.2 / Changes in international trends in manufacturing

According to the World Economic Forum’s selection of “beacon factories” (that is, cutting-edge manufacturing plants with a sample list) among global factories, 132 factories were selected as of January 2023, the white paper said. The common denominator of the selected plants is to improve productivity, capture market demand for flexible production, improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by leveraging digital technologies and optimizing the entire supply chain across enterprise barriers. Therefore, as a factor to evaluate the advancement of the manufacturing industry, it emphasizes not only the overall production efficiency, but also the ability to achieve “comprehensive optimization” such as digital transformation (DX) and green transformation (GX).

From the specific situation of the countries where the factory headquarters are located, the United States ranks first, with 36 bases of 18 companies selected (including 10 bases of Johnson & Johnson, 6 bases of Procter & Gamble, 5 bases of Western Digital, etc.); Followed by mainland China, there are 14 companies with 25 bases selected (including 6 bases of Haier, 5 bases of Midea, etc.), 7 factories in mainland China were selected in the new “Lighthouse Factory” in January 2023. They are Industrial Fulian Shenzhen factory, Haier Hefei factory, Shanghai Huayi New Materials Factory, Lenovo Hefei factory, Mondelez Suzhou factory, Unilever Tianjin factory, Wistron Zhongshan factory; Germany ranked third in the world, with 8 companies with 14 bases selected (including Bosch 4 bases, Henkel 3 bases, Siemens 2 bases, etc.). Only two Japanese companies have two bases on the list (including one for Hitachi and one for Mitsui Marine Development). According to the analysis of the white paper, the Japanese manufacturing industry is aware of the need to recognize the new trends in the global manufacturing industry, that is, to achieve overall optimization through digital transformation (DX) and green transformation (GX) in the future.

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1.3 / International trend towards “carbon neutrality”

Global climate anomalies and large-scale natural disasters are increasing, and tackling climate change has become a common challenge for mankind, the white paper said. With more and more countries and regions declaring “carbon neutral” goals, the global trend to achieve decarbonization is increasing. In 2022, in addition to the convening of COP27 (the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and the efforts of national governments, international discussions on industrial decarbonization initiatives are increasingly active.

Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February 2022, global energy prices have skyrocketed. The EU has set a policy to support 140 trillion yen of investment in the next 10 years through public-private cooperation. In addition to the “Infrastructure Investment Act”, the United States also issued the “Inflation Reduction Act” in August 2022, which plans to invest about 50 trillion yen over a 10-year period, and formulated a support policy to promote decarbonization investment across the country.

◉ G7 LED Industrial decarbonization: To strengthen cooperation on industrial decarbonization, the Industrial Decarbonization Agenda (IDA), led by the UK and the US under the G7 presidency, was launched in 2021 to help manufacturers transition to net-zero material production. In 2022, the German presidency will focus on steel and cement, as reflected in the outcome document of the G7 Climate and Energy Ministers’ meeting. Among them, as a major outcome, the International Energy Agency (IEA) report “G7 members towards Net Zero Emissions in Heavy Industry” proposes a definition of “net zero emission material production” as a “starting point” while developing a “policy toolbox”, a list of policies to support manufacturers in transiting to net zero material production.

◉ UN agency-led Industrial Decarbonisation Initiative: In June 2021, at the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) meeting of 29 member countries around the world, the Deep Decarbonisation of Industry Initiative (IDDI), led by the UK and India, was established to boost the market for low carbon emission materials, including steel and cement. Governments participating in IDDI can make a “green public procurement commitment” consisting of four projects, depending on the situation of each country. Japan announced its accession to IDDI at COP27 (27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) in November 2022. It can be seen that low-carbon, net zero emissions and decarbonization are the main directions of future industrial development.