Teijin, a technology-driven company offering advanced solutions, is developing a wide range of innovative solutions to further workstyle reforms. The solutions will help Japan which is facing an urgent need to enhance the efficiency and diversity of its workforce as the nation’s working population continues to decrease owing to a declining birth-rate.

The company has developed the RecoPick RFID inventory management system. In the system, stock management using UHF-band IC tags offers several advantages over barcodes, including simultaneous detection and recognition of multiple objects at high speed and for remote processing. RecoPick, Teijin’s smart management system, identifies UHF-band IC tags using special 2D communication sheets. Lining shelves, walls, or floors with the sheets enables items nearby to be detected and recognised automatically.

The system, in addition to finding uses in retail shops and factories for stock control, is also allowing places such as hospitals and libraries to reduce working hours, according to a press release by Teijin.

Teijin has also unveiled the fan-cooled jacket, jointly developed with Makita. It has a two-layer pressure-controlled cooling structure that allows air to enter through the jacket’s outer shell and inner lining, both in front and back. The design prevents fabric from bundling up inside, ensuring that the wearer can work unencumbered. Air is discharged on a pressure-regulated basis through openings mainly in the neck, underarms and chest, where blood circulation is particularly active, for enhanced cooling effect. These unique fan-cooled jackets are being adopted by a growing range of companies for diverse uses, including as sports apparel by Descente Japan and Mitsui O.S.K. KINKAI, a subsidiary of the transport group Mitsui O.S.K Lines. Annual sales are expected to quadruple in 2019.

Teijin has also launched the smart uniform for firefighting which predicts heatstroke risk by estimating deep body temperatures, using a device installed in the uniform to monitor both temperatures and the firefighter’s precise position. Data is transmitted in real time to management systems on-site and at headquarters for analysis, helping to ensure the firefighter’s safety. The uniform is made with heat-resistant, flame-retardant TEIJINCONEX meta-aramid fibre and high-tenacity TECHNORA para-aramid fibre.

The new vital sensing wear by Teijin facilitates sustainable and highly accurate sensing of the heart’s electrical activity, heart rates and activity levels, minimising the noise generated by contact of the body with sportswear during exercise. It combines the ultrafine fibre NANOFRONT with vital-sign sensing technology, and by simultaneously sensing heart rates and activity levels it can be used in various scenarios including the prediction of heatstroke risk and other health problems.

Teijin’s 2breathe innovative smart device and mobile app helps to improve sleep by relieving pre-sleep tension and midnight wakeup issues. The small device detects vertical movement of the user’s abdomen and sends the data to a smartphone via Bluetooth, and the app converts to the sound. It helps to reduce the neural sympathetic activity by relaxing your mind and body when your breath synchronised to the sounds.