The Brief

When you hear the word "fluid," what kinds of things come to mind?
Generally speaking, substances such as gases and liquids, which do not have a fixed form and can freely change their shape to generate flow, probably come to mind. And if we take fluid as a general term for continuous things, we realize that there are various flows around us: human flow, logistics, ocean currents, blood flow, air currents, and so on.
Until now, for example, we have realized convenient and comfortable living by controlling gases and liquids with valves and other technologies, such as storing rainwater in high-rise buildings, regulating fuel, gas, and sea water in ships, and managing wastewater in factories. Technology is evolving every day, and I feel that it is possible to further expand the concept beyond existing gases and liquids and derive new control possibilities.
If we consider fluids as various flows in the wider world around us, what kind of flows in what fields will need to be controlled and managed in the world of the future?
Why are they needed, and what new value will they create?
Let's think about it together!

Category

【Emerging Technologies】
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The Background

OKM Co.Ltd. (formerly Okumura Seisakusho Co., Ltd.) was established in 1952, with its headquarters and factory in Shiga Prefecture, and began manufacturing and selling valves. With the founding philosophy of "Original technology, highest quality, lowest resource consumption, comfortable life and rich mind, and contribution to the local community," all employees share the same values and work together with customers in marketing, satisfactory product development, advanced production, and reliable inspection system to provide the highest quality products. We are a company with a thorough and convincing quality assurance system based on satisfactory product development, advanced production technology, and a reliable inspection system. We aim to become a trusted company by continuing to provide new value to our customers by further strengthening our automatic control technology, fluid control technology, etc., with valves at the core, and by the end of 2020, we will be listed on the Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. In 2022, we will celebrate the 120th anniversary of our founding and the 60th anniversary of our establishment. We will continue to focus on creating partnerships with our customers and aim to be a company that contributes to society by pursuing sustainability and manufacturing products that do not place a burden on the environment.

The Challenge

OKM Corporation has many technologies for manufacturing fluid control equipment, mainly butterfly valves used for fluid piping in various facilities. As for "land use," our products are widely used in the construction equipment, chemical, electric power gas, steel, pulp and paper, and water treatment industries. Our valves are also installed in skyscrapers, factories, airports, stations, domes, amusement parks, etc. In the skyscraper "Abeno Harukas," our valves are used in all air conditioning equipment.
In the "marine use" field, we were among the first to obtain manufacturing and sales certification from a global licensor in response to global environmental regulations requiring ships to be equipped with exhaust gas treatment equipment from January 1, 2016, and we captured a large market share by seizing the signs. This was not simply a response to legal regulations, but a speedy realization of the signs of the increasing importance of environmental protection, such as decarbonization and emission regulations, that we had identified and prepared for in advance. For example, in the energy domain, there has been a shift from coal to oil in the past, and now there is a growing demand for clean energy sources such as wind power and solar power. Along with these changes, our fluid control technology through valves has also evolved in terms of form, technology, and service to meet each of these changes.
We have been expanding our business by focusing on customized products to meet the detailed demands of our customers and by entering untapped markets (blue ocean) where there is no competition through our creative technologies. We would like to utilize this mindset to further expand the possibilities of fluid control.
We would like to continue to grow by leaps and bounds by quickly grasping "changes" in the environment, such as "marine use" and energy. What are the areas where environmental changes are expected to occur in the future? I believe that by creating and predicting how the natural and living environment will change in the future, we will be able to see new signs.
No specialized knowledge is required! We would like to imagine the world of the future and think together with you about areas where new possibilities will shine.

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