Failure is but a stepping stone to success. The proverb rang dramatically true in the process of developing a new product at Toto Ltd., the major toilet manufacturer based in Fukuoka Prefecture.

In February 1995, Yoshimitsu Saeki, general manager of Toto Research Institute in Kanagawa Prefecture, was experimenting to create a tile panel capable of repelling water, but instead created a partially absorbent one.

"I was disappointed with the failure, but I came to realize that the property would be useful for a new product that we were trying to develop," Saeki said.