NEC Facilities, Ltd.

Many of NEC Facilities’ employees have been involved in facilities management for factories for many years, with some having begun their careers in the period when Japanese electronics manufacturers were at the forefront of the global semiconductor market. Their “master craftsmanship” continues to fulfill a key role in company’s operations. However, these employees typically focused on their daily activities and lacked experience in implementing a vision to transform the company and create new value. As a result, it had become essential for each employee to embrace the growth strategy outlined in the 100-day plan, transform their mindset and behavior, and become a driving force for the company’s growth. 
“We decided to first review our conventional approach, keeping the good aspects while revising what needed to be changed. Then, together with the employees, we focused on initiatives with a view to the future. Many of our employees had experienced the rise and fall of Japan’s semiconductor industry, and as a result, the prevailing mindset was, ‘We can’t implement any measures because we don’t even know what the outlook for the next year will be.’ In response, I told them, ‘We need to acknowledge that we are not fully addressing existing demand, and once we recognize that, we will know that immediate action is required.’ I focused on transforming their mindsets and ensuring the management policy was understood and embraced,” says Mr. Hashitani.
However, President Hashitani’s efforts alone were not enough to spread these ideas throughout the company. Therefore, NEC Facilities decided to partner with a consulting firm for the project. After comparing several options, ABeam Consulting was selected. This was not only because of ABeam’s deep expertise in the semiconductor industry, including a good understanding of field operations, but also in view its pragmatic project management capabilities.
In the past, ABeam Consulting had been involved in NEC’s “management and finance process innovation project,” for which it provided practical, hands-on support, including tough recommendations on challenging issues. Mr. Hashitani, who was at NEC at the time, was impressed by ABeam’s approach and project management skills. Given this, he had high expectations of ABeam in NEC Facilities’ project, which led to its selection as a partner.

NEC Facilities, in partnership with ABeam, launched the Re-Faci DX Project in October 2023. The project’s goal is to transform the company’s business model, leveraging data to navigate uncertainty. For this purpose, the company also aims to foster a culture of continuous transformation, developing people and organizations while encouraging initiative. The project is focused on developing a new overarching business concept in preparation for the next mid-term management plan. Firstly, the positioning of internal projects, which had been pursued individually, was clarified in relation to the mid-term management plan and the business concept on which the plan is premised. Next, the desired outcomes for each project were identified, and where necessary, the current internal projects were redefined to ensure they were actionable and aligned with the broader objectives.
ABeam fully supported President Hashitani and the rest of the management team, planning to engage directly with field operations to ensure that employees were convinced of the growth strategy and implementation system envisioned for the project. This approach aimed to help employees transform their mindsets and behavior. By analyzing trends in the semiconductor industry, ABeam helped define a future vision for NEC Facilities and contributed to the development of its new business model.
With ABeam serving as the project management officer (PMO) overseeing the overall transformation, 10 projects were launched: 1) Improving facilities management (FM) operational productivity; 2) Converting craftmanship to explicit knowledge; 3) Establishing an FM operations center; 4) Building digital FM infrastructure (IoT); 5) Constructing an FDP, 6) Developing a future concept for digital FM; 7) Reforming human resource management; 8) Reforming FM sales; 9) Enhancing business administration; and 10) Formulating a new corporate model. 
“With 80% of the company’s workforce involved in the facilities management business, just adding a few more staff would not be enough to satisfy demand. Therefore, the FM operational productivity improvement project was built around a key objective: increasing employee productivity by 30% to handle more facilities management contracts and drive growth in both sales and profit,” says Mr. Hashitani.
The plan was to digitize facilities management operations to optimize facility efficiency while converting craftmanship in areas, such as electric power, water, and clean rooms, into explicit knowledge, with the goal of offering the knowledge as a service and establishing the service as a source of competitive advantage.
ABeam sought to understand management’s vision and goals for each of the 10 projects and, using a template that outlined objectives and timelines, implemented initiatives to persuade NEC Facilities’ employees and encourage their proactive involvement. Employee attitudes toward the projects varied—some were highly motivated to achieve the plans, while others were more skeptical. Recognizing that highly motivated employees often face isolation in the workplace, ABeam made a conscious effort to follow them up, offering practical support to ensure they would stay engaged and contribute proactively to the projects .

Through six months of collaborative initiatives between management and ABeam, employees have begun taking the lead in driving efforts toward the goal of a 30% improvement in productivity. One notable contributor to this transformation in mindset and behavior was a mid-level employee responsible for facilities management at a large factory in Kyushu.
“He took the initiative to work on energy optimization and even created Excel macros for that purpose. We saw the potential to leverage his expertise across the company, so we transferred him to Tokyo to join the productivity improvement project. His involvement inspired the project team to come up with many new ideas,” says Mr. Hashitani. Another employee took on a leadership role. At 60 years old, he was considering retirement, but the company convinced him to stay for an additional five years, assigning him the task of exploring new business models in emerging fields. Leveraging his extensive experience, he led the project by engaging with facilities management personnel and partner companies. This effort initially generated around 20 ideas. With input from President Hashitani and ABeam consultants, who provided insights based on developments in other industries. As a result, the team expanded these to more than 100 ideas, making a significant contribution to the development of business models in new fields.
Through active employee participation, the initiative to achieve a 30% productivity improvement in the facilities management business is steadily progressing in the field, bringing the target within reach. Encouraged by the positive results emerging in facilities management operations, NEC Facilities has also launched a transformation project in its other core business, construction. The company anticipates rapid implementation and deployment, as the measures and templates developed for facilities management operations can be effectively applied to the construction business.

Building on its efforts to date, NEC Facilities, with support from ABeam, is engaged in projects under the Re-Faci DX Project for its next mid-term management plan, covering the period from 2026 to 2030. By implementing the new corporate model and enhancing corporate value, the company aims to drive restructuring across the entire facilities management sector, thereby supporting improvements in the competitiveness of Japan’s manufacturing industry.