Press Releases

Kurita Water Industries Ltd. (Head Office: Nakano-ku, Tokyo; President: Michiya Kadota) is pleased to announce the launch of its KWSS (Kurita Water Supply Service) for its water treatment facilities business. KWSS is the pure water supply service that reduces the total cost for customers by setting up and owning pure water treatment equipment, the assets of the Company, by responding to customers and remotely monitoring the operational status of the water treatment facilities and the quality of the treated water in real time.

Using a business model unique to the Kurita Group, this service aims to expand and develop its business scheme for the small- and medium-sized pure water treatment equipment market by simplifying the structure of the ultrapure water supply business.

For customers who use pure water in their manufacturing processes and peripheral facilities, supplying a stable quantity and quality of water is essential for improving the quality and yield of their products. For this reason, appropriate maintenance is required for preserving and improving the performance of the water treatment facilities and preventing problems from occurring. The reduction of operation management and maintenance that can create a burden and solving the shortage of human resources involved in water treatment are major challenges facing customers.

KWSS is a new business model that assists customers in addressing these challenges by integrating the experience and know-how accumulated by the Company through the maintenance and operation management of water treatment facilities using information technology (IT). The Company sets up and maintains standard pure water treatment equipment (3 to 5 m³/h) on customer’s premise of providing total services ranging from daily operational management to maintenance for customers. The Company stably supplies pure water for a fixed monthly fee for a basic contract term of five years, with no need for the initial investment in purchasing facilities. The Company also remotely monitors the pure water treatment equipment and collects operational data online with the condition-based maintenance service (*1) and it provides maintenance service based on real-time information about the operating status of the facilities, implementing trend management and alarm analysis. Using these, a stable operation of facilities will be achieved, and customers will be able to reduce total costs, including the initial investment and facilities maintenance, (covering utilities costs for water, electricity, and steam) by up to 30% (*2).

In the future Kurita will enhance the business development for the small- and medium-sized pure water treatment equipment market by expanding the application of KWSS. Because more than 1,000 facilities can be replaced with KWSS by targeting the standardized pure water treatment equipment delivered by the Company in the past, through this service the Company will increase the market share of its water treatment facilities business by meeting a variety of customer needs for a pure water supply, not only for new projects and expansion projects, but also for the replacement market of existing facilities.

• *1:[Reference] Past press releases
  Kurita Announces Full-Scale Launch of a New Maintenance Service for Water Treatment Facilities
  （August 7, 2014）
• *2:Comparison of total costs, including facilities purchase costs, maintenance costs , and usage costs of utilities, such as electricity and steam, for the contract term of five years with those costs when purchasing the Company’s facilities