SEI University

As part of its human capital development efforts, the Group provides training to help employees understand and share its corporate principles, values, and culture, as well as training aimed at improving their abilities, techniques, skills, and knowledge required to execute business strategies. The human capital development system composed of these training programs is collectively referred to as “SEI University.”
To achieve both the growth of each employee and the achievement of company targets, SEI University underpins “strong motivation for self-development” and “on-the-job training through guidance and dialogue with supervisors” as the basis for employee development.

■Global Common Knowledge and Skills

The Group has organized and integrated the training content and know-how cultivated since the establishment of SEI University and has established the Global Common Knowledge and Skills (GCK), consisting of knowledge and skills that employees should acquire according to their respective positions. While the basic knowledge is what employees should understand, the practical knowledge comprises knowledge and skills that are desirable for employees to acquire as basic abilities for performing their jobs. The Group is working to establish an environment where employees can take training at any time according to their own circumstances.

■Improvement of the training environment

To make it easier for employees active in over 40 countries and regions around the world to take training, the Group is spreading the use of the global learning management system “SEG e-CAMPUS,” in addition to the existing system that has been used mainly in Japan. SEG e-CAMPUS supports the languages of major bases, allowing for smooth streaming of e-learning programs and providing a wide range of content.
Starting with the launch in the Americas and Southeast Asia/Australia (APAC) in October 2024, the system had been spread to cover 11 countries and regions by the end of fiscal 2024. In fiscal 2025, the Group plans to further spread the system to cover a total of 22 countries and regions, including the previous year’s figure, by the end of fiscal 2025.

■Training program

SEI University offers over 400 training programs (shared globally) for all Group employees, from executives to new recruits, including compulsory courses for each level. Moreover, the Group provides company-specific training (specialized knowledge) to help employees acquire the specific knowledge and skills required by each business division or Group company.
Furthermore, the Group has introduced many practical training programs, including practical training for tackling manufacturing challenges and executive training in which cross-departmental teams are formed to propose solutions to actual management challenges.
Each curriculum is updated annually based on management challenges and other situations.

■ Spread of the Sumitomo Spirit

In the training provided by SEI University, the Sumitomo Spirit is positioned as the foundation for employees to carry out their work. The Group provides opportunities to learn about the Sumitomo Spirit at training programs for new employees and various level-specific training programs. In addition, the Group regularly communicates how a legal compliance program, a human rights program, etc. relate to the Sumitomo Spirit. Moreover, the President himself sends a message by video every six months, urging all employees to perform their duties in accordance with the Sumitomo Spirit. The video is translated into multiple languages and distributed to Group companies both in Japan and overseas. Furthermore, the Group provides advance training to employees who are to be assigned overseas so that they can communicate the Sumitomo Spirit in their own words in their new places of work. Additionally, the Group is training in-house instructors at Group companies both in Japan and overseas so that employees can regularly learn about the Sumitomo Spirit.
In 2023, the Group opened the Minami Hakone Gallery, a history exhibition room, in the Minami-Hakone Seminar House, one of its training facilities, so that visitors can experience the Group’s spirit, principles, values and culture. The training facility users can receive training from a full-time instructor regarding the Sumitomo Spirit and the history of Sumitomo. (In fiscal 2024, a cumulative total of 1,219 group employees took the training.) To achieve 2030 VISION and the Mid-term Management Plan 2025, both formulated based on the Sumitomo Spirit, the Group utilizes training, videos and other communication means to ensure that each employee regards the vision as their own issue and create job satisfaction.

■DX

Defining the human capital necessary to promote the Company-Wide DX Plan as DX talent, the Group is strengthening the development of “core DX talent,” who can solve departmental challenges through initiatives that utilize digital technology, and “data analysis talent,” who understand data visualization and analysis methods and can apply them under guidance.

■Manufacturing

Aiming to pass on the excellent technology and skills that the Group has cultivated and to strengthen its manufacturing capabilities, the Group provides three types of training programs: basic manufacturing training, technical and skills training, and key-person training.

Basic manufacturing training:
The Group provides training to acquire the knowledge required at manufacturing sites, such as on safety and quality, as well as to learn about management techniques related to manufacturing. The Group provides not only curriculums for less experienced employees, but also regular training for employees at all levels, encouraging employees to reconfirm their basic knowledge and sharing information on the latest trends within the Group and on legal regulations.

Technical and skills training:
Based on the principle of hands-on learning using actual machines and objects, the Group offers a variety of curricula that incorporate everything from the acquisition of the Group’s unique techniques and skills, including its equipment and maintenance techniques, to cutting-edge technologies such as IoT and AI. For the basic knowledge of improvement activities and equipment maintenance, the Group provides training overseas as well, primarily in China and Southeast Asia.

Key-person training:
The Group provides training for general managers in which general managers from Sumitomo Electric and presidents from affiliates confirm the concepts essential for reinforcing the manufacturing capabilities from the perspective of safety, the environment, quality, manufacturing and HR development and show their own commitment to proceeding with necessary activities. The Group also offers a plant manager development program to foster “strong” plant managers (equivalent to the manager of a manufacturing section) who will play a pivotal role in manufacturing. In addition, to develop the next generation of key persons, the Group offers practical training programs called the Monozukuri (manufacturing) Kakushin (innovation) Professional (MKP) and the Genba (on-site) Kaizen (improvement) Professional (GKP). In these programs, participants are assigned to theme departments other than their own and work there to solve the departments’ important challenges and problems for several months.

■Management Program based on the Sumitomo Spirit (MPSS)

The Group annually provides training on the Sumitomo Spirit and management skills (SEG Management Program based on the Sumitomo Spirit: MPSS) for managers of Sumitomo Electric and Group companies at its bases in Germany, the U.S., Singapore, China (Shanghai and Shenzhen), Mexico, and Japan.

■Global Leadership Development Program (GLP)

The Global Leadership Development Program (GLP), designed for general managers of Sumitomo Electric and Group companies, consists of online seminars and face-to-face seminars in Japan to help participants understand Sumitomo’s history and the Sumitomo Spirit, develop leadership skills, and build global networks.

■Executive training program

For executives of Sumitomo Electric and Group companies, the Group organizes workshops and other events so that they can try action learning, understand the Sumitomo Spirit, acquire management knowledge, and learn about leadership.

Total Hours of Training Programs

As a result of the efforts in each region and by each company, the accurate compilation of records by each company regarding its employees’ participation in training programs, and the development of a global learning platform, the Group achieved the global target of 20.0 hours / annually per headcount of training programs set in the Mid-term Management Plan 2025, before 2025.
To continue to provide training opportunities centered on the Global Common Knowledge and Skills (GCK), covering the Sumitomo Spirit, the Group will further improve the learning environment and offer content in multiple languages.

Commendation Systems

To promote SEQCDD^＊ and achieve management targets, we have established Group-wide uniform standards in various fields and systems to commend outstanding employee activities. The commendation systems help to increase employee motivation and engagement, to ensure the permeation of our vision and business policies throughout the Group, and to foster a sense of unity among our employees.

＊ SEQCDD: (S) Safety / (E) Environment / (Q) Quality / (C) Cost / (D) Delivery / (D) Development
＊ Sumitomo Electric Group Global Awards: Awards granted for business activities that made a significant contribution to Group-wide performance and for outstanding activities concerning a wide range of themes, including the environment, safety, intellectual property, and research, based on the three keywords of “Glorious,” “Excellent,” and “Connect with Innovation”
＊ Affi¬liate Award: Awards granted, according to the specified criterion of the mission that affiliates should fulfill in order to ensure that the Group will become a “Glorious Excellent Company,” to affiliates that made the most significant contribution (about top 20 companies) while operating with a sense of unity and unifying power