Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) has developed a "Nursing Care DX Package Model" as part of a project commissioned by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) under the FY2024 "Project for Fundamental On-site Improvements Using Nursing Care DX."
The model uses "mapxus Driven by Kawasaki," the indoor positioning service powered by Mapxus's spatial intelligence technology, to measure caregiving activities and support on-site improvements at nursing care facilities across Japan.
Addressing Operational Challenges in Nursing Care
KHI designed the model as an end-to-end support framework, covering challenge investigation and analysis, challenge identification, equipment selection and introduction, support for utilization and adoption, and visualization of improvement effects and return on investment. The goal is to digitize conventional consulting approaches that have traditionally relied on individual expertise, moving toward a more quantitative, data-driven methodology.
Project Implementation and Validation
The project ran from August 18, 2025 to March 31, 2026, across nursing care facilities of different types and regions in Aichi, Fukuoka, Tokyo, Hokkaido, Hyogo, Oita, Kochi, and Okayama prefectures, in collaboration with the Japan No Lift Association.
"mapxus Driven by Kawasaki" combines Wi-Fi-based indoor positioning with GPS-based outdoor location data, providing continuous positioning across indoor and outdoor spaces. Within this model, the service was used to measure caregiving activities, enabling efficient and quantitative evaluation of on-site operations.
Key Outcomes Confirmed
- Sustained use of existing equipment: By visualizing the effectiveness of existing IoT devices, the model confirmed a significant reduction in daytime administrative work time. This supported workstyle reforms, including increased staff break time and expanded time for direct care activities such as meals, bathing, and communication with residents.
- Introduction of new care equipment: The model helped identify operational challenges and supported the introduction of appropriate mobility and transfer assistance equipment, confirming reduced physical burden on both residents and staff.
- Visualization of investment effects: The model quantified cost-effectiveness in ways that had previously been difficult to measure. One case confirmed operational improvements equivalent to approximately 600 hours per year in indirect work time, representing a cost-effectiveness value of approximately 1.2 million yen per year, assuming an hourly staff wage of ¥2,000.
Supporting Sustainable Care Operations
KHI plans to further digitize and streamline each support process within the model, expanding its deployment to nursing care facilities nationwide. The company also aims to support task-sharing across roles and with technology, while building a collaboration platform between care facilities and equipment manufacturers, contributing to a sustainable environment where care professionals can work with confidence and residents receive high-quality care.
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Enhancing Nursing Care Business Support with “mapxus Driven by Kawasaki™”