Overview of KITZ Corporation

KITZ Corporation holds the top domestic market share in valve manufacturing and sales, ranking within the top 10 globally. With 72 years of history, the company has 5,352 consolidated employees. In fiscal year 2022, it recorded sales of 159.9 billion yen and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market.
Leveraging its strength in fluid control for liquids and gases, the company boasts a high market share in piping valves for various applications, including residential homes, condominiums, buildings, factories, and oil refining plants.
Learn more here: https://www.kitz.co.jp/who/

Background of Implementing uSonar at KITZ: Accelerating Expansion into Growth Markets Under the Mid-Term Management Plan

In its current mid-term management plan, KITZ has established a policy to accelerate expansion into growth markets, such as the digital market (data centers, semiconductor manufacturing equipment) and the green market (next-generation energy like hydrogen, fine chemicals), moving beyond its traditional core markets of general construction and industrial plants.

Determining That uSonar Implementation Is Essential for DX Promotion

To advance into these growth markets swiftly and reliably, the IT Management Center (Information Systems Department) is promoting Digital Transformation (DX) to evolve the group's overall information infrastructure. In particular, to support information gathering for growth markets, research on both corporate customer demand (sales perspective) and parts manufacturing subcontractors (procurement perspective) became essential, leading to the adoption of uSonar products (see figure below).

Usage Scenarios and Benefits of Implementation at KITZ

On the sales front, prospecting for new clients previously involved researching and collecting corporate information through referrals, internet searches, and library visits. Since beginning the combined use of Salesforce and uSonar, the team can instantly create target company lists, significantly reducing the man-hours required for new client research and improving efficiency.
Furthermore, in procurement, the post-COVID era has seen an increase in sudden bankruptcies and delivery delays among parts manufacturing partners. When searching for alternative partners or those matching new market requirements, the company previously relied on internet searches and word-of-mouth evaluations. By using uSonar, the time spent on research has been drastically reduced, and the comprehensiveness of candidate lists has expanded.

Comments from Takashi Ishijima, Executive Officer and General Manager of the IT Management Center at KITZ

In our current mid-term plan, we have set goals for expanding both our traditional core markets and new growth markets. We are building a track record of meeting demand in the digital and green markets, including air conditioning equipment for data centers, valves for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, filtration systems for ultra-pure water used in computer processing, and equipment for hydrogen stations, which are considered next-generation energy. To realize this expansion, we must broaden our awareness of and approach to customers with demand in each market. However, the challenge was that corporate information is not only difficult to collect but also constantly changing and becoming outdated. With the introduction of uSonar, we have felt the effects of DX promotion so dramatically that staff members have exclaimed, 'What was all that struggle for until now?' We have high expectations for uSonar to provide comprehensive, up-to-date corporate information and to enable us to efficiently narrow down our target prospects.

How uSonar Enhances Salesforce Implementation in the Manufacturing Industry

Manufacturing companies advancing their digital transformation (DX) aim to improve new business development and win rates by thoroughly accumulating and analyzing customer information, such as sales meeting data, through the implementation of SFA/CRM systems like Salesforce. However, a challenge arises with the new operational tasks associated with Salesforce implementation: the need to accumulate and update information, which increases the data entry workload for sales teams.
In short, there is a requirement to "automate and streamline the accumulation and updating of information as much as possible to reduce the operational burden on the front lines." This is where the customer data integration solution "uSonar" proves effective.
Learn more here: URL https://usonar.co.jp/service/usonar/

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