MORROW, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TOTO, the world's largest plumbing manufacturer with more than $5.2 billion in annual sales, announced that at CES 2019 the company will introduce “Life Anew NEXT,” a new key pillar of its overarching “Life Anew” global brand message. With “Life Anew NEXT,” TOTO encompasses the world of smart, connected products for both residential and commercial spaces. At CES 2019, TOTO’s newest innovations will be on display in Booth #42342, Smart Home section, Tech West, Sands Expo, Halls A-D.
“Life Anew NEXT”
Introduced in 2018, TOTO’s “Life Anew” global brand message sets forth the company’s enduring commitment to create a culture of clean, comfortable living for people around the world through its innovative products and advanced technologies. TOTO believes the bathroom should remain a relaxing, restorative space where people escape the physical and mental fatigue brought on by daily life’s stresses—whether at home or staying in a hotel.
Honoring the trust its customers and society have placed in TOTO for over 100 years, the company remains dedicated to bringing wellness and comfort to people’s lives, turning their daily rituals into transformative experiences. TOTO is steadfast in its commitment to develop products that offer inclusive functionality and respect for the environment.
This year, as TOTO enters the age of the Internet of Things (IoT), the company expands its overarching “Life Anew” global brand message with “Life Anew NEXT,” a new key message that encompasses smart, fully connected bathrooms and enhanced intelligent toilet experiences. Collaborating with innovative companies from leading industries across the globe, TOTO will develop the next generation of IoT-enabled public restrooms and home bathrooms of the future.
Through “Life Anew NEXT” concept videos on display in the residential and commercial sections of its CES 2019 booth, TOTO will explore the company’s expanded vision of consumers’ exciting, enriched experiences with IoT-enabled bathrooms at home or smart, fully connected public restrooms wherever they travel for work or play.
“Life Anew NEXT”: Smart, Fully Connected Public Restrooms
To provide consumers with a consistently clean, comfortable restroom experience no matter where they travel, TOTO has collaborated with GP PRO, a division of Georgia-Pacific and a leading provider of advanced dispensing solutions for commercial facilities.
“Improving people’s lives is what inspires every TOTO innovation, and global surveys consistently show that people rank cleanliness as one of the top five qualities that contribute to a high quality of life,” said Shinya Tamura, CEO of TOTO USA. “Working with GP PRO to develop smart, connected restrooms is another way we fulfill our commitment to provide consumers with a consistently clean, comfortable restroom experience no matter where they travel for work or play—and solve real-world business issues for facility managers. Only TOTO’s superior quality and proven smart sensor technology could bring this level of innovation to our collaboration with GP PRO. It’s a great first step toward expanding our business in the exciting new realm of connected restrooms."
To deliver this restroom of the future, the companies harnessed GP PRO’s award-winning KOLO Smart Monitoring System, which delivers reliable, customizable and secure monitoring and analysis of connected restroom fixtures to a dashboard that facility managers monitor via tablet or computer. For example, facility managers and their custodial staff will receive real-time updates and alerts on:
- the number of toilet and faucet activations and their water consumption;
- fixture over-utilization and operational abnormalities such as leaks or overflows;
- toilet paper, towel, and soap levels, preventing partial rolls or bottles from being discarded too soon;
- user safety, alerting staff to check ADA stalls; and
- optimized cleaning schedules for volume based cleaning and workforce management.
Facility managers will be able to harness this information to dramatically increase consumers’ satisfaction with their public restroom experience and solve real-world business issues to better manage their work force and make substantial cost savings in their restrooms’ operation.
To its collaboration with GP PRO, TOTO brought its proven smart sensor EcoPower faucets and flush valves, which create their own electricity every time water spins their small internal turbine (no need for hardwiring to a building’s electrical system or for routine disposable battery replacement, which is costly and toxic to the environment). Because TOTO’s EcoPower products generate their own energy, they continue to operate without interruption if the building loses its electricity. If the building’s internet service goes out, they continue to collect data on their usage to be transmitted when the internet connection is restored.
Extremely water efficient, TOTO’s EcoPower faucets flow at 0.09 gallons per 10-second cycle, which is 64% below the 0.25 gallons per-cycle baseline set by the federal government for high-efficiency faucets. Consumers will enjoy their quick, effective rinse. TOTO's high-efficiency 1.0 or 1.28 gallons per flush (gpf) commercial toilets and high-efficiency 0.5 or 0.125 gpf urinals have been rigorously tested to ensure high-performance and maximum water efficiency when paired with its EcoPower flush valves. TOTO products’ clean, simple design lines enhance the attractiveness of a facility’s connected restrooms.
“Life Anew”: TOTO Twice Honored as CES 2019 Innovation Awards Honoree
Remaining steadfast in its commitment to create a culture of clean, comfortable living through its innovative products and advanced technologies, TOTO will also display its NEOREST NX2 Intelligent Toilet with ACTILIGHT and Flotation Tub with ZERO DIMENSION, which have been named CES 2019 Innovation Awards Honorees. Judged by a distinguished panel of designers, engineers and members of the tech media, this prestigious innovation award selects winners based on design, functionality, consumer appeal, engineering and how the products compare with the competition.
TOTO’s NEOREST NX2 is its most beautiful intelligent toilet with its most advanced cleansing technology. Inspired by the natural beauty of pebbles shaped by water over time, the NEOREST NX2’s sophisticated elliptical silhouette will serve as an artistic focal point of any bath. It offers the people-first innovations consumers appreciate: high-tech sensor operation with auto open/close and auto flush; integrated WASHLET personal cleansing system with warm, aerated water to cleanse, warm air dryer, heated seat, and in-bowl catalytic deodorizer; and energy- and water-saving features.
The NEOREST NX2’s ACTILIGHT bowl cleansing technology is completely safe for the environment. It starts with a plain water pre-mist that reduces waste and grime’s sticking. After each flush, EWATER+ mists the bowl with electrolyzed water, which has a slightly acidic pH value, to keep it clean and fresh. Activated by the integrated UV light, ACTILIGHT’s titanium dioxide and zirconium glazed bowl becomes super hydrophilic—waste, lime scale, and mold wash away with ease. The activated surface also triggers photocatalysis, accelerating the decomposition of all organic substances at the cellular level.
TOTO's Flotation Tub simulates zero gravity by offering bathers a weightless experience that eliminates the mechanical energy/load on their joints. TOTO’s breakthrough came after 10-years’ research on bathing's relaxation effect, biomechanics, neuroscience, and ergonomics. TOTO discovered that a unique body posture—with the reclining body stabilized and the hips, knees, and ankles flexed—reduced the joints' mechanical energy/load to nearly zero. It replicates the body's posture at zero gravity. Astronauts sleep in this position; it enables the most relaxing rest possible. TOTO christened this unique body position, ZERO DIMENSION.
TOTO’s ZERO DIMENSION bathing posture deeply relaxes mind and body. Cerebral blood flow studies show activity in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain responsible for language—is dramatically reduced. Bathers are afloat, calm and immersed in a meditative moment of relaxation, enhanced by special massage jets producing a therapeutic flow of warm air bubbles enveloping the entire body. A stream of warm water flows from the height-adjustable Neck Spa, an ergonomic pillow that keeps the neck and shoulders comfortably warm. HYDROHANDS massage jets create the experience of real hands massaging the lower back. All functions are easily operated using the control panel on the inside of the tub.
Journalist’s Note: High-resolution digital images of TOTO’s new IoT Enabled EcoPower Products and award-winning NEOREST NX2 and Flotation Tub are available for download from TOTO’s Online Press Room or immediately upon request.
About TOTO
TOTO USA is headquarters for the Americas Division of the TOTO Global Group, which was established in 1917 with the founding of TOTO, Ltd., in Kitakyushu, Japan. TOTO is the world’s largest manufacturer of bathroom fixtures and fittings with $5.2 billion dollars in annual sales (as of March 2018). For the past 100 years, TOTO has been the recognized leader in innovation, technology, performance, and design with products that enhance the luxury bathroom experience. Today, the company maintains 32,481 employees in 20 countries and owns manufacturing facilities around the world in countries as diverse as Japan, Mexico, Germany, the USA, India and China. Guided by its corporate philosophy, the TOTO Global Group strives to create a great company, trusted by people all around the world, which contributes to the betterment of society. Dedicated to engineering products that respect the environment while meeting people's needs for comfort, beauty and performance, TOTO is the sole plumbing manufacturer to maintain a research and development center devoted to universal design, advanced science, and technology. Consumers enjoy the peace of mind that comes from knowing they purchased a brand that innovates to improve people’s quality of life. Winner of numerous domestic and international awards and recognitions, TOTO is the only plumbing manufacturer honored as Water Efficiency Leader by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The company continues to raise industry standards and consumer expectations as to what is possible in the bath space, as TOTO believes a high-quality bathroom is an experience and an everyday luxury people value and appreciate.
For more information, consumers may visit www.totousa.com or call 1.888.295.8134, Option 5. Follow TOTO on Twitter (@TOTOUSA) and become a TOTO fan on Facebook.
About GP PRO
Based in Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific and its subsidiaries are among the world’s leading manufacturers and marketers of bath tissue, paper towels and napkins, tableware, paper-based packaging, office papers, cellulose, specialty fibers, nonwoven fabrics, building products, and related chemicals. The company operates approximately 200 facilities and employs approximately 35,000 people directly and creates nearly 92,000 jobs indirectly. GP PRO, a division of Georgia-Pacific, manufactures and sells well-known brands like ActiveAire®, Angel Soft® Professional Series, Brawny®, Compact®, Dixie®, Dixie Ultra®, enMotion®, and Pacific Blue™. GP PRO products meet restroom, foodservice, and break room needs for office buildings, healthcare, foodservice, high traffic, lodging, retail, and education facilities, plus a wide range of industrial and manufacturing facilities in North America. For more information, visit gppro.com.
