Kyoto Katsuobushi Company Visit

Date

June 17, 2013(Mon.)

Participants

 Kyoto-katsuobushi: Masayuki Shimura (President), Yasushi Kabata (Chief accountant and Chief of the general affairs)

 Kyoto university: Adriano Silvestre, Bua Kwanchanok, Kiyotsugu Yoshihara, Shuichi Inoue, Yuichi Ichihara

 By Dr.Yoshihara’s introduction, we have received a great opportunity to take a company tour at Kyoto Katsuobushi Co.,Ltd. It was a good experience to learn about how company and factory actually operate. Moreover, we are deeply impressed by the kindness and hospitality of Mr. Shimura, the president. Mr.Shimura possesses high passion, ability and effort for global expansion which leads to the success of business.

Company Profile

 Kyoto Katsuobushi Comupsny mainly focuses on katsuobushi manufacturing and konbu. The company has a long history since 1877 and is currently operated by the third generation president with approximately 80 employees. Beside katsuobushi and konbu, the company’s products vary from processed herring to bamboo shoots, all of which have their productions outsoured to other companies. Most of the products are ingredients for mainly ramen, soba and udon.

Knowledge from Company visit

・There are two type of katsuo which are “Hon-bushi” and “Kame-bushi”. The former is over-3000g-fish which can be cut in to 4 pieces and the latter is smaller fish cut in to 2 pieces that looks like turtle back. (I can’t quite fix it but this part sounds weird to me. In my view “Hon-bushi” and “Kame-bushi” are not two types but rather two different ways to cut the fishes in sizes that are adequate to be dried and then fitted in the machine slots for shaving.)

・Katsuobushi can be made from many kinds of fish for example bonito,mackerel and herring. Each of the kind has its own flavor therefore they are mixed together in various specific proportions to produce different tastes of soup.

・Because of increasing demand for canned tuna(canned tuna is surprisingly made from katsuo) from Thailand, the prices of katsuo remain high, with only 10% of fishes being used by the katsuobushi industry. The remaining 90% go to meat consumption (i.e.sashimi) and canned tuna production.

・The katsuobushi industry faces the lack of labor because the work are considered 3K;

“Kitsui” (hard-work), “Kitanai” (dirty), “Kiken” (dangerous). Current generation of works choose to work in other preferable jobs therefore lack of labor problem occurs. In order to solve such problem, the company hires Chinese female labor on 3-year-contract.

・To comply with the HACCP standards, quality of the company-manufactured katsuobushi is controlled by examining bacteria and moisture in the laboratory. Moreover, metal detection and weight measuring equipment are installed in the industry for QC purpose.

・Good connection and relationship with financial institution is a key to success of this company business. A large amount of money is required for procurement in the fishing season and during 6 months of katsuo dehydration process there is no cash flow movement.

・Mission: “Innovativeness which beyond the tradition.”

○It is insufficient for the future company growth only to protect their tradition. Therefore, they try to not only protect their tradition but also develop their products and business. For example, they work on exporting their products to various countries including Singapore in order to the spread of their goods in abroad.

・The company is in the process of externalization of working procedures.

Factory Visit

This factory makes “Hana-katsuo”. Generally, “Hana-katsuo” is the pieces shaved from “Ara-bushi” (boiled and smoked bonito) and it is often used for the soup stock.

・The manufacturing process of “Hana-katsuo”

○(1)Stocking up and maturing raw materials, (2)Washing katsuobushi, (3)Steaming and pressuring, (4)Shaving, (5)Drying, (6)Metal Detection, (7)Bagging, (8)Metal Detection, (9)Weight Check, (10)Product Check, (11)Packing and (12)Shipping

○When stocking up raw materials, the employees check whether those are good or not. Raw materials are matured for one to two years in the storage warehouses.

○According to circumstances, there is mixing process between drying process and metal detection.

・Which is the process with much loss?

○Shaving process creates a lot of shavings. The yield rate is about 90%. The yield rate depends on the condition of raw materials, and the employees who operate the steaming and pressuring machines control how long they steam and pressure raw materials.

○Shavings are discarded, or sold as feed.

・How long the life of machines (bagging and shaving machines)?

○The life of big machines are about 20 years, and the price of machines are about 15 to 30 million yen.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
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