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- What is Yume Pro?
Yume Pro
What is Yume Pro?
OKI Innovation Management System
("Yume Pro”)
Starting in fiscal 2017, under the leadership of President Kamagami (as of 2017, current Chairman, Executive Officer, and Chief Executive Officer), OKI is implementing activities to formulate, introduce, establish, and improve a new Innovation Management System (IMS) within the Group. OKI's IMS is named "Yume Pro", in line with its corporate slogan "Open up your dreams", with the desire to create a program, project, and professional goals that solves social and customer issues through innovation, and opens the door to dreams.
Chairman Kamagami giving a lecture at OKI Innovation World (the president at the time)
Yume Pro is being used to support the proactive introduction, establishment, and dissemination of the IMS international standard (ISO 56002) adopted in June 2019, which is recognized as an advanced certification in Japan. For example, Yume Pro is introduced as one example of a company's challenge in light of the "Action Guidelines for Value Creation Management in Japanese Companies" published by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Leadership vision
When formulating Yume Pro, we organized a project team (PT) in fiscal 2017 and conducted interviews with all executives, new business managers, and experienced personnel to identify OKI Group's current situation and issues. This falls under the organizational context process listed in ISO 56002 Clause 4. Based on the issues revealed here, and after thorough discussions between top management and PT members, Yume Pro has been established to support the following vision and strategy.
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1. Vision
OKI's innovation activities conform to the Full Participation Innovation based on Yume Pro. OKI's innovation provides a vision of how to contribute to tackling the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations, including not only the creation of new businesses, but also developing innovation within our core business.
Since its founding in 1881, the OKI Group has been operating its business by focusing on solving social issues. The OKI Group's value proposition of supporting safer and more convenient infrastructure is precisely what contributes to achieving the SDGs. In an interview conducted when Yume Pro was formulated, one person stated that "I don't know what direction I should take to develop new business". However, by considering the 169 targets of SDGs, we can clarify the direction we should aim for.
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2. Strategy and Policy
As pointed out in ISO 56002, reform of internal culture is an important step to promoting innovation-related activities. From fiscal year 2018 and over the course of five years, we aim to establish our brand as an innovation partner and simultaneously create a corporate culture where innovation is integrated into our daily activities. Our policy is to become an "IMS-Ready" company.
Planning, Innovation Creation Activities, and Support System
We formulated a plan to create the above vision, strategy, and policy during fiscal 2017, appointed a chief innovation officer in April 2018, and launched an innovation promotion department within the corporate management infrastructure headquarters. In fiscal 2020, we launched the Innovation Promotion Center, which is a part of the R&D department. Then, we are conducting activities based on three pillars: ① innovation creation activities, ② internal culture reform, and ③ activities promoting innovation management within the group.
1. Innovation Creation Activities(Yume Pro Process)
The innovation creation activities at OKI are defined by an eight-step standard process. In ISO 56002, they are defined by a five-step process, which has been broken down for OKI. These processes are non-linear processes that go back and forth while utilizing hypotheses that are repeatedly tested.
In addition, a notable feature is how we are developing innovation creation activities that solve social issues related to the SDGs, not activities focused on technology or products. To achieve our goal of solving problems, we are actively collaborating with co-creation partners that have resources that OKI Group does not possess.
Source: Japanese Standards Association ISO 56002 Japanese Bilingual Edition, revised based on Fig. 1.
2. Support System (Internal Culture Reform)
Yume Pro is unique in that it not only engages in innovation activities, but also promotes internal culture reform like the two wheels of a vehicle. As pointed out in ISO 56002, non-linear innovation activities are fundamentally different from normal business management, so the existing values, business management, and conventional wisdom tend to become obstructing factors. To smoothly provide the support defined in ISO 56002 Clause 7, it is necessary to promote company-wide innovation creation activities. We introduce the main support activities listed in ISO 56002 Clause 7 below.
Innovation Dialogue with Vice President Hoshi (bottom left) (held online)-
(1) Infrastructure ～ Innovation room "Yume ST” ～
As a "place" for innovation, we have built an innovation room, "Yume ST", in Toranomon and Takasaki, which are used for co-creation activities.
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(2) Education
We opened an in-house innovation school to plan and operate innovation training education and other activities.
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(3) Communication
We are holding discussions about innovation where management talks face-to-face with employees.
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(4) Awareness (Information dissemination inside and outside the company)
We actively disseminate information to enhance awareness both inside and outside the company. We are aiming to develop innovation partners and deepen understanding of Yume Pro activities within the group. In addition to disseminating information on our "Yume Pro Site" homepage, we are also holding exhibitions at CEATEC, OKI Innovation World, OKI Premium Fair, and other events, hosting lecture activities at seminars and symposiums, and providing support for external interviews.
Evaluation and Improvement
The above activities are evaluated based on the pre-set KPIs. We are making continuous improvements such as conducting interviews with executives every year and sharing views with the president and vice president via a monthly report. In the future, we will work to further improve Yume Pro while implementing the PDCA cycle.
OKI aims to help solve social issues and achieve sustainable growth through Full Participation Innovation and co-creation with various partners.