Employee Interview
■Profile
After studying environmental engineering including air pollution and waste treatment at Zhejiang University in China, Lyu Liang decided to study abroad in Japan to learn more advanced technology in this field. After graduating from a Japanese school, he entered Tokyo Institute of Technology and got his Doctoral Degree from the Department of Environmental Science and Technology.
After graduation, he got a job at one of the biggest oil companies in Japan and spent five years in R&D on automobile fuel and lubricants. After that, he joined HighChem, working as a secretary to the president for 1.5 years before he moved to his current position as a new business development manager.
Why did you join HighChem?
I was introduced to HighChem by a headhunting company and was attracted by the history and job contents of HighChem.
Since the position was a secretary to the president, I believed that I could learn various things about both business and management from the president.
Additionally, I thought that I could use what I had learned in the university and in the oil company to contribute to the further development of HighChem.
What is your current job?
I am one of the members of the New Energy Group. I am in charge of launching energy-related businesses and selling related products mainly related to hydrogen.
HighChem has deep relationships with many hydrogen suppliers in China through the SEG® licensing business (a technology that uses synthetic gas as a raw material to produce ethylene glycol). Therefore, we are aiming to build a unique hydrogen supply chain that makes full use of these relationships to contribute to the development of hydrogen society in the near future.
For fulfilling this purpose, it is necessary to reduce the cost of the hydrogen supply, which is currently a bottleneck for wider use of hydrogen. Moreover, it is also important to find an economical way to procure hydrogen that emits less CO2 during manufacturing.
Please tell us what you find most exciting in your current job!
When I was a president's secretary, I went on business trips to China for half of the month with the president. Through this experience, I was able to get a closer look at the ideas and work styles of the president and other CEOs of many major Chinese companies, which greatly broaden my eyes. Furthermore, I gained a lot of confidence and believe that I could deal with all the difficulties with the help of the company.
In addition to that, in my current position, young people like me can be the leader of a new project, which makes me feel rewarding.
Please tell us your vision for the future!
I would like to devote myself to making the current hydrogen business successful and growing it into a major business of HighChem.
In the next step, I would like to make efforts so that in the future I can lead a large team as a department leader.
