Together with Our Customers
(Consumer Issues)

The Nippon Soda Group provides products with functions that satisfy our customers, and makes efforts toward ensuring safety during the use of our products.

Improve Customer Satisfaction

Services by the Customer Consultation Office (Agro Products Division)

The regional salespersons and the section handling inquiries at our Head Office appropriately answer inquiries about the usage of our products and agrochemicals.
Persons in charge of answering customer inquiries are assigned to the Public Relations Section of our Product Promotion Department. Inquiries are answered under the motto of providing “swift, accurate and easy to-understand answers.”
Requests and inquiries from customers are logged into our in-house database and the information is shared with our plants, research centers and sales departments. Based on this information, we improve our products and expand the scope of application of our agrochemicals. With regard to complaints about product quality and requests for quality improvement, efforts are made to prevent recurrence and to make improvements for each individual product.

Sales Promotion Activities with Our Customers in Mind (Chemicals Business Division)

We exhibit actively at trade fairs, conferences and other venues, conduct interviews using our online meetings system, and seek opportunities to have discussions with our customers in other ways so that our products will be considered by more customers.

Promotion Activities Rooted in the Local Community (Agro Products Division)

We visit contracted wholesalers, agricultural co-ops and farmers in Japan to introduce our products and explain the appropriate methods of use. Outside of Japan, we host seminars on our products and the appropriate methods of use for local stores and farmers and invite them to visit agricultural fields where our products are used.

Communication with Customers

Sending out Information to Our Users
(Agro Products Division)

In response to various kinds of inquiries from our customers, we provide information on registered agrochemicals and the expansion of their scope of usage in a timely manner, while complying with the Agricultural Chemicals Control Act and other related laws, rules and regulations. On the Product Guide page* of our website, we regularly provide easy-to-understand pest control manuals for agrochemical users, product introduction videos, and other content.

• Product Guide page (Japanese version only)
  https://www.nippon-soda.co.jp/nougyo/index.html

Nippon Soda provides information on its agrochemicals on “Diagnose Your Crops with AI!”, a smartphone app developed by Nihon Nohyaku Co., Ltd. and NTT Data CCS Corporation that uses an AI learning model. The convenient app allows users to diagnose pests and weeds on their crops using a smartphone camera.

• ※Diagnose Your Crops with AI!

Cellulose Technical Application Center (CTAC)

We established the Cellulose Technical Application Center (CTAC) inside the Chiba Research Center (Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture) in October 2019. It is a facility for collaborating with customers on joint development of new value for pharmaceutical additive NISSO HPC and NISSO SSF.
Before the establishment of CTAC, we conducted support activities for customer product development using NISSO HPC and NISSO SSF in ways such as responding to inquiries and providing data through scientific meetings and seminars. Now, through CTAC, we are able to reflect our practical experience, making it possible to conduct trial manufacture based on mutual ideas from meetings and study content, as well as to conduct analysis and assessment. Also, we hosted online technical seminars and have been conducting training via live broadcasts so that we can respond to an even greater number of questions from customers, and have bolstered the distribution of technical videos through our website, CTAC online*(available in Japanese, English, and Chinese). We will strengthen the formulation assessment function through the use of this state-of-the-art facility, and work to expand sales of NISSO HPC and NISSO SSF over the long term by providing solutions that match customer needs.

Development of Products Useful to Society

Responding to the Requests of Our Customers (Chemicals Business Division)

NISSO HPC (hydroxypropyl cellulose) is used widely throughout the world as an additive that is essential for formulating pharmaceuticals. Since its launch in 1969, we have continued to respond to the needs of pharmaceutical companies, who are our customers. As a result, we now offer 12 grades with different viscosities and particle sizes for the domestic market and 14 grades for the overseas market.
Currently, we are aggressively promoting research and development for enhancing the functionality of pharmaceuticals, both in and outside of Japan, by working with our customers to develop new grades that are in line with our customers’ needs, and by maintaining NISSO HPC’s status as a frontline product in pharmaceutical formulation.
We sell NISSO HPC in the food market under the brand name CELNY as it is ideally suited to food processing due to its safety and outstanding functionality. For nutritional supplements, CELNY has enabled the formulation of lactic acid bacteria (live bacteria) tablets—which are garnering attention for their immune-boosting properties—at low pressure, preventing the decrease in live bacteria that occurs under high pressure. CELNY also helps to prevent cracks and damage to large tablets such as chewables, which make it easier to take medicine. In this way, CELNY is helping to improve the functionality and quality of nutritional supplements.