Driving Efficiency Through Task Automation and Cross-Department Collaboration

──You’re currently based in New York City, leading digital transformation for Marubeni’s U.S. operations as a member of the Digital Innovation Department.

Mitsuhisa Tanaka:Our New York team consists of four members, three of whom are local hires, while I am the only one dispatched from Japan. I joined Marubeni as a new graduate in 2009. Because we are a global trading company, many people are posted overseas, and not just members the Digital Innovation Department.

My career began in accounting within the infrastructure sector. In 2013, I helped establish a subsidiary in China and managed it for two years. Upon returning to Japan, I oversaw tax and general affairs for an overseas construction office for power and infrastructure division. At the time, Marubeni was deeply involved in constructing power plants and other infrastructure projects abroad, so I often negotiated with local tax consultants, finance ministries, and tax authorities. Later, I formed a team to automate partnership operations within my department before transitioning to the Digital Innovation Department. In 2022, I was assigned to New York City to strengthen and lead our U.S. operations team.

──Have you always been involved in digital technology utilization?

Tanaka:I studied information science at university, so I have a background in programming and have been automating routine tasks since joining the company. Around the time of my transfer, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) was gaining popularity, and I was involved in several hundred projects to automate tasks such as data entry into core systems and report generation.

In 2018, we launched the System Promotion Section, focusing on automation—particularly in sales and back-office functions—and held training sessions and workshops to spread digital knowledge across the company. While there was initial resistance to automation, the experience of fostering company-wide momentum for digitalization and gaining new allies proved both valuable and rewarding.

Image: Mitsuhisa Tanaka

Optimizing U.S. Grain Logistics Through Data Integration

──Having worked on numerous overseas projects, including in the U.S., what do you find appealing about Marubeni, and what are its strengths?

Tanaka:One of the most fascinating aspects of working in the Digital Innovation Department is the opportunity to engage with various subsidiaries. Marubeni’s subsidiaries operate on a large scale and across a wide array of sectors. In my current role, we oversee substantial businesses such as grain trading, beef processing, and refrigerated trailer leasing and logistics.

From a digital technology standpoint, each of these businesses generates vast amounts of data, offering significant potential for AI and data analytics. The opportunity to work with such data while directly engaging with management at the operational front lines is a unique benefit of being part of a global trading company, and I believe this is one of our core strengths.

──As the scale of business gets bigger, it seems the potential for digital technology expands, too.

Tanaka:Expectations and demand for digital transformation are growing considerably. People have recognized the importance of big data for over a decade, but the total volume of data has increased dramatically, and tools have evolved to enable more sophisticated analysis.

For instance, in the grain business, beyond the extensive data available on the USDA website, we can now map the rail network and track actual production and transportation volumes within our operations. Digitizing processes that were previously done by hand will significantly enhance efficiency.

──What specific initiatives are currently in progress?

Tanaka:Grain-producing regions cover a vast area of the United States, and efficiently collecting and distributing grain has always been a challenge. Each site has a collection center, known as an elevator, where grain gathered from surrounding farmers by land or water must be promptly transported. However, achieving operational efficiency has been challenging. While reports were submitted from each site, it is difficult to manage assets effectively based solely on those reports. Our goal is to develop a tool that enables smooth management decision-making by visualizing all collection and transportation data on a map.

In the refrigerated trailer leasing business, while we had been collecting operational and temperature data, the data was often insufficient. Over the past three years, we’ve conducted demonstration tests on a system capable of detecting trailer breakdowns, addressing sensor malfunctions, and other data deficiencies.

We are also working to deploy Marubeni Chatbot in the U.S., an AI-based internal chatbot rolled out in Japan last year. As we increase the number of small projects, I hope to gradually expand opportunities for the Digital Innovation Department to address broader management challenges.

Enhancing U.S. Operations with Data-Driven Infrastructure

──While working in the U.S., have you noticed any differences between Japanese and American business practices?

Tanaka:The U.S. brings together people from diverse backgrounds, and business practices and culture differ significantly from those in Japan. One-on-one communication is more important, so we focus on building systems that enhance communication with individual team members while promoting speedy information sharing within the team.

From a technology perspective, I am keenly aware of the differences between Japan and the U.S. Many platforms we utilize in Japan, such as Google, AWS, and Azure, were developed in the U.S., and AI technologies like large language models (LLMs) are propelling global innovation. While we can access information provided by these platform providers, our New York team members actively seek new insights by attending various seminars and events.

──How do you plan to expand your business in the U.S. moving forward?

Tanaka:The Digital Innovation Department needs to increase the number of projects that have tangible impacts on Marubeni’s U.S. subsidiaries. It is particularly important for each entity within a profit-driven trading company to make a meaningful contribution to the bottom line. So we aim to strengthen collaboration with each subsidiary by leveraging digital technology to reduce costs and support management decisions.

Siloed information environments due to the vast scale of the U.S. is one reason why data utilization initiatives often stall. Different companies sometimes access different databases when they should be using a unified system.

Our goal is to establish robust data infrastructure that makes it possible to integrate diverse data sets and create new value. We also hope to accelerate overall business growth in the U.S. by promoting AI utilization, with the Digital Innovation Department serving as a central hub.