Development Opportunity
The question was, "Can we make something like this?"
Asahi Diamond to date has had little experience in the food industry. Frankly speaking, this was an area we had no particular plans to focus on until not long ago. Now, however, our successful experience with the development of diamond rolls for rice polishing machines has begun to change that perception.
It all started in 2013, when we received an inquiry from a customer, a manufacturer of rice polishing machines. The customer was already considering a rice milling machine using diamond rolls made by another company. However, they were dissatisfied with the quality of the rolls and consulted Asahi Diamond. The first request was, "Can you make one just like this one? Asahi Dia, which prided itself on its technical capabilities, carried out this order without any problem. The completed product had the same performance as the existing one, but with a higher cutting ability. The customer was satisfied and the small project was successfully completed. ......, but this was only the beginning of the story.
effort
Continuously solves the two problems of uneven color and bran clogging
Everything about the first delivery could not be perfect. One of the problems was not performance, but appearance. Some of the products were unevenly colored or discolored. Although there was no performance problem, this could be a source of concern for users in the food industry. Most of the staff in charge of production handled only industrial products on a daily basis. We solved the problem by raising everyone's awareness of quality and reviewing the manufacturing process from the very beginning, gradually raising the level of perfection.
Then, the customer suddenly requested a large increase in production. In order to respond to this request, we needed to further improve the stability of quality, so we proposed that Asahi Diamond manufacture everything from the base metal to the entire production process. The base metal is the base on which diamond abrasive grains are electrodeposited. Until then, we had been using the base metal supplied by the customer, but in order to achieve higher quality, we thought it would be best to manufacture the base metal from scratch. This proposal was accepted without incident. It took some time, including the selection of a partner company, but in the end we were able to achieve both a beautiful finish and a high supply capacity at the same time.
Our relief was short-lived, however, as the next request came in from the customer. They pointed out that if the bran from the rice bran grinding in the rice polishing machine became trapped between the diamond abrasive grains, they would become clogged and lose their sharpness, resulting in a reduction in the speed of rice polishing. We solved this problem by using the special electrodeposition technology used in our other products to achieve specifications that minimize bran clogging. After repeated trial and error, we successfully achieved quality that satisfied the customer. We succeeded in greatly surpassing the existing product in both appearance and performance.
Development Results
Transforming Brewers' Businesses
While grinding stones are used in general rice milling machines, one of the major advantages of using diamond rolls is that they reduce the load on the rice. Diamonds have a higher thermal conductivity than grinding stones, which allows heat to escape from the rice better, resulting in the prevention of rice cracking, which leads to high-quality sake brewing rice polishing.
Another user benefit is reduced power consumption due to the lighter weight of the different structure. Workability during maintenance is also improved, but the frequency of maintenance is reduced due to the high durability of the machine to begin with, allowing users to reap the benefits in the long term as well. In the case of grinding wheels, they must be disposed of as waste when they are no longer used. However, diamond abrasives can be re-electrodeposited and the base metal can be used as is, thus contributing to a reduction in environmental impact.
One sake brewer that installed a rice milling machine equipped with Asahi Diamond's diamond rolls drastically reduced the amount of crushed rice to one-third of the conventional amount and cut electricity consumption by more than 30%. Above all, the high quality of the milled rice has spread throughout the industry, and the company has even been commissioned to mill rice for a local sake brewery. It can be said that Asahi Diamond's products have brought about a revolution in the business of a single sake brewer.
World domination is not a dream
A customer of ours has been selling small rice polishing machines to small breweries for some time. They have also adopted Asahi Diamond's small-sized diamond rolls, and we delivered one to them just the other day. The customer has been considering the sale of a larger rice milling machine, and we will continue to cooperate with them by providing diamond rolls to be installed in the machine.
We believe that it would be a waste to use the rice milling technology developed through this project only for rice. The technology can also be applied to wheat, corn, and other grains. It is not only in Asia, where rice cultivation is flourishing, but also in other countries and regions where grains are available, in other words, the whole world, is not just a dream.
Until recently, Asahi Dia was considered to be somewhat distant from the food industry. Now, it has changed to an industry that is seriously considering global expansion, or even global domination. The day when the world will recognize Asahi Diamond's technology in the food industry may be just around the corner.
