"HESTA Smart City Concept" aiming for regional revitalization started

Since its founding in 1962, Okura has provided living spaces such as detached houses, condominiums, and renovations, developed new towns, and operated membership resort clubs. In June last year, under the theme of "making a living in regional revitalization," the "HESTA Smart City Concept" was launched, and the company has been rolling out products and systems developed in-house one after another to promote "hometown IoT." We asked Mr. Shizuo Kiyotaki, the representative director.

――You have stated that “regional revitalization” is your social mission. about that thought.

　Okura is a local company. Is it possible to revitalize rural areas, where the population is aging, into convenient and attractive cities that are as attractive as the cities? With this in mind, we have set up the "HESTA Smart City Concept". The concept is to collect information about local life in the cloud, identify "problems", and develop services and products that can be improved. In order to collect information on daily life, it is necessary to implement an IoT system in the city that connects everything to the Internet. Okura has developed and commercialized its own smart home, smart store, and smart locker.

――About the outline of "HESTA AI smart home".

　"HESTA AI Smart Home" is a system that allows you to connect housing equipment and home appliances to the internet and operate them freely. HESTA does not require dedicated home appliances and equipment, and you can connect your current home appliances to the network as they are. We have also developed a unique system to manage the health of our residents. Various sensors measure breathing rate and blood pressure at bedtime, contributing to health management.

――About the outline of "HESTA Smart Store".

　The "HESTA Smart Store" is an unmanned store that uses facial recognition. If you register your payment method in advance, you can use sensors to check the products you pick up in the store and automatically pay by performing facial recognition when you enter the store. Payment work such as reading the QR code with a smartphone is unnecessary. Developed with a focus on "Even the elderly can use it".

　Our in-house development extends to the food we put in our store. For example, delicious care food made from Hokkaido ingredients with calorie counts. As more and more elderly people need to care for the elderly, we will work with medical institutions to develop services that are friendly to the elderly.

――About the outline of "HESTA smart locker".

　The "HESTA Smart Locker" also uses face recognition. You can easily receive products purchased on the Internet without entering a PIN. In addition to major apparel stores, it has begun to be used at the collective entrance of condominiums.

--What is the future that can be opened by the realization of smart cities?

　The life information obtained by the IoT system creates all kinds of value. For example, by sharing health information accumulated in smart homes with medical institutions, home medical care may evolve. It is especially effective in caring for the elderly who have difficulty getting to and from hospitals. Okura is also developing a home medical care system using a television that can be easily operated by the elderly.

　Purchase information and home appliance usage data are also useful for the development of new products. We plan to build collaborative relationships with major manufacturers and develop new products and services that meet market needs. If you team up with a major online shopping company, it will be possible to provide services such as individual recommendations for products that are necessary for each household's life.

――About the intention to promote “local 5G” and the possibility of business.

　In order to exchange a large amount of information via the cloud, it is essential to develop a communication network. Therefore, we are also entering the “local 5G” business, which makes a specific area a 5G environment. As the first step, a 5G network was laid in a new town in Sanda City, Hyogo Prefecture, which Okura developed about 30 years ago. In the near future, we will start home medical care and shopping support services using unmanned vehicles. Okura, which has been in business for 59 years, originally focused on new town development. It is a concept to promote smart city development by local 5G in new towns other than Sanda City.

　A smart city that is easy for the elderly to live in is a city that is easy for children to live in. With the rapid increase in remote work due to the effects of the corona crisis, we are aiming to create a city where the child-raising generation will want to return to their new town.

　There are many companies with smart city concepts, but there are no large-scale commercialization cases in Japan yet. Okura will first create a model case for revitalizing a new town developed by the company using IoT, and will propose it to railway companies and other companies that have also been involved in rural residential land development. It is a strategy to create “points” for regional revitalization and spread them to “planes” with partners.

What are your new businesses and future growth areas?

　With the spread of the new coronavirus infection, Okura's proprietary next-generation air purifier "HESTA Air Clean" has been widely adopted by hospitals, companies, educational institutions, accommodation facilities, restaurants, etc. and sales are soaring.

　We are also working on the development of equipment using new materials. For example, the new carbon-based material "HESTA graphene" has already been adopted by railways and facilities of the Ministry of Defense, but we have established a mass supply system so that it can be used in a wider range of applications. Graphene has excellent thermal conductivity, strength, lightness, thinness, etc., and realizes energy saving and cost reduction in facilities such as road snow melting, floor heating, and roof snow melting.

　We plan to soon deploy a "HESTA stalker camera" that detects the approach of a stalker using an AI face recognition camera and prevents damage in advance.

-What was your most memorable work experience?

When I was in the Technology Development Headquarters of Nippon Steel, I was surprised at how many experiments were carried out to create a single product. I feel that my experience of experiencing the essence of manufacturing has something in common with my thoughts on the development of IoT products, robots, and new materials, which I am currently focusing on.

――Chairman Kiyotaki was once passionate about baseball, and participated in the national tournament in the summer of 1993 as the captain. Are you using his school captaincy in your management?

　I don't think I have a special captaincy. However, when I was the captain, I thought that "the role of the leader is to put the feelings of the members on board." That attitude has not changed. I think it is my role to put the feelings of employees on board. For that reason, do not scold, respect autonomy, and do not blame failures. By being conscious of these things, the expressions of employees have become lively. It looks like we will be able to achieve an increase in sales and profits even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are seeing results. I tell my employees to make more mistakes while the company is stable.

What is your favorite book?

　I often pick up books about baseball and sports. Mr. Tatsuo Okada's book "Teaching not to teach too much" describes a teaching method that respects the autonomy of athletes, and I felt that the content also applies to management. Yuki Kokubo, who led Samurai Japan, wrote "Right to be defiant: 1278-day record of leading Samurai Japan," and Dai Tamesue, who was active in track and field, wrote "The Power to Survive." Konosuke Matsushita's "Conditions for leaders" gave me a hint for business. Recently, I read with great interest Audrey Tan's Digital and AI Future by Audrey Tan, Taiwan's Digital Affairs Commissioner.

​​Representative Director Okura

Born in 1975 in Wakayama Prefecture. In 1991, he entered the high school attached to Kinki University. Participated in the National High School Baseball Championship in 1992 and 1993. Joined Nippon Steel in 1995. Joined MIKI HOUSE in 2001. Joined Okura in 2008. He has served as an officer and has been in his current position since 2013.

* Mr. Shizuo Kiyotaki appeared in the Asahi Shimbun's special advertising feature, "Leaders' Bookshelves," asking leaders of companies and organizations to recommend books. (Published in the national version. The date may differ depending on the headquarters version)

Advertising Feature “Leaders' Bookshelf” Vol.134 (May 10, 2021 morning edition Tokyo head office version) 665KB

The serialization of "Leaders' Bookshelf" has been made into a book. For more information, please see the related articles below.

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