Daikin Shanghai has made the most of the experiences of Daikin Sunrise Settsu Co., Ltd., a cooperative venture established in 1993 together with the Osaka prefectural government and Settsu City to promote the hiring of people with disabilities. Even though the majority of its employees are disabled, Daikin Sunrise Settsu has always strived to achieve a profit like any other company. The company has done just this ever since 1995 and FY2006 sales were 1.2 billion yen with ordinary profit of 82 million yen. Of the 52 employees, 43 are severely disabled (as of March 2007), yet they strive to work just as hard as, and even harder than, the rest of the Daikin workforce based on the performance-based pay system.

We make the most of what we have learned at Daikin Sunrise Settsu to improve systems for hiring people with disabilities at Daikin Shanghai.

In July 2006, Daikin Shanghai became the first foreign company to be certified as a Shanghai Disabled Vocational Training Base by the Shanghai Disabled Federation. Taking this opportunity, the company became a technical training center taking in many disabled and not only helped them achieve self-reliance but also hired them to further promote employment for people with disabilities. Daikin Shanghai is also planning to build lines run entirely by the disabled in divisions including electrical component assembly; this will help these employees gain a wider range of skills.

We believe that a locally rooted company is not just one that contributes to the development of local industry, but one that works with local people to deal with issues in the community. The Daikin Group will continue to join locals around the world in making their communities better places to live and work.