Mitsui Chemicals Teams up With NEC and ABeam Consulting to Create a DX HR Development Plan and Training Content for Corporate Transformation
Aiming to train 165 DX specialists by fiscal 2025
2022.03.24
Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.
NEC Corporation
ABeam Consulting Ltd.
Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (Tokyo: 4183; President & CEO: HASHIMOTO Osamu) has teamed up with NEC Corporation (Tokyo: 6701; President and CEO: MORITA Takayuki) and ABeam Consulting Ltd. (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: KAMOI Tatsuya) to create a human resource (HR) development plan for training digital transformation (DX) specialists, with the aim of achieving corporate transformation (CX).
NEC offers the digital HR development services required to undertake DX, while ABeam Consulting has a solid track record of fostering DX at enterprises by making effective use of personnel skilled in the digital arena. With the support of these two companies, Mitsui Chemicals has put together its own DX HR development plan and produced training content relevant to the chemical product sectors in which Mitsui Chemicals operates. Under this plan, Mitsui Chemicals aims to train 165 DX specialists by fiscal 2025.
To achieve its VISION 2030 long-term business plan, Mitsui Chemicals is bringing data leveraging in-house in pursuit of CX, promoting the company’s transformation to a data-driven organization and culture, and positioning the improvement of digital literacy among all employees as one of its fundamental strategies for bringing CX to fruition.
Details of the DX HR Development Plan
In formulating the DX HR development plan, Mitsui Chemicals established a four-level scale of DX personnel requirements, defining the skills that staff at levels 0–3 should acquire and preparing curricula tailored to the attainment of each level. In fiscal 2021, a total of 10,000 staff and executives completed Level 0 training. Fiscal 2022 will see 1,000 employees from departments including Sales and Marketing take the Level 1 training program, which will provide them with a basic knowledge of data analysis. Progression to levels 2 and 3 will be selective, with participants chosen from among those who have completed their Level 1 training. The aim here will be to cultivate data scientists capable of proactively leveraging data to solve problems.
Details of Training Content
The objective of the Level 0 and Level 1 training programs is to ensure a wide range of data analytics skills become firmly established among the majority of employees, including executives and back office staff. To this end, rather than using generally available training content for cultivating data scientists, Mitsui Chemicals has put together its own training materials designed with the distinctive attributes of the chemical industry and Mitsui Chemicals’ own operations in mind. The consolidation of these skills will be encouraged by setting a certification examination to be taken by staff after completing the programs. In preparing the training materials, Mitsui Chemicals drew upon the concepts of NEC’s DX HR Development Service (Note 1), which taps into dotData (Note 2) AI software enabling operational divisions to undertake practical analysis with a minimal level of machine learning knowledge. Also leveraged was part of ABeam Consulting’s ABeam DX Framework (Note 3). The Level 1 training program incorporates content derived using dotData automatic data analysis software based on use cases designed with Mitsui Chemicals’ business operations in mind. The curriculum seeks to instill practical machine learning skills through role-play-based analytical exercises. In the Level 2 program, Mitsui Chemicals intends to make partial use of NEC Academy for DX (Note 4), which is designed to support the cultivation of the digital specialists required to promote DX.
All three companies have endorsed this announcement.
SAMBE Masao, Executive Officer, Digital Transformation Division, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.
“Having positioned efforts to improve digital literacy as part of our DX strategy, we have developed in-house our own DX educational program that satisfies our unique requirements. Introducing a curriculum that includes exercises with an abundance of use cases from the chemical industry will enable us to swiftly cultivate a group of data scientists and experts, serving then to transform Mitsui Chemicals into a data-driven company.”
MORI Hideto, Executive Director for Data-Driven DX, NEC Corporation
“We are delighted that NEC’s DX HR Development Service using dotData AI software is able to contribute to Mitsui Chemicals’ creation of a DX HR development plan and associated training content. We will continue to make full use of NEC’s know-how and knowledge to provide Mitsui Chemicals with total support in its efforts to transform itself into a data-driven organization and culture. In addition, we are keen to contribute to the development of personnel who are well-versed in DX for business divisions across all industries and sectors.”
YAMADA Takahiro, Chief Operating Officer, ABeam Consulting Ltd.
“ABeam Consulting has long been supporting the transformation of a diverse array of companies and organizations through our in-depth knowledge of digital technology, as well as through the experience we have cultivated in providing consulting services to customers in a variety of industries and sectors. We hope to contribute to Mitsui Chemicals’ transformation by leading its DX HR development project, combining our track record and capabilities with NEC’s advanced ICT technologies.”
(Note 1) DX HR Development Service
https://jpn.nec.com/solution/dotdata/service/
(Note 2) dotData
https://jpn.nec.com/solution/dotdata/
(Note 3) Abeam DX Framework
https://www.abeam.com/jp/dx_strategy/ja/
(Note 4) NEC Academy for DX
https://jpn.nec.com/dx/nec-academy/index.html