There are still no 100% correct answers in this developing market. To enrich the lives of consumers, I want to develop devices that have never existed before.

I am involved in the development of the JT Group’s first Bluetooth-compatible device.

I entered this company in April 2020 as an employee with prior experience. My previous job was at an audio equipment manufacturer, to develop built-in software for wireless audio equipment and communications equipment that used Bluetooth. I decided to enter the JT Group because I wanted to make products that could be delivered directly to end users and used as a close part of their lives. There are an unexpectedly small number of devices such as smartphones and smartwatches that are carried around and used by consumers in daily life, but heated tobacco products (hereafter HTP) like Ploom X are one of them. That was one of the main points that attracted me to it.

Soon after entering this company, I was assigned to the development of Ploom X, a global model developed jointly between JT and JT International (hereafter “JTI”). I acquired a wide range of work experiences ranging from product development-related planning, to optimization of manufacturing. These included coordinating with JTI on product specifications for the first Bluetooth-compatible IoT device from the JT Group, deciding on communication specifications with personnel responsible for application development, and holding discussions with plant-side personnel on product inspection methods.

One thing I struggled with was controlling the heat of devices. In the case of HTP, the heating temperature greatly affects the tastes and flavors, so high-precision thermal control is required for its devices. They involve standards that were difficult for me to grasp even with my background at an audio equipment manufacturer, so I remember struggling considerably until I could thoroughly understand them. As I communicated repeatedly with various related departments and members within our company to try to understand the peculiarities of thermal control in order to maintain flavors and tastes that could satisfy consumers over their entire smoking time, I was surprised at how many more people were involved in product development than in work at my previous electronics company.

Since Ploom X is connected to smartphones, it continually carries out two-way wireless communication and synchronization in specified cycles.
Similarly, heating control also monitors and controls temperature in specified cycles.
This brought about difficulties such as developing special processing measures to ensure that these cycles did not conflict with each other, and designing their specifications.

Thermal control also affected the implementation of Bluetooth. Although programming its embedded software is not particularly difficult, since both wireless communication and thermal control operate using their own cycles, it was a tremendous struggle to reach a balance between the thermal control required to ensure the ideal tastes for RRP*, and compliance with Bluetooth standards, so that these specified cycles did not conflict with each other.

*Reduced-Risk Products: Products with the potential to reduce health-related risks associated with smoking

Valuable experiences that made me deeply aware of the importance of connecting with our members .

In my current position, I constantly feel the importance of connecting with our members. Compared to the audio equipment and communication equipment I worked with at my previous job, RRP* devices have more elements that must be given careful thought and consideration during development in addition to functionality and safety, so there are also more work fields and people involved. The process of determining final product specifications and reaching the point of production is not a straight path. In my work, we were actually forced to make specification changes many times along the way, and we caused trouble and inconvenience to many people.

Still, even while experiencing such struggles, these were highly meaningful and valuable experiences to me as an embedded systems software engineer. As I search for the best solution to reach the goal of providing products that consumers can enjoy with comfort and satisfaction, every time I face a problem that would be unthinkable at my previous audio equipment company, I speak with and receive advice from both internal and external colleagues with many different specialties to reach an answer. Through that process, I have become keenly aware of the importance of connecting with our members.

RRP* will still continue to evolve. I want to attempt to create devices that can enrich the lives of consumers.

The market for RRP* is still developing, and even regarding product specifications it has not reached a point where we can say, “This is the model to follow.” From here on, I want to take on new challenges in creating products that can give support to actively enriching the lifestyles of consumers. My overall guiding principle is to provide good flavors and tastes without any discomfort, in the same way as with conventional cigarettes. Heating processes that affect tastes are controlled by devices, so like electronic rice cookers equipped with various modes to correspond to different rice brands and dishes to be made, I want to create products that allow consumers to use devices to select modes as they desire, and furthermore, where devices themselves can automatically select the best modes, so that consumers can enjoy RRP* comfortably at any time.

In addition, since RRP* device is one of gadgets which consumers carry around with them in their daily lives, it is technologically possible to collect and record data related to the lifestyle cycles of consumers such as the amount of tobacco smoked in one day, or the span of smoking time, in ways similar to devices like smartphones or smartwatches. Their methods may change depending on the occasion from being stand-alone to being linked with smartphones, but if I could create a device that can give valuable support to the lifestyles of consumers like the very air they breathe by connecting to an optimal data infrastructure, it would be the ultimate reward for me as a developer.

When you hear of the JT Group, it may bring up images of a giant, plodding, long-established corporation. I actually had the same kind of image. However, after actually entering our company and working here, you will find that the mindset of acting quickly and taking on challenges toward new styles of tobacco products like RRP* is ingrained in our company down to the job site level. It is highly enjoyable to work together with people who feel excitement at fast-paced changes or people who want to attempt new things without being bound by preconceptions. The JT R&D Group is a workplace that will always pay the fullest attention to these kinds of people.