AI technology is gradually being integrated into global corporate operations. Japanese instant noodle giant Nissin Food Group has also followed the trend and accelerated its digital transformation. The management has comprehensively promoted "internal-only ChatGPT", which not only significantly improves work efficiency and strengthens information security protection, but also gradually Reshape the business model and set a new benchmark for the digitalization of the food industry.
Set annual goals and implement digital transformation
Nissin's digital transformation plan began in 2019. The "DIGITIZE YOUR ARMS" poster posted within the group symbolizes Nissin's determination to transform. "In the future, even if we are born in the food manufacturing industry, we should make full use of digital technology to change the way we work." Nissin Vice President Tokutaka Ando hopes to convey this spirit to every employee.
Since then, Nissin has set a clear digital transformation goal every year, starting from 2019 as "the first year of eliminating paper culture", promoting "daily telecommuting" in 2020, and setting "50% reduction in daily work" in 2023 , and the goal in 2025 is to "establish a fully automatic production line." Setting a transformation goal every year and implementing it has gradually been internalized into Nissin's corporate culture.
Implement a series of information security policies to consolidate corporate security
In order to smoothly promote digital transformation, Nissin will discuss in 2022 the digital areas that the group needs to strengthen before 2030, and propose five key projects: network security, global IT governance, digital application support for business departments, advanced networks and The utilization of mobile devices and the construction of data infrastructure to promote data-driven operations, the most urgent of which is "cybersecurity".
Prior to this, Nissin Group did not have professional security personnel, so they established a "cybersecurity strategy room" to recruit professionals and comprehensively promote corporate information security protection, among which the most important thing was to target "ransomware viruses" defense. Nissin has built an external intrusion detection system that combines EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response), XDR (Extended Detection and Response) and SOC monitoring teams to achieve round-the-clock monitoring throughout the year. Once an external threat is detected, the system will Blockade completed within minutes.
Nissin Chief Information Officer Toshihiro Narita said: "Within 3 months after the introduction of this system, 10 potential threats have been detected and blocked, avoiding the risk of turning into a major information security incident."
In addition, Nissin uses NRI Secure's "Secure SketCH" service to conduct security risk assessments on its 60 subsidiaries and formulate mid- and long-term countermeasures. The company also attaches great importance to employees' security awareness, and improves the information security literacy of all employees through "Cyber Security Month", phishing email response training, e-learning courses and special training for management.
In 2023, the group will establish a new "Group IT Management Department" to integrate the Cyber Security Strategy Office and the IT Management Office to comprehensively strengthen the IT governance of Nissin Food Group. Narita believes that this move will help strengthen the group's overall network security strategy.
Prepare a budget and establish an AI-friendly environment
Nissin's exploration in the field of AI is inseparable from its CEO Acer Ando, who is in his 70s.
Narita revealed: "At the 2023 induction ceremony, Ando used ChatGPT to generate an inspirational message, demonstrating the potential of generative AI." This message incorporated the keywords "Nissin Food Group's induction ceremony", "entrepreneurial spirit", etc. , and added Mr. Ando's personal words to encourage new employees to gain more knowledge in a short period of time through the application of such technologies.
Narita said: "When we saw the company's senior management flexibly applying the latest technology, we thought that the ChatGPT environment should be introduced into the entire company as soon as possible, so I immediately reported it to the IT department and recruited volunteers to start the internal promotion plan of ChatGPT." The company uses every Based on the paid version of ChatGPT, which costs about 30,000 yen per person per year, it has established a dedicated environment for 4,000 employees, with a total budget of about 120 million yen.
Narita emphasized that before introducing ChatGPT, the first priority was to organize risks. After internal discussions, "security" and "compliance" were identified as the main risk points.
Regarding security, in order to prevent personal information or partner information from being leaked, Nissin Foods decided to build a company-specific ChatGPT environment; in terms of compliance, the output results of ChatGPT may be risky when used twice or three times. The company has formulated guidelines for this purpose and repeatedly reminds employees to increase their risk awareness through internal company briefings, internal publications and other channels.
The feature of Nissin ChatGPT is the warning mechanism embedded in the environment. After the system is started, a message screen from Mr. Aki Ando, the CEO, will first appear, and then the classic Chicken Ramen Chicken mascot character will be used to teach basic instructions. A confirmation box will also be set up to check each employee's correct description of the use of generative AI, including "Don't accept all the answers from generative AI" etc. You can only start using it after completing these steps. Narita said: "This measure is a suggestion made by the Minister of Justice. He believes that relying solely on guidelines and explanations will be easily ignored by employees."
Optimize at all times to achieve "happy and energetic work"
Nissin requires sales staff to strike a balance between "stopping unnecessary business" and "proficiently using digital tools and automating business" to achieve a state of "working happily and energetically". The sales time allocation of most companies is "3:7" (customer interaction time: other business time), and Nissin hopes to increase this ratio to "5:5" through digital means.
To this end, Nissin has introduced a sales support system (SFA) to automatically provide team optimization suggestions to help improve unnecessary wasteful behaviors. For example, the system will pop up feedback such as "The team acted like this, the movement time is too long, there is too much waste, and the difference is too big compared with other teams." At the same time, through the dashboard, you can clearly see "Where are the shortcomings compared with other teams?" etc.
Data shows that Nissin's sales staff's proposal preparation time has been reduced by 25%, and business time for valuation preparation and product registration has also been reduced by 4% through the RPA system. In the past two years, Nissin has independently developed more than 350 systems and automated about 800 businesses, saving a cumulative 170,000 hours of work every year. In addition, the company successfully retired a nearly 40-year-old mainframe system.
Through clear annual goals, Nissin Foods strengthens information security, flexibly applies AI, and continues to improve work efficiency, demonstrating that the traditional food industry can also find its own path in digital transformation.
