From 1 April current CEO Shoei Yamana will become executive chairman. His replacement as CEO is Toshimitsu Taiko, who started his career at Minolta Camera back in 1986.
Taiko has advanced through various senior roles in Japan and internationally since, becoming an executive officer in 2015. He headed up the Professional Printing Business for ten months from April 2017.
Since April 2020 he has helmed KM’s Business Technologies wing, and from the start of this year has also been the executive officer responsible for corporate planning.
In a statement explaining the changes, KM said: “Since the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, people's values and behavioural changes have progressed, and the business environment surrounding the company has changed dramatically.
“Turning around the Office and Production Print Businesses, as the company’s core businesses, as soon as possible, and further enhancing the Industry Business that drives earnings generation, Healthcare Business and Industrial Print Business are an urgent management issue.”
The group said that in order to complete the medium-term business portfolio transformation and “simultaneously resolve short-term issues”, it was necessary to further strengthen execution capabilities and accelerate change.
“FY2022 is the final year of the Medium-term Business Plan ‘DX2022’ and the year for formulating the next business plan," KM stated.
“The decision has been made that, in enhancing the corporate value, it is appropriate to change president and CEO, representative executive officer, at this timing so that the new president and CEO, representative executive officer, will formulate new Medium-term Business Plan himself, lead the group’s 40,000 global talent and maximise their execution capability.”
Current chairman Masatoshi Matsuzaki will retire after the shareholders’ meeting in June, and will become a special adviser.
Yuji Ichimura, currently executive VP and executive officer, responsible for Digital Transformation, DX Brand Communication and Public Relations, will resign from his role, effective 31 March.
Yamana has been CEO since April 2014. At the start of the year he pledged to rebuild customer confidence following last year's disruption to toner manufacturing and supplies that also resulted in a near-£40m order backlog.
