Our Approach

Initiative Examples

Developing Next Generation of Plumbers in the Sanitation Area

The sanitary industry is faced with a chronic shortage of skilled installers. To address this issue, LIXIL has initiated our GROHE Installer Vocational Training and Education (GIVE) Program to offer plumping training at schools across the EMENA region. The GIVE Program allows students to gain knowledge of cutting-edge technologies and sanitary innovations through hands-on training, modern equipment and, upon completion of their training, receive assistance with job placement.

GIVE has partnered with 41 institutions offering plumbing training in the EMENA region. It also established 12 new training facilities in 2021, including its first training center in North Africa in Ghana. Going forward, GIVE intends to open 15 training facilities in the EMENA region.

To develop the program, we are also working together with international NGOs that support disadvantaged youth: Don Bosco Mondo and SOS Children’s Villages International.

In the African region, we are also supporting employment and human resource development by providing training programs on plumbing technology for women, youth, and people who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

LIXIL Americas also trains future plumbers through its Trade Up program in regions across the US. As part of this program, we got together with Tools & Tiaras, an NPO involved in career training for female students interested in entering the construction industry. LIXIL volunteer employees helped hold a summer camp in New Jersey, the US. Tools & Tiaras provides job experience and mentoring opportunities for female students interested in entering a trade, such as electricians, carpenters, or plumbers, all professions in which women have been traditionally underrepresented.

Green Hospital Initiative to Help Conserve Water in the Community

LIXIL is committed to helping reduce water consumption in the Middle East and Africa, where water is scarce, in order to conserve water resources.

In FYE2022, we started introducing water- and energy-saving touchless faucets in hospitals in Egypt based on our partnership with General Authority for Healthcare in Egypt (GAHC). This project went beyond saving water and energy in medical services by also helping to prevent the spread of infection and encourage cost savings.

Helping Improve Sanitation in Disaster Areas

LIXIL is committed to helping ensure a safe and sanitary environment for communities in urgent need, including disaster areas, through teaching of plumbing skills and donation of SATO Toilet Solutions, a series of innovative, life-saving, and affordable toilet solutions.

Inadequate or damaged facilities and insufficient human resources in disaster areas exacerbate already poor sanitary conditions and the spread of disease. SATO toilets were delivered to survivors of the 2015 devastating earthquake in Nepal with the help of NGO WaterAid, and in 2016, to people in Bangladesh with the help of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), an international NGO working to support people suffering poverty.

In FYE2022, when the war broke out in Ukraine, we donated funds through UNICEF to provide local medical and educational support, ensure safe water, repair damaged schools and water and sanitation facilities, and provide psychological care to children.

Through these activities, we are working to help provide access to adequate sanitation to people living in disaster-affected areas so that they can feel safer.

Solving Sanitation Problems in Nearby Communities

LIXIL Americas is engaged in tackling sanitation problems within the US. We donate LIXIL products to NGOs that provide accommodation for poverty-stricken families and veterans with disabilities. Teaming up with universities and public agencies, we also worked to raise public awareness of sanitation problems among residents of Lowndes County, Alabama, where 80% of homes are not connected to the public sewage system. We have improved sanitation for 100 households to date. In addition, we donated SATO Tap handwashing stations to the quasi-autonomous Navajo Nation reservation for indigenous Navajo to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

We also strive to improve sanitation facilitates and donate hygiene-related products to local communities in other parts of the world. For more details, please refer to the LIXIL Community Day section.

Supporting Children

Through our Christmas Tree Activity, LIXIL works with NGOs to distribute Christmas gifts donated by employees to children in need in the EMENA region. In FYE2022, we supported 144 children in collaboration with organizations that help children and youth whose families struggle with problems like poverty or alcoholism.

LIXIL’s Outreach Classes for Future Generations

LIXIL is committed to advancing education for sustainable development (ESD). We try to address social issues such as global sanitation and hygiene, environmental problems, and diversity and inclusion by working with the children who will be stewards of our future planet.

We conduct outreach classes using original teaching materials centered around our three strategic pillars: Global Sanitation & Hygiene, Water Conservation & Environmental Sustainability, and Diversity & Inclusion. Since 2010, over 44,000 children have taken part in 1,348 outreach classes held at schools and events across Japan. The program helps to strengthen bonds between local communities and regional LIXIL offices and employees who serve as lecturers.

Community Activities at INAX MUSEUMS

The INAX MUSEUMS in Tokoname, Aichi, which is best known for its pottery, serve the local community by holding exhibitions on themes of earth, pottery, manufacturing, and living. They also offer “see, touch, feel, learn” participatory experiences such as shiny dorodango (mud ball) making classes and workshops where local people can get their hands dirty in the soil.

In FYE2021, approximately 1,600 citizens took part in workshops held in collaboration with Tokoname City to create tiles for decorating the walls of a pedestrian deck leading to the entrance of the new city hall building. Our CEO attended the completion ceremony of the new city hall in December 2021, where he was presented with a letter of appreciation from the mayor.

LIXIL Omotenashi Toilet Cleaning at Tourist Site

In 2014, Shikoku area staff started the LIXIL Omotenashi Toilet Cleaning at Tourist Sites initiative to express the Japanese spirit of hospitality by ensuring that visitors were greeted with clean toilets. As a toilet manufacturer and retailer, LIXIL has expanded this unique initiative to 60 areas in 30 prefectures throughout Japan from Hokkaido to Kyushu. To date, 6,019 employees cleaned toilets in public facilities together with local companies.

* The cleaning initiative was canceled in FYE2021 and FYE2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Disaster Relief and Reconstruction Activities in Japan

LIXIL provides a variety of natural disaster support including product and monetary donations. In FYE2021, we conducted free inspections of LIXIL products and provided financial support following the torrential rains in Kyushu, Chubu, and Tohoku regions of Japan. At the time, we also set up a mobile toilet booth called withCUBE at an evacuation center in Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto.

We are also working to provide disaster relief through products based on years of research on disaster-related problems. Our Resilience Toilet is designed with disasters in mind because it can be switched to use only one liter of water per flush in times of disaster compared to five liters for regular usage. This helps evacuation centers to adapt to water supply disruptions and other issues related to toilet facilities. We are not only promoting the installation of these toilets in schools, gyms, and government buildings that serve as disaster response bases, but are also using them for local community disaster response training.

Reusing Aluminum Materials from Temporary Housing Windows

As part of our reconstruction efforts following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, we are collecting and recycling aluminum building materials in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima, including the windows from temporary housing provided by LIXIL.

Other Community Development Activities