Next, I would like to introduce the second pillar, that is "factories." This involves sharing the know-how and human resources with respect to factory environment management, which Panasonic has cultivated over the years, with other companies in China.

More specifically, Panasonic will make available its environmental training curricula to factory engineers from other companies in China. Panasonic will do so by sending trained Panasonic factory engineers as instructors to offer training focused on the environment.

Moreover, the major environmental indicators and 2010 targets as defined in China’s 11th Five-Year Plan have been reflected into Panasonic's internal targets. Panasonic remains committed to achieving these targets by fiscal year 2009. In addition, 49 out of all 55 manufacturing sites have already passed the clean production audit, which is the representative environmental certification system in China, and the remaining 6 sites are also scheduled to receive this certification by the end of this fiscal year. Panasonic aspires to use its advanced environmental management know-how to create a program that may be also useful to other industries in the future.

Panasonic's willingness to not only share its know-how with others, but to also dispatch instructors to train engineers is very impressive. This seems to be indicative of Panasonic's strong commitment to "do everything in their power" to help regardless of whether it is beneficial to its organization or not.

The actual training program starts with a focus on technologies that help reduce CO2 emissions because "reducing CO2 emissions not only directly alleviate energy issues, but it also helps reduce costs by minimizing energy waste, thereby leading to enhanced productivity."