Message from the Director in charge of Corporate Marketing

Looking Back on the Second Year Under the Sales & Marketing Division Structure

To help realize Planetary Health, the Shimadzu Group is shifting toward a more customer-centered operating model across four social value creation domains: Healthcare, Green, Materials, and Industry. We have also been transforming our sales structure to support that shift.
As part of this effort, we established the Sales & Marketing Division in April 2024 and consolidated sales functions that had previously been dispersed across business divisions. This is moving us away from a product-based sales structure toward one that starts with customer challenges and enables cross-divisional proposals that combine products and services. As the range of offerings handled by sales teams has expanded, we have seen tangible progress, particularly in proposals for analytical instruments in healthcare settings.
At the same time, the challenges have also become clearer. We have not yet generated sufficient results from synergies between the Industrial Machinery and Analytical & Measuring Instruments segments. And at overseas sales companies, cross-divisional sales structures are still limited. We recognize that we have now reached the stage where we must squarely confront both the progress made and the challenges that remain and translate them into the next phase of growth. Going forward, we will work to firmly embed the changes already underway while expanding tangible results in high-growth markets such as semiconductors.

Solving Customer Challenges and Demonstrating Added Value

To achieve net sales of ¥1 trillion by 2035, the Sales & Marketing Division will accelerate the shift to a sales model that creates value starting with customer challenges by raising brand awareness in priority markets, strengthening proposal capabilities across the Shimadzu Group, and standardizing global sales operations.
This reflects a clear challenge: while net sales have grown, earnings growth has not kept pace. Net sales have reached record highs, but part of that growth has come from price revisions and foreign exchange effects, and operating profit has not increased to the same extent. In addition, unit sales growth across the market has slowed, partly due to weak demand in China. To continue growing in this environment, we need more than volume. We need stronger proposal capabilities to take market share from competitors, as well as sales capabilities to secure pricing commensurate with the value we provide.
Under the new Medium-Term Management Plan, the Sales & Marketing Division has therefore set out to evolve into a sales organization that uses AI to strengthen proposal capabilities, acquire new customers, and drive top-line growth. The foundation for this is the global standardization and effective use of sales information. We will standardize and consolidate CRM^* data that has been managed under different definitions across regions, including order-win probability and market segmentation, and build a framework that allows us to track and analyze deal trends along three dimensions: market, product, and region.
We call this three-dimensional sales framework the “Solution Cube.” By making sales opportunities visible through data and using AI to improve opportunity creation, raise win rates, and optimize pricing, we will simultaneously enhance the value we provide to customers and our own profitability.

• * CRM: Customer Relationship Management

Sales Strategy Under the New Medium-Term Management Plan

As the Director in charge of Corporate Marketing, my first priority is to establish the sales information platform quickly and advance both AI adoption and coordination across the three dimensions of market, product, and region. On that foundation, we will aim to deliver both sales growth and higher profitability by strengthening proposal capabilities and delivering value continuously. To do so, we will pursue the following five initiatives:

1. Strengthen customer acquisition and solution delivery capabilities
   Build a framework that enables customer research, targeting, and end-to-end solution delivery using the sales information platform.
2. Increase brand presence in priority markets
   Increase brand presence by working with key customers at international conferences and other events across the four domains of Healthcare, Green, Materials, and Industry.
3. Strengthen talent development and organizational capabilities
   Develop talent that can break down, organize, and analyze customer challenges and deliver solutions by coordinating internal and external resources, while strengthening the sales organization.
4. Advance next-generation digital marketing
   In response to changes in customer information-seeking behavior driven by generative AI, build a web platform optimized for AI search and develop compelling content aligned with customers’ research and development challenges.
   Strengthen the entry points for customer engagement to generate opportunities more efficiently.
5. Build the sales information platform and expand AI adoption
   Create an organization in which Shimadzu sales teams around the world can act at the same standard based on the same information and generate compelling proposals.

Through these initiatives, we will transform the sales process through DX and AI, strengthen our ability to provide end-to-end solutions by combining global knowledge, and build a stronger earnings model that generates profit.

Strategic Priorities

In executing the strategy, we will focus on strengthening proposal capabilities based on customer challenges (Best for Our Customers), upgrading sales management through standardization and AI (ONE SHIMADZU), concentrating resources in priority areas, and strengthening the recurring revenue business.

Compelling Proposals (Best for Our Customers)

The Sales & Marketing Division will combine products and services across all business divisions to deliver end-to-end solutions tailored to customer challenges. At overseas sales companies as well, we will strengthen cross-divisional sales structures and deploy a globally consistent sales strategy. By formulating hypotheses about customer challenges based on a deep understanding of the customer and making concrete proposals in response, we will win new customers and deepen relationships with existing ones. We will also strengthen coordination across the Shimadzu Group companies to broaden the range of proposals we can offer.

Upgrading Sales Management Through Standardization and AI (ONE SHIMADZU)

Under ONE SHIMADZU, we will standardize web platforms and social media accounts globally and strengthen account-based marketing in response to changing customer buying behavior. We will improve sales productivity through AI while also enhancing the quality of proposals through knowledge sharing. At the same time, we will develop talent with stronger product knowledge and solution proposal capabilities. By standardizing and consolidating sales information globally and analyzing and managing it across the three dimensions of market, product, and region, we will advance the standardization of sales management and enhance decision-making.

Concentrating Resources in Priority Areas

Alongside building the foundation, we will clearly define priority areas based on growth potential and competitive advantage and focus management resources on them. Our priority markets are the semiconductor market and clinical market; our priority product areas are LC, MS, and recurring revenue businesses; and our priority regions are North America and India.

Strengthening the Recurring Revenue Business

In recurring revenue businesses, we will focus on maximizing customer value by standardizing sales management globally, strengthening the brand in North America, and rebuilding sales channels in Asia. Through this, we will raise the recurring revenue ratio by expanding consumables sales and maintenance contracts.

Going for the ONE

Our guiding principle for sales remains “Going for the ONE.” This expresses our determination to unite as ONE SHIMADZU around a single purpose—Best for Our Customers—and strive to become No. 1.
Uncertainty in the business environment is rising due to geopolitical risk, changes in trade policy, and other factors. At the same time, global interest in Planetary Health is increasing, and the role expected of the Shimadzu Group is becoming even more important. In this environment, it is especially important that sales expand customer touchpoints, contribute to solving challenges, and drive growth.
As I often say, one of my core beliefs is that we should enjoy our work. The most demanding work and the work that involves taking on something new should be the most enjoyable. People engage most positively when they enjoy what they do.
We intend to turn the transformation underway in the Sales & Marketing Division into clear results and successfully navigate this challenging period. We hope you will look forward to the Shimadzu Group’s next stage of growth.