Manufacturing Plants

Thorough sanitation management complying with global standards, as well as stable supplies of high quality products, are assured through a highly automated unique production system.

Ariake Japan is a pioneer in various fields relating to natural seasonings. Comparing the Company to others in the industry, the following six major features stand out. These features raise the level of product quality, enabling consistency and a stable supply of products, as well as increasing productivity, which support the advantageous position of Ariake Japan in the industry.

Establishment of a fully automated production system (CIM system)

The food industry is a labor-intensive industry, where numerous processes must be carried out. Ariake Japan was the first in the industry to implement an unmanned system that utilizes computer technology, thereby reducing labor and improving the work environment. The levels of accuracy for work related to safety and health concerns also increased. The labor productivity of Ariake Japan is approximately four times that of other companies (according to a survey by Ariake Japan), a proud achievement attributed to the system. This proprietary production system has not been disclosed to the public by any means, including patent applications, in order to protect the secrets of the system. For this reason, it is believed that it would be extremely difficult for other companies to catch up to the standards of Ariake Japan.

Integrated production system from procurement of raw materials to output of products

Companies in the business of producing natural seasonings have individualized business operations to carry out single processes, such as extracting, blending and processing. Wasteful processes were eliminated by Ariake Japan through the gathering of all such individual processes into an integrated production system, to assure quality control and reduce costs due to improved yields. Furthermore, customer needs for numerous and various products are accommodated, starting with processes in the phase for procuring raw materials.

Stable supply by large scale manufacturing plants

Our Kyushu Plants have the largest facilities in the world that utilize the CIM system and integrated production system. Products manufactured using these facilities are not only supplied in a stable manner, but they are of a superior quality and consistency, while incorporating superior aspects relating to safety and health, which all provide customers with an enormous feeling of ease. Features, such as supplying an adequate capacity and quality, as well as a stable supply, are particularly essential factors for business customers to use these products for commercial purposes. Such a capability to meet these customer�fs demands supports the advantageous position of Ariake Japan in the industry.

Stable procurement routes secured for raw materials

A critical management agenda is to secure raw materials in quantities to keep up with the business expansions of the future, since only limited supplies of raw materials for natural seasoning are available in Japan. Therefore, Ariake Japan has already entered the US and Chinese markets. In the United States, the business operation of manufacturing natural seasonings derived from raw materials, such as livestock, which is abundant in the United States, has been in place for five years. Furthermore, a manufacturing plant within China was completed in October 1995, and it has been supplying products.

The manufacturing plant is equipped with an adequate supply system to respond to increases in demand capable of supporting the business activities of customers. Furthermore, Ariake Japan was the first in the industry to implement traceability into its production system, which keeps track of and follows raw materials and products once they have been shipped, as a part of the system for a completely assured level of quality.

Quantitative analysis of taste

The important technology supporting the quality of products provided by Ariake Japan is the technology for immediate reproduction of identical products by quantitatively analyzing the taste of a sample. Taste is an important factor in determining the quality of products and the ability to manage taste quantitatively, played a role in achieving consistency with products provided by Ariake Japan. For example, if a soup produced by another company is popular for its taste, it is possible to analyze the taste of such a product and reproduce an identical taste.

Thorough sanitation management of global standard

The responsibility of a provider of natural seasonings is recognized as being extremely significant in terms of safety, since it is used as a raw material for the production of processed foods. For this reason thorough sanitation management is implemented at Ariake Japan. The quality control system of the Company was certified in June 2001 as compliant with the international standard for quality control, ISO 9001. Furthermore, the manufacturing plant of the subsidiary in the United States, Ariake U.S.A., Inc., has been certified with a global standard for hygiene by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). The sanitation management standard nurtured and adopted in Virginia has also been adopted in the Second Kyushu Plant, which was completed in June of 1998. The sanitation management implemented at this plant is in a class of its own, as it is stricter than any other in Japan.

Packing center starts operation

Ariake Japan started operation of an individualized food packaging plant (packing center) at the Second Kyushu Plant in July 2003. The operation of a packing center is intended to be the transitioning of upstream products to highly processed and value-added downstream products. Semi-aseptic packaging and paper packaging used at the packing center, is expected to become a new driving force behind new business developments at Ariake Japan.

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