with customers (Red dotted line)

Flow to improve products quickly by obtaining feedback from customers

This represents the process of having customers try prototypes early in the development stage, obtaining feedback, and quickly improving the product, with the aim of realizing "expansion in the Industrial area" and creation of new businesses. For example, to contribute to even greater value creation at production sites, the Brother Group responds promptly to customer demand, as demonstrated by the machine tool SPEEDIO Deburring Center DG-1.

• Machine Tools to Improve Productivity and Reduce CO₂ Emissions
• "Value" chain Starting with Customers