Despite the nonstop escalation of inflation risk and energy and resource costs as a result of COVID-19 and geopolitical tension, the new balance between the pandemic and economic development was gradually regained due to the popularization of vaccines and the relevant measures in 2022. By maintaining steady operations in instability, we have gotten revenues back to the level before the pandemic and maintained growth for two years. As a result, the 2022 revenues increased by 29.26% over 2021 to NT$3.649 billion. Through continuously overcoming all adversities amidst various unfavorable factors, our management team made various improvements based on the direction of implementation of various strategies and plans.

Committed to raising the overall value of safety, we continue the “Tech for Safety” safety digitization plan to enhance the safety of worldwide workers with technology. In 2017 we pioneered the RFID-embedded safety industrial lifting components or installed the SupraTag chip on products to help customers optimize the source management, anti-counterfeit identification, and safety check of lifting components with cloud technology by retrieving data from digital chips via mobile app and achieve environmental protection and carbon reduction through paperless operation. In 2022, apart from equipping up to 74% of our products with RFID, we also developed a series of SupraTag products suitable for different lifting methods and for the safety regulations of different countries, hoping to popularize digital technology application in industrial lifting components through continuous physical and online promotions so as improve the working environment safety of different sectors. In personal fall arrest systems (PFAS), we captured in advance the latest international standards announced in 2022 to smoothly keep up with the new standards for over 95% of our products based on the revised tensile strength and categorization. Apart from demonstrating our efficient capture of and response to global regulatory trends, this also increased the faith in YOKE customers. After all, we are glad to see that our products meeting the latest regulatory requirements can keep global users safer at work. Additionally, we were awarded three awards at the Taiwan Excellence Awards for the “RFID carabiner, dielectric carabiner, and RFID tag” in 2022 to demonstrate our innovation capacity and industrial design capability.

As the core of the global and Taiwan ESG trend in 2022, net zero 2050 has given rise to various standards or policies. It is the seventh year since our first publication of the sustainability report. Changing neither the intent nor the attitude, making good products, taking care of employees, and fighting for the future together with suppliers are our way towards sustainability. Hence, we earned the Gold Award from the Corporate Health Responsibility (CHR) Award of the CommonHealth magazine in 2022 for our long-term care about employee safety and health.

Our vision at YOKE is to become a relevant player with stable profit margins and steady growth in the global market for industrial safety hooks, which we seek to demonstrate to our stakeholders. We shall continue to expand the market for industrial hoist hooks and protective safety gear while demonstrating the compatibility between “safety” and sustainability” to the world as our goals for the future.

Safety is our first priority. Our vocation is to allow everyone in the world to possess the right to safety, and to showcase to the world the results of compatibility between "safety" and "sustainability", which has always remained the unwavering goal of YOKE.

In 2016 we started the “people-oriented” digital transformation to support the organization’s transition from the mindset of traditional industries with the knowledge of high-tech industries. We have been developing a “continual improvement culture” through projects including the Continual Improvement Team (CIT) over time for employees to develop accountability, proactivity, and problem-solving capability in employees. Then, through the assistance of various digital tools; rationalization, optimization, and standardization of operating procedures; and worktime reduction, we develop the organization’s quick response capability and so capture the business opportunities from global economic recovery.

In 2021, we further implemented the Total Improvement Suggestion reward system. In 2022, we received up to 2,446 suggestions for improvement directly from employees, with a monthly average of 1.07 suggestions per employee. The excellent suggestions created a benefit of about NT$1.93 million. In recent years we have progressively implemented various digitization system tools, such as the product lifecycle management (PLM) system and statistical process control (SPC) system, to effectively support internal process improvement, such as product development, quality management, and process control, and extend to the customer relationship management (CRM) and supplier chain management (SCM) platforms to progressively enhance employee work efficiency and improve product and service quality through system connection and integration according to the strategic planning schedule.

Additionally, after the European Parliament passed the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in 2022, the bill is on the verge of passage and effectuation, which is critical to the iron and steel industry. Although none of our existing product ranges is covered by the CBAM, due to our continuous expansion of the scope of product application, the likelihood of CBAM exposure will be higher than that of other industries, increasing the likelihood of significant impact on raw material costs. Additionally, at the rise of the global carbon reduction trend and demand, at this critical moment we are thinking the need for the assistance of an effective management framework to establish effective improvement mechanisms so as to address the carbon reduction issues and energy management. In addition to continuously performing GHG inventory, we already implemented and passed the certification of the ISO 50001 energy management system (EnMS) in 2022. We have also performed the carbon footprint quantification of three products based on ISO 14067 and are expected to run the third-party verification in 2023. In the future, we will engage in the assessment and improvement of product carbon reduction in greater depth and integrate environmentally sustainable design (eco-deign) into new product development to lower the environmental impact of products in terms of hazardous substance elimination, product durability enhancement, and low-carbon packaging to make preparation for advance deployment so as to meet the future industry requirements and financial market concerns and continue various sustainability actions.