Main initiative Details

Employee education program for improved customer service quality Provided ongoing education to enhance communication skills, as well as other training programs

Improvements for sharing the voice of the customer (VOC)

• Promptly shared VOC internally to improve products and services

• Disclosed product improvements on the website

• Conducted product evaluations from the customer perspective in assessment meetings at the product development stage

Improving responses to customer feedback Promoted improvement of responses to customer feedback across the company

In-house training on customer satisfaction(1) Lectures on customer perception (2) Workshops on VOC analysis(3) Workshops on use of the VOC portal (4) Sales department customer service training, etc.

(295 employees participated in 19 training sessions)

• Ajinomoto Co., (Thailand) Ltd.• Ajinomoto do Brasil Indústria e

Comércio de Alimentos Ltda.• PT Ajinomoto Indonesia

Major group companies outside of Japan with customer call centers

• Ajinomoto Vietnam Co., Ltd., etc.

Note: Group companies that do not have a dedicated customer call center handle customer service inquiries by directly phone and online.

To ensure that we continue to provide products and services that satisfy our customers, we will listen to customers, see problems from their point of view, and focus all of our resources on creating the solutions customers need. Above all, our aim is to be an honest company that customers can trust.

1. We provide safe and reliable products and services to our customers.2. We respond to complaints, requests and inquiries from our customers precisely, promptly and politely.3. We respect the voice of the customer, and strive to use all input to add value to our products and services.4. We actively disclose appropriate information to our customers.5. We comply with regulations and voluntary in-house standards related to protecting the rights of our customers.

Customer Satisfaction Promotion Policy

Customer Satisfaction Code of Conduct

Consumer Issues

Communicating with CustomersThe Ajinomoto Group strives to put the customer first by offering excellent service and providing innovative, high-quality products that are always safe. With the Ajinomoto System of Quality Assurance (ASQUA), channels for communicating with customers are clearly defined, and each group company has established customer service teams which listen directly to customer opinions and requests. Customer feedback is shared across company departments, and employees focus on incorporating this feedback into business activities, products and services.

As part of product quality management and customer satisfaction efforts, Ajinomoto Co., Inc. and Ajinomoto Frozen Foods Co., Inc. also developed the Customer Satisfaction Promotion Policy and Customer Satisfaction Code of Conduct based on the ISO 100021 standard for handling complaints. The Ajinomoto Group is committed to delivering products and services that more than satisfy all of its customers.1 International guidelines for a complaint management system which set requirements for an organization to meet in responding appropriately and promptly to customer complaints in order to improve

customer satisfaction.

Listening to and learning from customers

The Ajinomoto Group constantly seeks to improve customer satisfaction and has dedicated customer service teams at six food product companies in Japan.2 The Group is now expanding this scheme to group companies outside of Japan, tailoring it to their product lines and local needs.

The Customer Service Center of Ajinomoto Co., Inc. strives to respond precisely, promptly and politely to inquiries and to provide information, in cooperation with related departments, to deliver superior customer satisfaction and to ensure consumers can use products with peace of mind. The center also records and analyzes the “voice of the customer” (VOC) daily. Customer opinions are shared with business divisions and product develop-ment departments to spur the development of better products and services. Ajinomoto Co., Inc. understands how important every communication opportunity is. The company works constantly to improve customer relations and raise satisfaction, not only when providing products and services, but across all of its other business activities.

In April 2014, ASQUA, the Ajinomoto Group’s own quality assurance system, was updated with the Standard for Handling of “Voice of Customer” and Standard for Effective Use of “Voice of Customer.” Based on these, the Ajinomoto Group will further enhance the quality of response to VOC worldwide and also seek to make even better use of customer input to improve its prod-ucts and services. The customer service teams at the six food product companies in Japan all meet every three months to study common topics for improving the quality of customer response and to share examples of improvements made based on VOC.2 Ajinomoto Co., Inc.; Ajinomoto Frozen Foods Co., Inc.; Ajinomoto General Foods, Inc.; J-OIL

MILLS, INC.; YAMAKI Co., Ltd.; and Kellogg Company.

Main fiscal 2013 initiatives of the Customer Service Center of Ajinomoto Co., Inc.

111 Ajinomoto Group Sustainability Report 2014

terminology and illustrate with photographs and graphs in an effort to help customers more easily understand the results.

Thanks to these efforts, more than 90% of customers who received a follow-up contact in fiscal 2013 indicated that they would continue to purchase products manufactured by Ajinomoto Co., Inc.

Customers Customer Service Center

Meetings called to deal with urgent items

Business departments

Planning

Develop-ment

Manufac-turing

Sales

Boost customer satisfaction by developing and improving products

Inquiries/complaints

Development meetings (monthly)

VOC application meetings (biannual)

VOCreview meetings (monthly)

Staff carefullyreads VOC data

Highlight

Wan Thai Foods Industry Co., Ltd. makes YumYum instant noodles packaged in bags. However, shortly after the recent launch of a cup-type instant noodle product, YumYum Cup TemTem, customers complained that the lid was hard to open.

Creating better products by listening to customers

Responding to the complaints, the company’s marketing, R&D, purchasing, and production departments all got together to look into possible improvements. They agreed to adopt a new material for the lid and adjust the production conditions, which made the package easier to open without any compromise to product quality. The company also added clearer photos on the package to show how to prepare the noodles, making it easier than ever for customers to enjoy tasty, freshly made YumYum Cup TemTem. Before After

VOC contacts received by Ajinomoto Co., Inc.: 38,200 (99% of the total in fiscal 2012)VOC contacts received by six of the Ajinomoto Group’s food product companies in Japan: 82,000 (96% of the total in fiscal 2012)

Follow-up questionnaire

Consumer Issues

Framework for incorporating the voice of the customer into product manufacturing

VOC breakdown in fiscal 2013

Improvement to YumYum Cup TemTem instant noodles in a cup

The Ajinomoto Group shares the “voice of the customer” (VOC) internally in a timely manner and uses VOC to improve its products and services.

Ajinomoto Co., Inc. values customer comments and enters them into a database on the day they are received. Problems deemed urgent are reported immediately to the relevant depart-ments, which investigate the causes and take measures to prevent reoccurrence. What was done is also reported back to customers. Entries are posted the following day on the internal VOC portal to share the information. The portal was improved in fiscal 2013 to make it easier for each department to see issues relating to its own products.

At Ajinomoto Co., Inc., each customer complaint about a product is investigated at the plant where it was manufactured to identify the underlying cause, and the findings are reported to the customer who contacted the company. Seeking to improve these reports to customers, since 2008 the company has been follow-ing up to assess their satisfaction with the investigation. In fiscal 2013, the company continued to conduct listening skills training to help employees to understand the conditions and context in which the customer discovered the problem and to convey sympathy for the customer’s concern. Rules regarding the detailed recording of customers’ doubts and concerns were also tightened.

The scope of manufacturing plant investigations was expanded beyond the underlying cause of the complaint, to verify customer doubts and concerns, as well, and to incorporate them into findings. Steps were also taken to explain scientific

Listening to customers to identify issues and discover improvements

Increasing customer satisfaction by responding earnestly to complaints

In addition, the Customer Service Center holds monthly VOC review meetings to address customer opinions and re-quests. In order to identify problems that need to be resolved, VOC data is carefully analyzed in several ways, including repro-ducing the problem with actual product samples. This method enables evaluation of the product from the customer’s perspec-tive and ensures a fresh, unobstructed understanding of custom-er opinions and requests.

Monthly development meetings and biannual VOC applica-tion meetings are held to share information on the tracking of product inquiries and shifting customer opinion, requests and suggestions. This information is then incorporated into the process of developing and improving products and services.

Based on suggestions by families with members who prefer different types of mayonnaise, stickers were placed on containers of Pure Select® Mayonnaise and Pure Select® Benibana Mayonnaise, so the two types could be more easily differentiated when removed from their product bags.

Breakdownof inquiries

Proposals

1%Complaints

4%

Inquiries

94%

Expiration date

14%

Retailers

13% Preparation / preservation methods

12%

Raw materials / manufacturing methods

10%

Product varieties /

price

8%

Safety

6％

Advertising / promotion

6％

Nutritional content

4％

Other 27%

Praise 1%

Breakdown of VOC contacts received by Ajinomoto Co., Inc.(38,200 contacts from customers)

112Ajinomoto Group Sustainability Report 2014

Highlight

Back of old package Back of new package

Universal design examples

Most important precaution shown on a large red background

Directions and storage information are shown in separate boxes for better clarity

Expiration date and customer contact information are separated to stand out better

Consumer Issues

Universal design is extremely important to the Ajinomoto Group. Its principles are critical to the pursuit of safe and reliable products, as well as to the Group’s mission of enriching the food lifestyles of its customers. Every group company applies univer-sal design to create product packaging that is easy for anyone to use.

Ajinomoto Co., Inc. has established universal design guide-lines that cover topics including use of color to distinguish product varieties and ways to improve readability of print. In recent years, the company has been focusing on creating de-signs that make information as easy to understand as possible.

Universal design initiatives

The company identifies the information of particular interest to the people who use each product and then carefully creates package design elements addressing the purchase, usage, and disposal phases. The resulting packaging is attractive and accessible for an even wider range of people, helping to boost customer satisfaction. Applying this approach not only to con-sumer food products but also increasingly to medical and nurs-ing care food products, the company will continue its universal design research, aiming to enhance basic package function as well as environmental and economic performance.

Package for MEDIF® PUSH CARE®

Rigorous management of personal information

In order to securely manage personal information including customer data, the Ajinomoto Group clearly defines rules and procedures and ensures that relevant personnel follow them, as part of organizational business management.

As part of its Information Management Regulations, Ajinomoto Co., Inc. has established Personal Information Management Guidelines, which clearly describe specific rules and procedures for securely handling personal information. These guidelines are based on the ISO 27001 standard for information security management systems.

The information handling rules are covered in grade- and job-specific security training, such as programs for new hires, mangers, and sales personnel. When operations are outsourced, the contractor’s business and system conditions are assessed to ensure the same high level of information security is maintained. To increase security, personal information is centrally managed in a company-wide personal information management database. In August 2013, a comprehensive inspection of its personal information database was performed.

See “Thorough information security” on p. 45.Reference

113 Ajinomoto Group Sustainability Report 2014