LIXIL was born in 2011, following the merger of five of Japan’s most successful building materials and housing companies. In India, the company sells two major brands though – GROHE and American Standard, which are German and American respectively.
In the past decade, the Singapore-based company has crossed several milestones. The first major one came in 2013, when the LIXIL group acquired American Standard, a North American sanitaryware company. This has emerged as one of its key brands in India and Asia, offering affordable luxury to consumers across segments.
In 2015, GROHE became a subsidiary of LIXIL. According to Bobby Joseph, Leader at Lixil Water Technology (LWT), India and Subcontinent, this was the real turning point in its Water Technology story, especially from an India perspective. He outlined how through these two major acquisitions, LIXIL was able to gain leadership of the bathroom industry across every major continent.
What is LIXIL’s global footprint in terms of manufacturing facilities, operational bases and workforce?
Today, we are a $17 billion global enterprise with 60,000 employees in more than 150 countries. We have six design centers around the world, designing products for 15 global brands. Because of all of this, our products and solutions touch the lives of over one billion people worldwide.
How has the pandemic accelerated innovation in hygiene and sanitation globally and in India?
With the spread of the pandemic, the entire world is focusing more on hygiene, especially at home and personal spaces, like the bathroom. At LIXIL, we pride ourselves in providing innovative products to our consumers by pre-empting their needs.
At American Standard, we have always advocated the importance of hygiene and are steadfast in our commitment to deliver beautiful and purposeful products that safeguard families’ well-being. For instance, HygieneClean System takes care of safety concerns through powerful flushing and rim technologies. Innovations like Aqua Ceramic and ComfortClean provide long lasting protection against bacteria and germs with a super hydrophilic coating on our ceramics. Our touchless sensor faucets offer better hygiene, especially in public spaces.
How did the pandemic compel companies in the bathroom space, like LIXIL, to adopt technology and digitisation to better reach and serve their customers?
We believe in evolving with the times and proactively adapting to market requirements. For example, with the onset of the pandemic, we launched an online virtual experience studio.
Users can access and navigate through the 3D environment, from the comfort of their homes or offices, or even on the go through their mobile devices, viewing the bathroom concepts in full HD. They can view each zone from different angles, zoom in to see products up close, or zoom out to view the entire concept or configuration.
With this studio, we have taken a new step towards a more digital future – a future in which customers, architects and designers are not restricted by the limitations of a physical world, especially with social distancing becoming the norm.
How will this virtual experience studio benefit architects, designers and hotel companies, respectively?
It is our vision to spark a digital revolution in bathroom design and specification. We want to leverage the power of digitisation to make our products and solutions easily accessible to all, anytime, anywhere –regardless of distance from the nearest showroom or social distancing norms.
Architects and designers can take clients on guided tours or themselves walk through the experience center, without ever having to leave their offices. One of the most customer-centric features of the platform is the ability to interact live with Inside Sales agents from LIXIL, who are happy to assist designers with their queries and provide additional information on products and solutions to help design their ideal bathroom.
What are some mega trends imminent in the bathroom industry, especially in the hospitality space?
Some of the major trends, especially in the hospitality segment are:
• Hygiene-led products, such as sensor faucets, IoT-enabled systems, shower toilets, especially for public washrooms.
• Anti-microbial coating on ceramics in sanitaryware is another way to enhance hygiene in public bathrooms.
• With water-conservation and sustainability taking center stage, we are seeing an increasing demand for water-saving faucets, showers and toilets.
• Thermostatic shower mixers are gaining popularity due to convenience and safety concerns.
Given the business duress that the hospitality segment is undergoing, most hotels want better value for their investment. What kind of challenges does this pose for companies in the bathroom space?
At LIXIL we pre-empt customer needs and adapt our product offering accordingly. Which is why, under our flagship brand, GROHE, we are soon launching new Bau collections, which offer the same world class quality, at a more affordable price point.
Under American Standard, we have some of the most hygiene-focused products that, once again, are quite cost-effective for hospitality customers. We recently acquired IGBC certification for several of our products across price segments, thereby offering superior water-saving features. Water-saving products help reduce OPEX for hospitality companies by requiring less water, which in turn, reduces the consumption of heated water, leading to energy saving as well.
Has the pandemic shushed conversations about water conservation and sustainability in the hospitality segment?
In our opinion, water conservation and sustainability will continue to be a critical focus area, especially in the hospitality segment, where customers can tend to be wasteful in the usage of bathroom products. We must remember that even though the pandemic is a major crisis at the moment, another long term crisis looms large, which is shortage of fresh water in most major cities across India.
As custodians of the water industry, it is our responsibility to educate and work closely with customers, channel partners, architects, designers and developers, to specify and promote the usage of water-saving products. Our team works closely with hotel groups across the country to adopt sustainable products that will help conserve this most precious resource.
