Supporting talent development for transformation into an innovative company Contributing as a partner in the development of next-generation solutions business leaders

For operating SLC, Mitsubishi Electric determined that the support of a third-party consulting firm would be essential and began the process of selecting a partner. In making its selection, the company placed particular emphasis not merely on the provision of knowledge but on enabling participants to acquire practical skills that could be applied in their business operations. After comparing and evaluating proposals from several firms, Mitsubishi Electric ultimately selected ABeam Consulting as its partner.
“We didn’t want the training course to end with the participating engineers simply saying, ‘That was a good course.’ We wanted the course to start by changing their mindset and then build the capability to execute using the framework we had defined. From this perspective, we selected ABeam Consulting. Their proposal aligned perfectly with what we wanted to achieve. With a deep understanding of shop-floor realities in manufacturing, ABeam set equipping trainees with practical skills as the key goal. Moreover, they demonstrated a commitment to co-creating the curriculum with us, taking into account our corporate culture and mindset. We also valued their global reach,” recalls Mr. Nishikawa.
Mitsubishi Electric positioned SLC as an on-the-job development (OJD) training program, situated between off-the-job training (Off-JT) and on-the-job training (OJT), aiming to develop leaders capable of creating proposals that ultimately translate into business results. From 2015, themes were solicited internally for five years and selected leadership-level employees participated in the training. The program emphasized how to develop actual proposals for customers, how to engage internal and external stakeholders, and the speed needed to drive projects forward.

At Mitsubishi Electric, the steady development of next-generation solutions business leaders through SLC led the company to conclude that broader employee development was needed to realize its management strategy of “resolving social issues through circular digital engineering.” Building on experience and achievements since 2015, and in collaboration with ABeam Consulting, Mitsubishi Electric launched two courses to develop solutions business talent through Off-JT: the Solutions Proposal Course, which teaches foundational knowledge, and the Advanced SLC Course, focused on business planning.
The Solutions Proposal Course consists of lecture-style sessions for learning the key points of solutions business, followed by practical sessions to apply those points. In fiscal 2025, Mitsubishi Electric conducted a total of 10 cycles of four different programs from June to January, each accommodating up to 35 trainees. The Advanced SLC Course, meanwhile, combines lecture-based knowledge acquisition with development of solutions business proposals, guided by ABeam Consulting’s strategy consultants. In fiscal 2025, eight on-site sessions and follow-ups were held from June to December for 28 trainees selected from manufacturing sites and various other organizations, with regular online group meetings also conducted. Both courses incorporate rapidly evolving generative AI applications, ensuring that the latest developments are swiftly incorporated into the training.
“Ten years have passed since the launch of the SLC program, and in recent years, recommendations from various organizations to enroll their staff in SLC have increased significantly. However, because participants are expected to develop solutions business proposals rather than simply attend training, SLC cannot accommodate a large number of people at once. Therefore, while maintaining a selective enrollment system, those who wish to acquire knowledge can do so through the Solutions Proposal Course,” says Mr. Nishikawa.
ABeam Consulting has partnered with Mitsubishi Electric for 10 years, supporting the design and implementation of the Solutions Proposal Course and SLC courses. Throughout this period, new challenges often emerged, necessitating revisions to the program. Mitsubishi Electric has worked to enhance the value of its human resource development in collaboration with ABeam Consulting, which possesses expertise in both talent development and new business development. ABeam Consulting executes the program by integrating processes, mindsets, and frameworks for pursuing new businesses, while taking into account the rapidly changing society and market environment, as well as the specific challenges faced by Mitsubishi Electric.
In the early stages, trainees tended to design solutions purely on paper. As the program progressed, early customer interviews were introduced to gain a deeper understanding of their situations and challenges. This approach enabled trainees to develop consulting sales skills, which are important for solutions business, expand the target customer base, and develop solutions business proposals rooted in real-world needs. To further instill a customer-centric mindset, SLC insisted that the final deliverable should include not only an internal business proposal but also a proposal directed to the customer.
“There is no other training that actually involves going out and interviewing customers. Very few trainees had prior experience of directly uncovering customers’ true challenges and concerns. I was no exception. Through these experiences, we gained numerous insights and realized that our pace was often slower than what our customers expected. By bringing the insights and mindset gained from these experiences back to their respective manufacturing sites, trainees are helping a culture to permeate the company that is conducive to embracing challenges without fear of failure,” explains Mr. Nishikawa.

Over the past 10 years, more than 1,000 Mitsubishi Electric employees have participated in the SLC program. This initiative is serving as a major driving force of the shift toward solutions business, and is already producing cases that lead to commercialization. “I used to work in a new business planning department of the Space Systems Division. Before that assignment, I was an SLC trainee. In the SLC program I attended in 2018, we explored new solutions business utilizing data from satellites, with potential applications in agriculture and autonomous driving. However, the scale of each business was small, and alternatives were available on the ground, so it was difficult to bring our ideas to fruition. After much deliberation and discussion by all the trainees in the team, we ultimately proposed establishing a platform to utilize the data. Research on the ‘Japan Disaster Charter’ is currently being carried out based on that concept,” comments Mr. Nishikawa.
The Japan Disaster Charter is a service designed to support rapid initial responses and recovery/reconstruction efforts after a disaster by utilizing satellite data. In May 2025, four partners—the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED), Fujitsu, Satellite Data Service, and Mitsubishi Electric—signed a joint research agreement to advance the operational framework and are progressing toward practical implementation. The proposal developed through the SLC program has also contributed to the realization of this project.
Mitsubishi Electric established the DX Innovation Academy, a systematic training program, in April 2025, aiming to secure 20,000 DX professionals by fiscal 2030. In line with this initiative, SLC’s DX-related content is being enhanced to further improve the program quality. Furthermore, SLC has come to play a significant role as a platform for cross-organizational communication and interaction. “SLC brings together employees from different businesses, allowing them to gain new insights through interaction. We aim to create a venue for collaborative learning that fosters employee engagement and serves as a catalyst for business collaboration,” says Mr. Nishikawa.
With support from ABeam Consulting, Mitsubishi Electric is incorporating feedback into the program in a timely manner while also leveraging ABeam Consulting’s global perspective. To drive its transformation into an innovative company, Mitsubishi Electric plans to further enhance the content of both the Solutions Proposal Course and the Advanced SLC Course.