■ Changes in Food Machinery

[ Introduction ]

Food machinery is machinery that processes raw materials such as agricultural products, marine products, and livestock products to produce foods, beverages, and seasonings.
The research and development of food machinery in Japan began with the development of noodle-making machines in the early Meiji period. In the middle of the Meiji period (1868-1912), research and development of rice milling machines was started, and in the latter half of the Meiji period (1868-1912), research and development of flour milling machines, dairy machines, rice cake pounding machines, and machines for making sweet bean paste, a confectionery ingredient, was started. The private companies that emerged from these efforts developed and food machinery manufacturers were born.

[ Establishment of Food Machinery Manufacturers Association and postwar industry circumstances ]

The prosperity of the food machinery industry began with the restoration of a major flour milling company after the war, and as the food situation improved, flour milling machines, confectionery / bakery machines, noodle making machines, etc. regenerated one after another. On April 20, 1948 (Showa 23), the "National Food Machinery Manufacturers Roundtable (Manufacturer Roundtable)" was established to revive Japanese food machinery. Since then, each company has begun to work on the development and export of new products, and as the production volume of food manufacturers has increased, large-scale food machines and systematization have begun. The Manufacturers' Roundtable was reorganized into the Japan Food Machinery Manufacturers Association in April 1967 as a comprehensive organization of food machine manufacturers nationwide, and in April 2012, the General Incorporated Association Japan Food Machinery. Moved to the industry association and continues to the present.

[ Energy saving and mechatronics of food machinery ]

After the oil crisis, when the tax system for promoting energy saving measures for machinery was established, food machinery also actively developed energy saving technology and became a target model for capital investment tax reduction promoted by the government. In addition, with the diversification of consumer needs, machines had become more complicated, and in order to respond to this, research and development for automation and robotization by combining microcomputers and various machines had progressed. At the same time, in order to satisfy the persistent "handmade respect-oriented", the technology to manufacture handmade like foods with food machines was also developed. Mechatro models such as confectionery / bakery machines, beverage machines, meat machines, brewing machines, and powder / fluid processing machines had become subject to the Mechatro tax system (investment tax reduction system) promoted by the government and had become widespread among food manufacturers.

■ Features by Model

[ Flour milling machines ]

In the latter half of the Meiji era, roll-type flour milling machines were manufactured. At the beginning of the Showa era, large flour mills emerged as part of the plan to increase food production, and machinery manufacturers emerged to manufacture machinery for milling and selecting wheat. After the easing of the food situation, grinding machines for the production of refined flour were used not only in food production but also in the grinding process in various industries such as chemical production, feed production, pharmaceutical production, and ceramic production. Depending on the purpose of use, one to twenty or more grinding machines are combined to grind various materials from a few meshes to a few microns for productization.

[ Rice and wheat milling machine ]

A pestle-type rice milling machine and a grinding-type rice milling machine were developed in the Meiji era, and they were developed for large-scale rice milling factories after the war. The digitization of large-scale rice milling plants is remarkable, and the digitization and automation of rice milling factories is progressing from the import of raw materials to the export of products, from the sorting of "sugars" to the collection. The yield of white rice is always automatically measured in the rice milling machine part of the main body, and the optimization of the operating conditions of the rice milling machine is automatically controlled by the computer. Now that rice with good taste is required, it has become possible to incorporate various measuring instruments, feed back data from taste meters, moisture meters, etc., and control so that optimal rice polishing can be performed automatically.

[ Confectionery and baking machine ]

In the early Showa period, electric kilns and mixers for bread made of iron, and with the spread of bread after the war, high-speed mixers and automatic ovens were developed one after another, and confectionery and bread making machines became the most electronic fields.
A wide variety of machines have been developed depending on the product to be made, and microcomputer-controlled computerization has advanced in processes such as dough mixing, forming, baking, and steaming, and many distinctive models have been developed by various companies. Major models include automatic encrusting machines, automatic bread dough manufacturing systems, chocolate and candy manufacturing equipment, automatic molding machines for forming cookies and rice crackers, and automatic controlled mixers for making dough for Western and Japanese confectioneries and bread. The production of confectionery and baking machines has achieved stable development in response to the development of consumer preferences and the diversification of dietary habits.

[ Noodle making machine ]

The noodle-making machine was the first food machine invented in Japan, and it was a field where it was difficult to introduce overseas technology and research on systematization was delayed. With the advent of "instant noodles" around 1958 (Showa 33), a unique steaming process and frying process were added as the third category, and the noodle making equipment became larger and systematized. Furthermore, in 1971 (Showa 46), "cup noodles" appeared, and the noodle-making industry "instant noodles" and "cup noodles" rapidly spread in Japan and overseas, and became the flour milling industry, noodle-making machine industry, packaging industry, and printing industry. The grouping of collaborative companies has progressed, and the accuracy and capabilities of noodle making machines have improved with the progress of internationalization.

[ Milk processing machines and dairy product manufacturing machines ]

As for milk and dairy product manufacturing machines, vacuum evaporation kettles were domestically produced around 1897 (Meiji 30). Since low-temperature sterilization of milk was obligatory in the early Showa period, various machines that make up the milk processing plant, such as sterilizers and bottling machines, were introduced into the milk processing factory. Since 1971 (Showa 46), with the expansion of milk production, the automation of machines such as continuous high temperature instant sterilizers, continuous vacuum evaporators, and continuous ice cream freezer has progressed rapidly, and automatic washing equipment and automatic washing Bottle machines and instant sterilizers have also appeared, and they are becoming larger and systematized at the same time. In addition, with the progress of digitization, ultra-high temperature instant sterilizers have appeared in milk sterilizers, and it has become possible to kill heat-resistant viable sporogenic bacteria, which was not possible with conventional methods. In addition, the milk protein can be easily digested without deteriorating the milk quality, and the development of an aseptic filling and packaging machine has made it possible to produce long-term storage milk.

[ Meat and marine products processing machine ]

After the war, the demand for meat increased with the improvement of the food situation, and along with this, the demand for various machines for processing meat, the increase in size, and the increase in efficiency were required. Since the processing of livestock products goes through a wide variety of processes such as dismantling, deboning, molding, grinding meat, smoking, boiling, roasting, and steaming, various machines are automated for each product such as raw meat, ham, sausage, and hamburger. It has been systematized, and the size of mechatro models equipped with microcomputers is increasing.
As for marine product processing machines, fish meat crushers were developed in the Meiji era, and sampling machines, meat crushers, strainers, etc. were developed and popularized mainly at fisheries laboratories. In 1950 (Showa 25), when we entered free competition due to the abolition of marine product control, we entered the fish sausage era, and in the fields of automatic fish processing machines, paste product manufacturing machines, etc., fish meat collectors, centrifugal dehydrators, meat grinders, stirrers , The development of molding machines, etc. has progressed further, promoting the improvement of the productivity of frozen surimi and achieving dramatic development. By promoting the development of these marine products processing machines into mechatronics and energy saving, and researching and developing heat sterilization and cooling devices, a wide variety of processed marine products such as kamaboko is being promoted.