Our company TBM, short for Times Bridge Management was founded upon a will to create a business that will contribute to the happiness of humanity that can be sustained for 100 years and beyond. Our corporate vision is to: “Build on the past to create the future, with innovations to sustain a circular ecosystem lasting for centuries.” Under this vision, we strive to conduct a business that reduces the environmental impact and contributes to a sustainable development of society on a global scale.
Currently, the world faces global challenges such as rapid population growth, climate change, water resource crisis and energy depletion. There is an urgent need to find solutions to these problems not only by governments but also by businesses. In particular, water crisis, which the core business 'LIMEX’ addresses, has become a serious global issue in the 21st century. Some have even referred to the 21st century as the century of water. In some parts of the world, people have no access to clean water - such water scarcity is causing agricultural crisis and regional conflicts, threatening human lives.
Furthermore, LIMEX also addresses energy issues in the form of tackling fossil fuel depletion. Globally, there is still a very high dependency on petroleum-based products, despite the fact that there are limited oil reserves. Therefore, there is a need for alternatives which take oil resource depletion into consideration.
The new LIMEX technology and material that we have developed can greatly contribute to the problem of resource depletion especially in water and oil, whilst also creating employment opportunities by expanding its business to regions that are facing these issues. We will pursue both environmental sustainability and economic viability as we expand our business. As a corporate citizen, we will continue to attempt contributing towards environmental and social issues throughout our business activities.
CEO of TBM Co., Ltd. Nobuyoshi Yamasaki
Message from the CMO
All epoch-making events have begun from the proposition of a new paradigm. Copernicus’s Heliocentrism, a manned flight to the moon, the Internet Revolution, and the Jasmine Revolution are a few examples. On the other hand, advocates of these have shifted from scientists, to nations, to corporations, and to individuals. In recent years, the doors of Pangea opened, the boundaries of countries melted, and an intellectual value society has become a reality. The sum of an individual’s small actions began to generate unimaginable power and outcomes, and countless actions based on courage and conviction are forming the new frontier of human history.
In light of this social and generational context, TBM is attracting challengers with diverse wisdom, who are committed to taking risks for solving environmental and social issues. In order to reconsider the way we consume and produce, we, as a social innovator, set “sustainability” at the core of our business and brand promise. To achieve this, we strive to learn and better ourselves day by day. For example, TBM welcomes members with diverse abilities and experiences, such as university students to those in their 90s, as part of incorporating diversity and inclusion into our daily business. Juniors and seniors work towards a common goal in the same field. Furthermore, in order to expand the positive impacts that we can have on society, we have formed a cross-department team ‘Credo-kai’, which essentially explores concrete actions based upon our company’s mission, vision, and credo. By taking on a bidirectional approach of inside-out and outside-in, we hope to share our dreams and vision with as many people as possible. In doing so, we continue to develop a ‘community identity’, as part of our corporate branding.
Finally, I would like to conclude on the last will of Junjiro Takahashi, Emeritus Professor at Keio University. “The twentieth century is a century in which economists and ecologists ideologically confronted each other. In the twenty-first century, we will resolve the confrontation and create an open global standard in which ecological sustainability and economic viability coexist. That is the mission of our generation living in the twenty-first century.” LIMEX is the material that delivers that mission. TBM does not solely pursue economic value, so as to avoid repeating the tragedy of the past. We continuously and courageously attempt to realize a sustainable society. I believe that our ambitions will shine light on the progression of this generation by bringing about societal shift through the power of sustainability, making LIMEX the new standard of the world.
CMO of TBM Co., Ltd. Takayuki Sasaki
Message from the Sustainability Team
Our will “Let us build a bridge to the future we want.” This is the motto that has brought our team together. TBM will continuously provide solutions to global challenges triggered by megatrends including population growth and resource depletion. Our passion to create the future we want to leave for the next generations drives us to commit towards developing ideas into tangible impacts. Sustainability, SDGs, CSV, ESG ... The words that represent our business are diverse, but they are still unified by a single core belief. We focus on conducting future-oriented business in order to change this planet for the better. Elon Musk said: “If you don't have sustainable energy, it means you have unsustainable energy. Eventually you will run out, and the laws of economics will drive civilization towards sustainable energy, inevitably. The fundamental value of a company like Tesla is the degree to which it accelerates the advent of sustainable energy, faster than it would otherwise occur. So when I think, like, what is the fundamental good of a company like Tesla, I would say, hopefully, if it accelerated that by a decade, potentially more than a decade, that would be quite a good thing to occur. That's what I consider to be the fundamental aspirational good of Tesla." The raison d'etre of TBM is same as Tesla’s. As Tesla changes mobility with EV and Autopilot, TBM changes production and consumption with LIMEX. “Let us build a bridge to the future we want.” We feel very excited to make this a reality.
A Future-oriented Business Is Our Business In order to integrate sustainability with every aspect of TBM’s business activities, the Sustainability Team closely collaborates with every team in the company.
Executives For decision-making that enables realization of our vision “Build on the past to create a future with innovations to sustain a circular ecosystem that lasts for centuries.”, the Sustainability Team provides executives with updated information on megatrends and makes proposals for changes in our business. In particular, to support our executives in making appropriate decisions and effective communications with stakeholders, updated information on regulatory, corporate, and civil trends related to water risks and marine plastic pollution is essential.
Corporate Planning Division The roles of the Corporate Planning Division vary, including: performance management, supply chain management, new application exploration, and organising collaborative programs with local governments. The Sustainability Team engages with the Corporate Planning Division by forming projects based on business functions. For example, we merge non-financial performance indicators with performance management, and have developed a supplier monitoring system to assess sustainability-related risks. Furthermore, the Sustainability Team and Corporate Planning Division work hand in hand to strengthen the circularity of LIMEX, namely to establish an effective system to collect used LIMEX products.
Administration Division Collaborations with the Administration Division covers legal issues, finance, work environments, and utilities of the company. With regards to legal issues, we share information not only for compliance with the current legislation but also with future legislation and de facto standards related to environmental and social aspects of our business. As for the finance team, ESG workshops are held for learning ways to integrate financial and non-financial elements. This is to refine and implement a value creation story together. We also discuss and collaborate to improve working environments and to establish a Diversity & Inclusion culture for becoming a more productive and creative organization. Furthermore, another one of our collaborative initiatives is saving energy to reduce our environmental impact and costs. Recently, the introduction of renewable energy have also been discussed.
Corporate Communication Division With Corporate Communication Division, our role is to integrate sustainability into every interaction with our stakeholders. Namely, delivering speeches and workshops related to the SDGs, updating the corporate website, and providing ESG information disclosure on CDP to investors. Since the Sustainability Team sits within the Corporate Communication Division, we intimately work with the CMO to strengthen information disclosure and internal sustainability-related engagements.
R&D and Manufacturing Division Collaborative initiatives with the R&D team includes the LCA( Life Cycle Assessment: a method for quantitative evaluation of the environmental impact of a product or service through its whole lifecycle or certain stages ) and raw material selection and process improvements for sustainable material development. In particular, exchange views based on analysis of environmental impact hotspots.
Sales Division In the sales of LIMEX, not only are the physical properties and pricing of LIMEX used as points of appeal, but also its environmental benefits. The Sustainability Team provides the Sales Division with detailed information on LIMEX’s environmental impacts based on LCA results and world trends. The Sustainability Team members sometimes attend meetings with business partners as well.
Global Business Division Today, considerations of sustainability-related topics are expanding and furthering. This trend is led by multinationals and our solutions must be communicated in line with this context. As leading companies set stringent sustainability standards when replacing one material with another, The Sustainability Team works closely with the Global Business Division to develop proposals. In addition, to expand our business in accordance with a given context of an area, we study and share sustainability related issues and responses of local governments, businesses, and citizens.
Future Outlook of The Sustainability Team We hope that in the future, members of the Sustainability Team will spread out to each division, and ultimately, that every member of TBM will become a sustainability expert. At that point, there will no longer be the need for a specialised sustainability team. Our current team is working hard every day to see that day as soon as possible.
