Kimiwa Co., Ltd.
Specialist manufacturer of horse oil and horse placenta skincare, with an integrated production system from raw materials to finished goods in Kumamoto.
Produces a wide range of OEM and private-label products while maintaining high quality and operational efficiency.
Traditional horse oil craftsmanship, delivered with modern quality control in Kumamoto.
A trade show encounter became the turning point for improving production efficiency
QHow did you first get in touch with us?
We first learned about MONOVATE at a trade show. You had a load-cell unit tank with a control panel on display, and we were looking for a tank with a control panel at the time, so we reached out.
QYou saw the load-cell unit tank with a control panel at the show. What made you choose MONOVATE afterward?
Seeing the unit tank at the MONOVATE booth was key because it showed us MONOVATE has the know-how to manufacture jacketed tanks with integrated control panels.
We valued your ability to customize to our requirements, as well as your expertise in building automated systems through the control panel.
600 L heated/cooled agitated tank with control panel
From a single high-spec tank to a multi-line setup
QIn this system, steam and chilled water are automatically controlled with solenoid valves and the control panel. How did you manage this work before?
We had produced many products in a high-spec tank, including vacuum agitation. As our production volume increased, we felt it would be more efficient to produce in a large-capacity tank that does not require vacuum, which led us to introduce this system.
In the new system, steam is fed into the jacket to heat the contents and cooling water is fed into the jacket to cool them. Solenoid valves control these flows, which enables automated temperature management.
QWhat challenges or inconveniences did you feel with the previous approach?
Because we handle many OEM and private-label products, we manufacture using various recipes. With only one high-spec tank primarily in operation,
relying on that single tank made operations inefficient.
Some products can be manufactured without the high-spec tank, so we wanted to move toward production with multiple tanks.
Temperature-control testing
Expected benefits of a control-panel jacketed tank
QWhat improvements or benefits do you expect from introducing this system?
We expect
large-batch production, and we think
automation via the control panel will make production even more efficient. Since this is still in a test phase, we may need further customization and updates, and we plan to keep asking MONOVATE for improvements (laughs).
By building optimal production lines for each product characteristic, we expect overall production efficiency to increase significantly.
Operation procedure discussion
Future outlook and continuous improvement
QIs there anything you hope for from this system going forward, or areas you want to improve further?
We will likely find areas to refine, such as “we should improve this a bit.” Also, because we are moving to a large-capacity tank, we may need more storage tanks as well.
We had only been thinking through installation at first, but we would like to keep working with MONOVATE on various aspects. Through an ongoing partnership, we want to pursue further efficiency gains.
