This time we interviewed Tetsuya Munechika, the fourth generation of Munechika Corporation, a soba noodle store.
Munechika Corporation has been making noodles in Echizen Fukui for over 70 years, and Munechika values the techniques and sincerity that have been passed down from its predecessors.
As a noodle-making company specializing in producing high quality noodles, Munechika pledges to continue its commitment to making delicious noodles. In addition, our mission is to build the future of food culture and provide dreams and aspirations to children through attractive noodle businesses, and we aim to foster a vibrant noodle industry to achieve this goal.
Taro Bando, issues prior to introduction of automatic dough cutting equipment
Ten years ago, the factory installed one “Bando Taro” hand-type noodle-making machine to produce buckwheat noodles, but as demand for buckwheat noodles increased, the production volume could no longer keep up. However, as demand for soba increased, production volume could no longer keep pace. On the other hand, it was difficult to produce products of the desired quality with the conventional roll-type noodle-making line, and we had to find a way to solve both problems. Aside from udon and ramen, we felt that we should be able to create higher quality and more differentiated products by taking advantage of the environment in Fukui Prefecture, which is blessed with soba noodles.
Were there any innovations or difficulties in the process from consideration to introduction?
In order to increase production volume, we wanted a machine that would enable us to efficiently and quickly process the noodles from the beginning of the noodle-making process to the finished state of the product. In terms of quality, we wanted a machine that could produce noodles at a level that would compete with the quality of the soba noodles served at the best soba noodle restaurants, even though the noodles are made by a generally distributed noodle maker.
Are there any changes before and after the introduction of the system?
We just started using the new machine, but we are already producing 1.4 times more capacity per hour. Of course, the quality is also good.
What are your dreams for the future?
We would like to make good products and please our customers. We hope to support buckwheat noodle makers who are having trouble in purchasing and making buckwheat noodles, and also buckwheat noodle makers who are having trouble with successor problems. We will also communicate the fact that making soba (noodles) is an attractive job. We have a noodle-making room in the newly opened sales office, and the partition is made of transparent glass so that visitors can see the entire noodle-making process. The newly introduced machine can also be seen.
Finally, “What kind of an entity is Daiwa Seisakusho?”
More than ten years ago, when I participated in Soba School, there was a course called “Management Lecture” in the curriculum, which made a great impression on me. I think I was strongly influenced by the philosophy and approach to manufacturing. It was after that that I started to aim for differentiated, one-of-a-kind products, rather than the same products that can be found anywhere else. When I was considering the introduction of a new machine, Daiwa did not seem to proceed based only on the quoted price, but rather I sensed their sincerity in offering something of value for the price. I would like to continue to improve the machines and evolve new initiatives one by one in the future.
Our representative also visited Sochika’s store, so please take a look!
>>With President Fujii of Daiwa Manufacturing Co., Ltd. | Echizen Soba and Grated Soba “Munechika
