Realizing a Sustainable Society Through the Water Quality Analysis Business

Sustainability is a term that has recently become ubiquitous in the news, at school, and practically everywhere. It aims for durable and eco-innovative development while maintaining a balance between the environment, society, and economy while preserving the Earth's limited resources for the future. As social issues like global warming and resource depletion become more serious, the perspective of sustainability is becoming increasingly important in corporate activities.

HORIBA's basic philosophy is to contribute to the preservation of the Earth’s environment, human health, and the development of science and technology through the provision of analytical and measurement technologies. Under our vision of “Joy and Fun for All,” which is meant for all living beings, we continue to challenge ourselves to realize a sustainable society by setting high goals for developing products with minimal environmental impact, reducing CO₂ emissions, and supporting education for the next generation, future leaders of our society.

We spoke with Koichiro Kanaya, Vice President and Senior Corporate Officer leading sustainability strategies at HORIBA Advanced Techno, Co.,Ltd. (hereinafter “HORIBA Advanced Techno”), which takes a critical role in HORIBA Group's water and liquid analysis and measurement business. We asked him about the process leading to social contribution activities through the water quality analysis and measurement business, and his thoughts.

HORIBA Advanced Techno analyzes and measures water quality, which is essential to people's daily lives. By providing analysis and measurement technologies for all types of water and liquids, including potable water, sewage, and industrial wastewater, we contribute to people's health and the preservation of the global environment.

While the promotion of our business in itself contributes to a sustainable society, we have expanded our sustainability activities to a more proactive level, starting with the launch in 2020 of Project Colors, an internal project to achieve the SDGs. We see sustainability as an essential element of our corporate growth. In 2022, we established a dedicated organization to promote various initiatives, including environmentally friendly product development and outreach seminars for the next generation, who will be leading the future society.

My interest in sustainability was sparked by the way students were facing social issues. A number of years ago, I received a request from a high school in Kyoto to help with their educational program and was asked to advise teachers from a corporate perspective. The high school focused on the SDGs. From the 17 goals of the SDGs, students researched issues of their choice, such as poverty and gender, and thought about how to approach them and find solutions. As I observed the classes and listened to the students' presentations, I was flabbergasted. SDGs are fairly common knowledge now, but at the time, the awareness was very low. I felt a sense of crisis. When it comes time for these people to join the workforce in a few years, they will not be choosing companies that do not have many employees sensitive to social issues. In addition to my empathy for the SDGs, this sense of crisis was the first step in opening the door to sustainability.

Ideas were gathered from project members and five groups focused on topics such as education, environmentally friendly product development, and internal-awareness raising began activities.

The Education Group is in charge of planning and running outreach seminars to help the next generation of children understand the importance of the environment and measuring. During the trial, a class was held for the families of the employees, focusing on the color of morning glory flowers, which turn red when the pH of the petal cells (vacuoles) is low and acidic, or blue when the it is high and alkaline. As a preview, the children were asked to plant morning glory seeds and grow them until they bloomed. On the day of the lesson, they experimented with the color change by adding citric acid powder and baking soda to the juice of morning glory flowers to  observe the color changed. Then they used a pH meter, a product of our company, to measure the juice and think about why the flowers changed color. The contents of the seminars change from time to time, but currently our sales members are running them. Last year, they also held outreach seminars at a high school in Nagasaki Prefecture as well as a library in Shiga Prefecture, Japan.

Educating the next generation is so important to us because we believe that the feelings and experiences we have as children remain in our hearts and minds. It seems that as we grow older and enter the working world, we tend not to see things scientifically. If more people were to maintain an interest in science, the environmental situation would surely improve. For example, even if people are asked not to wash oil down the drain, some will still do so, without giving it a thought. If people showed interest and found out why dumping oil is forbidden, they probably wouldn’t be able to do it anymore. If our activities could help raise interest in science, with an eye on our company and analytical, that would make me happy.

One of the activities that left a deep impression on me personally was the visualization of how we wanted our future to look like. Through discussions among project members, we reaffirmed our desire as manufacturers of analytical and measuring equipment, to make analytical and measurement more accessible to people and to enrich people's lives through analytical and measurement. We took this desire and added it to our key concept of everyone measuring for the benefit of everyone, and attempted to visualize the value we would like to provide to society in the future. The photo shows a conceptual model of the water quality　analyzer of the future. It is the size of a keyring that can be attached to something you’re wearing, and when held close to liquid, it can analyze and measure the water to see if it is drinkable and what it tastes like without contact. This model is the materialization of our desire to make analytical and measurement more accessible. By sharing and giving shape to our aspirations for the future, this project provided a valuable opportunity for us to think again about our purpose of being.

As Project Colors started to take off, the next step was to get management involved, because as Project Colors activities became more intense, members began to report difficulties in balancing work involved in the activities with work required of them in their departments, and the difficulty of gaining understanding from their departments. We continued to inform management about the significance of the activities and their usefulness for corporate growth. Sometimes we actually had them participate in the activities. What drove us was our strong desire to be a company where  every employee has the mindset that their work is contributing to solving social issues. As the working population decreases, we wanted our company to serve as a beacon for people who want to work for us because of our awareness of environmental issues.

Another boost was that Project Colors members proactively posted information about their activities on the company intranet, playing a major role in deepening the understanding of sustainability in their respective workplaces. If management simply gives instructions, this does not resonate with the employees. With frontline members who truly believe in sustainability speaking up,, a culture of prioritizing sustainability throughout the company was established. In 2022, we made it a dedicated organization, and last year, we established sustainability-related goals in our mid-long term management plan, which we are now promoting.

We will continue to promote a wide range of sustainability strategies, but our particular focus will be on developing environmentally friendly products. Thanks to our activities, some of the electrodes in our water quality analyzers are now manufactured using bio-based materials. A culture of manufacturing environmentally friendly products while balancing costs has taken root within the company, and we would like to further expand this type of manufacturing with less environmental impact.

Price is an important indicator when choosing a product, but as people become more environmentally conscious, it will become more important to consider not only price and convenience but also the story the product tells. More and more people will place importance on how the things they use are made, disposed of, and returned to the earth. For companies, developing a business model that is good for the global environment will ultimately give them a competitive edge that customers will choose.

Once again, improving the quality and continuing to provide the world with environmentally friendly products in our water analysis and measurement business will lead to the realization of a sustainable society. We will continue to accelerate the promotion of our sustainability strategy for the entire HORIBA Group, aiming to expand it globally.

・HORIBA Advanced Techno’s Approach to Sustainability

・HORIBA Group's Sustainability

・Outreach Seminar “Measuring” at Nagasaki Prefectural Uku High School