Maintaining the "lifelines" of equipment and facilities reliably and efficiently/Energy Management Business
For hospitals who look after many patients and operate 24-hours a day, stable supplies of energy and water are "lifelines" in providing medical services. If supplies are lost due to events such as disasters and accidents, patients' lives are put at risk. In addition, hospitals are also large-scale users of energy and water, and in terms of management, keeping costs down is always an important concern. These demands have become obvious in recent years.
The Takasago Thermal Engineering Group has long been engaged in the "ESCO Business" that provides comprehensive energy-saving in buildings and facilities owned by customers. First of all, after ensuring energy-saving, the ESCO Business finds measures for energy-saving through assessments and analysis, implements them responsibly, and receives part of the reduced energy costs as payment for the service.
In the "Energy Management Business" that further evolves this approach, Takasago proposes the energy supply and management system itself in an optimum form for customers. The heat source facility and substation are owned by the Takasago Thermal Engineering Group, reducing the customer's initial construction investment costs. In addition, we respond to the needs of hospitals with a one-stop service that carries out everything from construction to operation, maintenance and management, and even future updates. Our Group is the contract party with the power company, gas company, and waterworks bureau, and we make very careful preparations in case of emergency. As a result, the customer can secure a stable supply of electricity, gas, cooling and heat, and water while reducing costs. In addition, they can reduce the burden of non-medical work such as operation and maintenance of supply facilities, and concentrate more on core work.
This is made possible by the Takasago Group's technical capabilities and equipment management know-how. In order to reduce the total lifecycle cost for our customers, we use high-efficiency equipment and introduce optimum operation control systems for heat source systems that directly affect energy efficiency. We constantly monitor energy usage and eliminate waste. Furthermore, by grasping the operating efficiency of energy equipment and reviewing the maintenance and management plan based on the actual operation conditions in a timely manner, stable supply of energy with failure prevention and optimum maintenance and management costs are realized. We make full use of our experience value accumulated through construction experience in about 1,700 hospitals nationwide.
At the "JA Kanagawa Isehara Kyodo Hospital" in Isehara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, which was the first case, a new ward was opened with the philosophy of "A hospital that citizens and union members can trust and rely on." We introduced equipment to enable water supply to the area at the time of a disaster, and improved energy-saving performance while securing the function as a disaster-response hospital. Takasago Thermal Engineering Group's energy services for hospitals started operating for hospitals in 2014, and up to now we have accumulated 5 cases in large hospitals of 20,000 m2 or more.
In developing this new business model, the Takasago Thermal Engineering Group places importance on its stance to "Align with customer needs." For example, we hold regular meetings with the hospital, and carry out efforts to jointly find improvement measures based on the results of data analysis. Shuji Hisamoto, Section Manager of Green Air Group, FM/PM Business Promotion Department, Takasago Thermal Engineering, explains this intention as follows. "Today's equipment is technologically advanced, and it is difficult for customers to perform energy-saving and facility maintenance plans themselves. Facilities engineers are getting older, and there are more and more organizations that do not have anyone to carry on the work. Under such circumstances, we are trying to demonstrate our value as a partner with professional know-how, who can be counted on and can provide technical advice. It is important to have regular face-to-face contact with customers and give them a sense of security, but it is also important to make customers want to talk to us by always preparing new ways of thinking and solutions. Beyond that, we can see how to forge new relationships with customers in the future technical environment."
The Takasago Thermal Engineering Group is currently advancing the energy management business to the next stage. One of its efforts is to actively cooperate with local companies in each region and contribute to regional revitalization. Based on the verification of effectiveness in hospitals, the company is also trying to expand the service to other large-scale customers such as factories. The business, which greatly changes how energy supply is managed, is now entering the key stage.
Contributing to solving problems faced by the fishery industry/SIS-HF Business
"Fresh off the boat"
The wish of fisheries is to deliver fishery products to the dining table "Fresh of the boat," and the Seawater Sorbet Ice Cream making machine (SIS-HF/Super Ice System for HIGH FRESHNESS) developed by Takasago Thermal Engineering takes on the challenge of realizing this.
With the benefit of its rich fishery resources, Japan has built one of the world's leading seafood cultures.
The consumption of fish worldwide has more than doubled in the past half-century and the expectation for Japanese fishery resources is large, while the decrease in catch is also large due to the impact of climate change, etc. and the depletion of resources by conventional fishing methods. There is a need to change from a fisheries industry that "catches as much as possible" as up to now, to a fishery system that "manages resources and delivers fish without losses through appropriate temperature control."
Takasago Thermal Engineering is taking on the challenge of fresh distribution of fishery products with its fine seawater sorbet-shaped ice that uses the supercooling phenomenon of water (a phenomenon that keeps the state of water liquid even when it cools down to the freezing temperature or less) that it developed in its ice storage air conditioning systems.
The high concentration sorbet ice made with SIS-HF changes into two forms to provide distribution with a high degree of freshness. At the time of catching the fish, it takes the form of sorbet ice. Since the freshness degradation of fish depends on the temperature, how fast the body temperature of the fish is lowered is crucial. When marine products are immersed in sorbet ice immediately after catching, fine ice particles remove the heat of the fish, and the fish body temperature can be rapidly and uniformly cooled. Next, as a form for distribution, it changes to a "dehydrated ice" form in which water is removed from the sorbet ice. This function takes into consideration overseas transport by reducing transportation costs and preventing water leaks by removing moisture and reducing weight. The fresh fish that have been rapidly cooled by the sorbet ice are enclosed in soft dehydrated ice in a salt pan shape, so it is hard for them to be affected by the outside air temperature. This enables fresh transportation to the final destination. According to our results, we have demonstrated distribution with a high level of freshness depending on the situation even in transportation for 48 to 72 hours.
SIS-HF was introduced to Hirado-Uoichiba Co., Ltd. (Hirado City, Nagasaki Prefecture) in March 2017, and to Zengyoren Hachinohe Shokuhin Co., Ltd. (Hachinohe City, Aomori Prefecture) in March 2018. The staff at Hirado fishing port commented on the product as follows, "There are clear differences in the color of the fish body upon sight, the color of the blood at the gills, the elasticity upon touch, and the feeling upon eating, etc., especially in Japanese Spanish mackerel and pilchard which have weak bodies." "Since we only have to add sorbet ice as it is, I think the work time is about a third or a fifth of before." "We can add value to our fresh fish, and the producers' income will increase." Thanks to the ingenuity of the people who use the product, new uses are also being developed day by day.
However, even if there are benefits in use, things are not so simple that you can use it immediately in any location. According to Kazuma Fujimori, who works as Manager of SIS Business Division, "We are proposing one tool to respond to the important need of maintaining the freshness of fishery products. But this ice is not magic. It is simply a product that was inspired by solving one customer problem. That's why I want to tell everyone carefully about every aspect of the product, and to work together to solve the problems in the field." he says, emphasizing his approach of concentrating all his energy on tackling customer problems.
Takasago Thermal Engineering is further participating in the creation of systems for distribution with a high level of freshness to develop the SIS-HF business over the medium to long term. In cooperation with the Cabinet Office Okinawa General Secretariat, we conducted tests for distribution with a high level of freshness to Tokyo and Singapore in collaboration with trading companies, distributors and fishermen's cooperatives in Okinawa Prefecture, and confirmed the effectiveness of sorbet ice. Our efforts in Okinawa have created a new movement, which is spreading to other prefectures as well. Fujimori says, "In the future we must make effective use of limited fishery resources for the development of humankind. We need to build a solid cold chain of logistics without losses. Creating mechanisms that generate added value in the upstream and deliver it downstream will lead to the development of the fishery industry and humankind. In order to realize this, we also want to do our best, "he says, describing his ambition. We will work on the full-scale commercialization of SIS-HF with enthusiasm to open up the future of Japan's fishery industry and the development of humankind world-wide.