65 GROHE Magazine 64 P u re F re u de an Was se rur Freude an Wasser surface called AquaCeramic and HyperClean which reduces the frequency of cleaning required com pared to traditional toilets HB In addition to AquaCeramic and HyperClean the Plasma Cluster operates on demand and kills bac teria and prevents its growth on the surface of the ceramic bowl the surface of the seat and under the lid where the flush water cannot wash G Tell me about the collaboration between the two teams HB For me it was quite a challenge to convince the Jap anese team to modify their very successful prod ucts for a European market especially after they ve collected product insights over so many years But I think the collaboration made us much more effi cient in developing new innovative features and I m proud of the products we designed together YN Well I really respect my German colleagues be cause they always pursue ideal targets Japanese often think from the perspective of What can they do whereas most German colleagues usually think What should they do G What achievement are you the most proud of YN As the Arena project lead it s very gratifying that the design has received 14 awards and has contributed to the growth in the market share of the shower toi let in Germany HB I m proud that we made a toilet that kills bacteria and prevents its growth in all areas That s a huge consumer benefit and it makes me happy to have achieved that But ultimately between us we have created a GROHE product that is fast becoming a cat egory leader in Germany only a year after its launch That s quite an achievement SMARTCONTROL G What technology have you been working on in your respective departments Naokazu Onishi I m head of the Push Valve project I was assigned to the Faucet Division to create a synergy with GROHE after 15 years of working on the Flush Valve for resi dential toilets David Mainka I m also working on the Push Valve but in GROHE s R D Showers department G Could you describe the technology you developed NO Push Valves a cartridge technology that enables the user to carry out two operations at the same time have existed for about ten years but they were only used in bathroom faucets as thermostats DM We discovered that it could also be used in thermo stats so that the push valve cartridge can preset the desired flow for each outlet and is activated by a sin gle press By using the Japanese Push Valve technol ogy and integrating it into the SmartControl thermo stat we have created a whole new way of showering that puts choice into the hands of the user G What challenges did you have to overcome together in order to succeed NO Push Valves had only been used with the water here in Japan which is soft because it has a lower mineral content We found out it would easily malfunction if used in Europe because the water is much harder We realized there was no way to avoid the effect of hard water no matter what shape the path of the pipe was so we needed to modify the structure to create a mechanism that could clean every move DM Yes making the Push Valve comply with GROHE re quirements posed a problem because we didn t want to change the basic concept and components of the Push Valve It took a lot of testing in the GROHE labs So the GROHE R D Team developed a cleaning pin which was so successful that it s now patented We also modified the geometry of the mating part so that a membrane could seal properly even in hard water circumstances G How is the pin used in SmartControl and what is the consumer benefit of the SmartControl shower sys tem NO The pin is located in the main body of the SmartCon trol in the valve that controls the on off operation and volume control of the shower DM The on off operation is hugely innovative not only does it start the shower it allows you to choose the spray intensity of each single outlet of GROHE s Smart Control shower system All you have to do is rotate the smart control lightly NO Also the valve has a feature that allows you to set different volumes for each button so different flow rates can be set for a Hand Shower and an Over head Shower G In retrospect which achievement are you each most proud of DM I think that adapting Japanese technology from one product category and using it to create a brand new one is a real innovation that we can all be very proud of NO This was the very first product GROHE and LIXIL col laborated on so I am very proud that we overcame many challenges and paved the way for future col laborations Adapting the Push Valve technology for a thermostat GROHE SmartControl allows the user to control both the temperature and the water flow in one operation

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