Asahi Breweries Limited – Ashigara factory

This factory study tour was held on July 8^th 2009 in ASAHI Breweries Limited, Ashigara Factory. It was the final FST for YSEP 2008/2009. The aim this FST was to deepen total understanding of advanced science and technology, focusing on food science, moreover, beer manufacturing technology. The Ashigara factory is located at 1223 Nuda, Minami Ashigara, Kanagawa 250-0106, TEL 0465-72-6270. Their official website can be found at http://www.asahibeer.co.jp/english.

Ashigara factory/Kanagawa Brewery is the most advance Brewery in Asahi. The construction of this factory was completed in May 2002. Grounded in the concept An environmental creation plant in harmony with the earth, the community, and people and informed by the three themes contributing to environmental preservation, coexistence with the local community, and providing an environment rich in amenities, the new facility is a forefront Brewery for the 21st century, serving as the proving ground for numerous innovations to be implemented by Asahi Brewery.

It took more than 2 hours by bus from Okayama campus. The first time we arrived, we were greeted by the factory’s receptionist in the auditorium. Having accustomed of guiding many guest who wanted to know about the factory, the receptionist showed us a 10 minute movie about overview of the Kanagawa brewery and then lead us to the second floor to get deeper information about the brewery.

The second floor is a dedicated floor for guest who want to learn about beer making process in the factory. In the first part of the floor, through a big window we saw several “Mashing” tank lining in a big room to process barley and hops as the main ingredient of the beer. After that, we saw a model of fermentation and maturation process. This model consisted of a small scale fermentation tank and a display monitor beside it. The small scale tank has a transparent part on its half of the surface so we could see the how is the condition inside a fermentation tank when a raw beer is being fermented. Then, a display monitor showed us a movie about how the yeast works in converting maltose into alcohol and carbonated gas to make a great beer. It was said that even 0.1 degrees temperature different could make a different percentage of alcohol and also a different taste of beer.

After seeing the movie, we walked towards another window and saw a formation of big fermentation tanks through it. It was said that we have to spend more than 3 thousand years if we drink one glass of beer from a single fermentation tank every day. That shows how big the fermentation tanks were.

After that, we walked towards another window and saw the canning and bottling process. They said they used recycled materials which had been processed through a high technological and very sterile process. The canning and bottling speed were also run at a very high speed reaching hundreds of bottle and can per minute.

After finished exploring the floor, we went to the cafeteria where we were served plenty of beer and soft drink produced by Asahi Company. It was one of their factory tour programs where the participant can taste the beer or soft drink produced in the factory – or other Asahi brewery – freely as much as their stomach can take. This drinking party also served as a conclusion of the FST class for YSEP 2008/2009 for this second semester.

As the FST ended, we went to the front of the building and took a group picture. From that place, we could see the beauty of the building. It was a harmony between technology and nature building. It sure will be a good advertisement for Asahi customers. After that, we went home. On the way home, we stopped by at the rest area; many people should go to toilet after drinking glasses of beer. Then, 1.5 hour latter we arrived at Tokyotech Okayama campus.

It was a beautiful FST. It was also my last FST in this YSEP program. I want to say thank you to Hirose sensei and his staff for making a good FST in this and previous semester. It will be a great experience for me.

– Taken from my FST class report –

Nippon Steel Kimitsu Works

This FST was held on May, 13^th and taken place in 1-kimitsu, Kimitsu City, Chiba Perfecture 299-1141, Japan. It is located on the shores of Tokyo bay in an area of 220 times larger than the Tokyo Dome. Kimitsu Works is a production base for Japan’s Kanto area. Kanto Area is the largest steel consuming region in Japan therefore the Kimitsu works ranks at the top in Japan for product quality, production equipment, and production volume. The Kimitsu Works layout is divided into three major areas which are (1) iron and steel making area, (2) rolling plant area for flat rolled products, (3) rolling plant area for sections and pipe/tubes. Further information about this factory can be acquired in URL, www.kimitsu.nsc.co.jp.

This factory is owned by Nippon Steel Corporation. It is the world’s second-largest steel producer in volume and the second most profitable steel company in the world which was formed in 1970. Nippon steel has 5 other steel works around Japan which are Nagoya, Oita, Yawata, Muroran, Hirohata. The total crude steel production for all Nippon Steel factories in 2007 was 33,110,000 tons.

The first time we arrived at the factory, we were welcomed at factory’s hall by a Tokyotech’s alumni working in the factory. In this hall, we had a reception speech from Nippon steel staff and watched short movies about Nippon Steel Kimitsu works. In this movie, we gained general information about steel making and products line of the factory. After finished watching the movie we had an explanation about safety procedures and regulation for the tour. We also were given helmet, goggle, gloves, and safety suits to be used in the factory tour and headed to the first tour, the plastic recycling department.

We took a bus to the recycling department. Due to the far distance, it took almost 15 minute to reach the facility. Along the course to the facility, we had an explanation about buildings we encountered by factory’s staff. He explained about how Nippon Steel very cares about environmental issues. 13 percent of the area of the factory is filled with 200 different kinds of trees. We could see many trees on our left and right side of the road.

In the recycling facility, we had an explanation about how the recycling system works. The facility is concentrated to process plastic rubbish only. The staff explained the recycling system from collection of garage, selection of plastic garbage, and various steps until the garbage can be recycled into pure plastic, oil, and some other materials that can be used as an energy source. The recycling process involves high temperature and high pressure environment.

After visiting the recycling facility, we head to the blast furnace. This factory has one of the biggest blast furnaces in the world. Totally they have 3 blast furnaces. However, due to the decrease of demand, currently only two blast furnaces is on operation.  This blast furnace is used to produce pig iron (hot metal) and slag from sintered ore and Coke. We could not see the furnaces closely because it would be very hot. We see from a far distance, had an explanation about its mechanism, and took some pictures. After that we went to flat product rolling facility.

This was the hottest facility we visited in the tour. As we entered the building, the temperatures felt so hot and the floor was sometimes shaking. As we entered deeply to the building, we saw an arrangement of steel rolling machine. Very hot cubical steel comes into the machine and the through several rolling machine the steel become very thin and eventually became a hot-rolled sheet. This hot-rolled sheet then can be process into various kinds of steel products such as steel sheet, pipe, and tubes.

After visiting this facility, we headed back to hall and had questioned & answer session. We took off our safety gears and had an apple juice served for us. After the session finished we went back to Tokyotech. On the journey to Tokyotech we stopped by at the Aqualine platform. It is a building connecting bridge side and sea tunnel side of the aqua line. We took rest and also took some pictures there. After that we went home safely. What an interesting FST.

Naka Fusion Research Institute

As the new semester started, last April 1^st we went to Naka Fusion Research Institute. The facility is located at 3-801-1 Mukoyama, Naka-shi, Ibaraki-ken 311-0193, Japan. It took almost 3 and half hour by bus from Titech Okayama campus to the facility.

Naka fusion institute is a facility owned by Japanese atomic energy agency (JAEA) and was established in 1985. It is one of the largest atomic research institutes in Japan. As well as the name, its researches is focusing on the utilization of fusion energy by participating in international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER) project, performing fusion plasma research and also fusion engineering research. The facilities are equipped with large tokakmak device (JT-60) and various testing and research facilities installed in the area of approximately 1.3 million square meters.

Shortly after we arrived at the institute, we headed to auditorium and have some reception speech from facility’s liaison officer. Then, the institute showed us movie about fusion technology and Naka fusion research institute. It was a good movie. The movie was just a gate for us to learn more about fusion and the institute. It explained us about the basic concept about fusion, its scientific development, and its benefit to the utilization of atomic energy. The movie also showed several activities performed in the institute.

After finished watching the opening movie, we went to institute’s cafeteria to have some lunch. In I saw many foreign people (probably scientist or engineer) were also having lunch at the cafeteria. It seemed like the facilities were accommodates many foreign people to work or doing research.

After having lunch, we went to experiment control room of tokakmak JT-60 device. Looking to its interior, it was just like NASA rocket launching control room seen in the TV. It has many computers placed in a separated work division area. In this room, we had an explanation about JT-60 machine. After that, we went to the JT-60 machine building and had an explanation about the work mechanism of the machine.

Tokakmak JT-60 is a machine for doing plasma research. This machine heats the plasma and confines it to a designed temperature. Tokakmak itself is a system that superior in producing and sustaining high temperature plasma. In this system, a nest of magnetic field lines which are produced by external magnet located around the vacuum chamber and by a large current in the plasma confines the plasma in the vacuum chamber. In other words, this system prevents the super hot plasma to get contact with and melts the interior of the machine.

As it is far beyond my major, I could not really understand the purpose of this plasma machine. However, as far as my understanding, this heated plasma then will generated higher heat that can be used as an energy source for nuclear turbine generator.

After seeing the machine, we went to several building that supports the operation of Tokakmak JT-60 machine. There were many cable and pipe structures. The only thing I understand was how to build a structure supporting those cable and pipe structure, not the purpose of those cables and pipes. Though the facility’s officer provides us some explanation, I really could not understand it due to his low voice and bad English.

After that, we went to ITER project building. ITER is an experimental reactor planned to be built in Cadarache, France. It is a machine to provide controlled ignited plasma and extend plasma burn in a bigger scale. It demonstrates the engineering technologies required for utilization of fusion energy. The ITER project is a joint project by Japan, EU, Russia, USA, China, Korea and India. The early step in this project was by constructing a smaller scale reactor called JT-60SA.

In this building, we saw many samples of parts of JT-60SA that were being developed in the institute. The development consisted of the development of superconducting coil, reactor structure and remote handling technologies, ITER blanket, ITER material, vacuum vessel, and flux components. After that, we took some picture outside the reception building and headed back to Okayama campus.

An interesting point in this factory study tour was the security condition was not as strict as other R&D facilities we had visited. Naka fusion institute gave us freedom to take pictures and get close to many advance devices. We can even go to the experiment control room of JT-60 device. It was a very good opportunity for me to see the application of atomic science that I had studied until the first year of my undergraduate study.

* Taken from my FST V Report

NTT Musashino Research and Development Center

This factory study tour was held on Januaryr 20^th in NTT Musashino Research and Development Center. The facility is located at 3-9-11 Midori-cho, Musashino City, Tokyo 180-0012 Japan, Japan. It took almost one hour by bus from Ookayama to the facility.

Musashino R&D is NTT’s longest history R&D Centers among any other NTT’s R&D Facility. Other research facilities which spread along Japan area are Yokosuka R&D Center, Atsugi R&D Center, and Tsukuba R&D Center. Musashino R&D Center was established in 1949 on the grounds of the former Nakajima Aircraft Industries Ltd. Current 12-story main building, featuring the newest in multimedia technology, was opened in October 1999.

For information, this facility is a part of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT). NTT is a telecommunication company that dominates the telecommunication market in Japan. The company ranked the 40th in Fortune Global 500. It is the largest telecommunications company in Asia, and the second-largest in the world in terms of revenue (Wikipedia.org). One-third of its share is owned by Japan government. (You can see NTT DOCOMO commercials in many Japanese Drama such as in the picture below – taken from JDrama Nobuta wo Produce)

After we arrived in the facility, we went to conference room and heard general information about the facility and also FST rules for the participants. As well as other FST to research facility, this facility was very strict in implementing company confidentiality. We were prohibited to take picture outside the conference room, even in the reception lobby.

After we got explanation from NTT staff, we went to NTT History Center for Technology. This place is some kind of museum that displays Japanese telecommunication systems history through many articles and example of tools. It was a 4 story facility. We could see Japanese telecommunication history since the beginning of introduction of western technology in the Edo era until the latest technology used in NTT telecommunication systems.

After that, we went to a seminar room and had a presentation about wireless technology from NTT Researcher. I could not understand the topic and the presenter was not fluent in English. After finished the presentation and had a question session, we went to other building and visited many laboratories.

The first laboratory we visited was a laboratory that does research about audio and visual interpretation in exchanging information. We got an explanation about the effect of audio-visual defect in user’s information interpretation. After that, we went to laboratory that had special chamber to prevent magnetic wave went inside or outside the chamber. We got an explanation about how magnetic wave affect electronic tools nearby.

After visiting the chamber, we went to laboratory that does research about the effect of very high energy voltage systems. This kind voltage can occurs because of lighting. In this laboratory, we had a demonstration of soft drink can that was placed in a coil and were given a very high voltage simulated the lighting. Once the voltage was given, the can was thrown up and the shape became squeezed in the middle part.

The last laboratory we visited is a laboratory that created software to protect Voice over Internet Server from hacker attack. We had a demonstration of how the hacker could possibly attack the server and make the server busy handling false information. Once that happened, the software were turned on and blocking hacker’s false information. Soon after that, the server became normal and worked properly.

It was an interesting FST, just like the others. However, since the topic was quietly different from my subject, I could not understand well what the researcher explained. I am looking forward for the next interesting Factory Study Tour.

“Taken from my Factory Study Report.. edited by filling image and comment about NTT Docomo ^_^”

IHI Corporation – Factory Study Tour

IHI Corporation Factory

Last December 9^th I went to IHI Coorporation, Yokohama Factory. The factory is located at 1 Shin-Nakahara-Cho, Ishogu-ku, Yokohama, 235-8501, Japan.  It took almost two hours by bus from Ookayama to the factory. The website address is : http://www.ihi.co.jp/index-e.html.

IHI Corporation is a company that provide design, manufacture, assembly, installation, test operation, and after sales service for various major products such as space development, jet engines, electronic and control, and even battleship. The factory was established in the year 1964 with total site area of 870,000 m² with total number of employee as high as 2,934 employees for fiscal year 2008. The company itself was founded in the year 1853 under government ownership.

This factory study tour gave us chance to visit some parts of the factory which are Corporate Research and Development Building, Nuclear & Chemical Component Works building, and Machinery Works building. The weather was a little bit raining but the IHI provided us umbrella, helmet, and safety vest. We were divided into two groups. The first group went to a display building by walking. And the second group went to R&D fluid technology research building.

I was in the first group where we went to a display building first. In this building we saw display/example of some tools produced by IHI. The first thing we saw was equipment called Advance Cruise-Assist Highway System. This equipment is real time 3 dimensional object detection camera used on roadside to indentify and recognize moving object on the crosswalk or crossing the intersection. We got an explanation and demonstration of how it worked from a person from IHI Corp.

After that, we went to Machinery works building. In this building we saw three smart robot prototypes to be used in industrial plant. The first one was a robot that had an ability to recognize and identify a size, shape, and position of an object based on image shot by camera. The second one was a half humanoid shape robot that can move on any surface. The third robot was an extension arm for human to weigh heavy object. These robots will be very useful in future production process in a plant.

After that, we went to R&D building, fluid research department. Unfortunately because there was a high confidential research was conducted, we couldn’t explore the whole building. We only got an explanation about the department and saw some example of their research product. From the explanation, I knew that this department was strongly related to my field study, civil engineering. This department provide civil engineer important data analysis of a building characteristic due to fluid behavior to the building such as wind and sea wave.

The last building we visited was the nuclear & chemical woks building. This building produce GTL Reactor to be used in nuclear reactor power plant. We saw the production process how to make the tower from steel sheet shape until become that cylindrical shape tower. There were many types of heavy equipment in the building. That was my first time ever seeing very high capacity compression machine. I used to saw a small capacity of compression machine in my lab to test concrete compressive strength.

After finished visiting those building, we went to the conference room and had “question and answer” session. The factory study tour was ended by taking photos of all participants in front of lobby in reception building. It was a really interesting FST.

(taken from my Factory Study Tour report x_x)