[FCE] Conclusion of Sales Partnership Agreement with Purpose Co., Ltd.

FCE Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; President: Junetsu Ishikawa; Securities Code: 9564) has entered into a sales partnership agreement with Purpose Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Fuji City, Shizuoka; President: Yuzo Takagi), a manufacturer of residential gas equipment and information systems. Through this agreement, the companies will integrate Purpose's cloud system for LP gas providers, "Cloud AZ Tower," with FCE's "Robopat AI," which was ranked No. 1 out of approximately 7,300 products as the [Strongest IT Tool] (*1). This collaboration will launch a DX promotion solution for LP gas providers under the service name "AZRPA."

*1 Based on ITreview Best Software in Japan 2023

Background of the Agreement

LP gas is an essential energy source for daily life, used by approximately 22 million households in Japan. Currently, its stable supply is supported by approximately 15,000 retail businesses nationwide (*2).

However, the LP gas industry faces urgent management challenges regarding operational efficiency and productivity improvement due to severe labor shortages, including delivery and meter-reading staff, and an aging workforce. Furthermore, with the advancement of safety measures (*3) and the diversification of customer needs, the volume of work to be handled on-site continues to increase.

While many businesses are promoting digitalization by introducing core systems, there are numerous "peripheral tasks" that cannot be fully covered by systems alone, such as industry-specific complex business practices, government applications, and individual responses to different business partners. As a result, data entry and transcription tasks that bridge core systems and other operations have become a significant burden on the front lines, acting as a bottleneck for DX promotion.

To solve these industry-wide challenges, it was necessary to build operational workflows that do not rely on manual labor by integrating energy business management systems with RPA that can be utilized under on-site leadership.

*2 Based on data from the National LP Gas Safety Mutual Aid Association "FY2024 Contracted Consumer Households by Prefecture (as of end of March 2025)" and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry summaries (as of end of December 2024).

*3 Refers to initiatives for safety advancement established by the government, prefectures, third-party organizations, LP gas businesses, general consumers, and related businesses, based on the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's "Liquefied Petroleum Gas Safety Advancement Plan 2030."

Details of the Partnership Agreement

Purpose Co., Ltd. possesses a strong customer base in the industry, ranging from its residential gas equipment business to the deployment of IT solutions for LP gas providers. "Cloud AZ Tower" is a core system for LP gas providers that integrates necessary operational functions such as customer management, sales management, meter-reading management, safety management, delivery management, and billing/collection into a cloud system.