Since its establishment in 1953, Nihon HELS INDUSTRY has been engaged in the comprehensive management of sewage treatment plants, mainly at 300 locations throughout Japan, on consignment from local governments and other entities.

Since its establishment in 1953, Nihon HELS INDUSTRY has been engaged in the comprehensive management of sewage treatment plants, mainly at 300 locations throughout Japan, on consignment from local governments and other entities.
Currently, about 60% of the nation's sewage system operations are outsourced to the private sector, of which the company accounts for about 30%.
In recent years, against the backdrop of heightened awareness of environmental preservation, the company is expanding the scope of its activities as a "group of specialists in water and the environment," including the development of the "Aquvic" wastewater treatment system.
Eight years after becoming the company's second president, we visited Hideaki Sakakibara, president of the company, which has grown to become one of the largest companies in the wastewater treatment field, and asked him about the company's activities.
Akbic" utilizes its expertise in the operation and management of wastewater treatment plants.
One of the turning points in the company's expansion in the environmental field was the medium-scale wastewater treatment system "Aquvic," which was developed in 1990.
The brand name "Akvic" is based on the activated sludge method (decomposition of sludge by microorganisms), which we have cultivated for 40 years at our sewage treatment plants.
Although biological wastewater treatment methods have been used in wastewater treatment plants up to now, the importance of the software aspect of biological treatment has not been well recognized because of the hardware-centered approach.
In recent years, the importance of the software has finally been recognized, and I think this is because we are now able to feed back the software technology we have established into the hardware of the plant.
Akvic uses microorganisms to purify wastewater containing mainly vegetable oil.
The first unit was delivered to an agricultural products supply center in Chiba Prefecture in July 1990.
To date, 15 units have been delivered, mainly to the food service industry and food factories.
The composition and amount of oil contained in wastewater differs depending on each factory or facility, so we start by surveying and analyzing the wastewater.
After that, we use a custom-made system to determine the type and amount of microorganisms that are appropriate for each wastewater.
Although it takes a certain amount of time and costs (400,000~500,000 yen per cubic meter of treated wastewater on average), we are proud of the system's ability to perfectly purify wastewater as a result.
We are currently the only company that has built a plant based on this kind of accumulation.
Introducing CI to revolutionize awareness within the company.
The year after the development of Akvic, CI was introduced.
The corporate symbol was changed to HELS.
The "HELS" of Nippon Health Industry was originally derived from the "health" of Tokyo Health Service Corporation, which was the company name before the change, but over time the business and the company name have become distant from each other.
Since it takes courage to change a company name, we decided to change it to HELS as a corporate symbol.
As the business expanded and the company was about to undergo a major transformation, a change in mindset was inevitable.
However, the mood within the company was not all that welcoming of change, given the company's history as an incorporated association and later as a joint stock company.
The corporate symbol "HELS" was born out of this process.
In the course of our business operations since the end of World War II, there was a sense that we were involved in dirty work, and we ourselves had been conditioned to accept this.
However, society as a whole is becoming more concerned about the environment, and this awareness is changing.
In order for our company's business to play a more solid role and position in society, we decided that it was necessary to change our internal awareness and introduced CI.
In that sense, I think it is proving effective.
Environmental business from a higher perspective.
In 1994, at the request of Ota Ward, the company developed a system to remove blue-green algae generated by eutrophication in Senzoku Pond and produce fertilizer.
The company's founder, Mr. Kikuchi, said, "Even with the problem of blue-green algae, removing it and disposing of it somewhere else is not a fundamental measure for improving the environment.
It makes sense to convert the removed blue-green algae into fertilizer.
Not only blue-green algae, but all environmental projects, including our own, need to be considered as a whole cycle, with a higher perspective rather than just looking at one part of it," he said.
The fertilized blue-green algae is applied to roadside trees in parks and playgrounds in Ota Ward, and is also distributed free of charge to ward residents.
In October of this year, the company also signed a technical agreement with Daewoo Construction, a member of the Daewoo Group, one of South Korea's three largest conglomerates, regarding the outsourcing of maintenance and management of sewage treatment facilities.
Over the next two years, the company will provide Daewoo with know-how and human resources related to sewage treatment facilities.
The agreement is a significant step for an industry such as ours that deals with software to be recognized by foreign countries.
We hope that this kind of accumulation will eventually lead to greater recognition of the soft side of the industry in Japan.
Finally, we asked him to share his aspirations for the future.
Japan has been at the stage of nation-building, so to speak, where productivity comes first.
From now on, Japan will be questioned on the substance of its nation, in other words, its culture.
Environmental issues are no exception to this rule, and the quality of efforts will become increasingly important.
The improvement of the quality of environmental measures will depend on the ability of local governments to conduct detailed environmental administration.
As a company specializing in ecology, we hope to assist environmental administration by making proactive proposals to local governments.