A trip to Yakult Factory

Yakult Indonesia Persada Factory in Cicurug, Sukabumi

On Thursday 7^th August 2014, we had the chance to visit Yakult Indonesia Persada Factory located in Cicurug, Sukabumi. We left Inti at 8.20 and reached the factory at 12.30. I have looked up the information about the factory the other day, and I expected the trip was going to be as exhausting, long and boring as my other prior visits to other factories, along with the time-consuming journey. My expectations, however, were mostly wrong. It was indeed very brief, concise and to the point. The hosts were also welcoming and very interactive. On this opportunity I’m going to write a detailed breakdown about my visit to Yakult factory.

Glass display cabinet that showcases Yakult's product line from all over the world

As soon as we entered the building, the one of the first thing I noticed was two big glass display cabinets on the left side of the lobby that showcase Yakult’s product line that are distributed around the world. Then we were directed to the assembly hall on the opposite of the display cabinets, and one of the hosts handed us a flyer about Yakult along with one bottle of Yakult as the complimentary drink.

Love your gut, drink Yakult everyday

Dr Minoru Shirota

When we were comfortably seated, with a bottle of free Yakult for each of us, the host went on to give presentation on the background of the company and products. He started by introducing the founder of Yakult, Dr Minoru Shirota, a Japanese microbiologist. Apparently, Yakult marketed in Indonesia only comes in one variety and size, the original one, which sells for Rp1,500 each. The host implied that one, two or three bottles in a day don’t really matter – but one Yakult per day is enough to make our guts happy.

Lactobacillus casei  strain Shirota bacteria

He later showed us a scientific documentary about the establishment of Yakult and what does it do to our digestions. The movie did help us to understand the whole idea of how the good bacteria work in the stomach. Each bottle of Yakult (65ml) contains more than 6.5 millions live Lactobacillus casei Shirota strain bacteria, and they help to improve the condition of the intestines. Yakult Indonesia has a slogan of ‘Cintai ususmu, minum Yakult tiap hari’, or love your gut, drink Yakult everyday. The gut flora is apparently important to overall health and wellbeing, and taking steps to ensure you have a balance of good bacteria to counter the bad will help maintain good digestion and overall health.

About Yakult

Yakult (ヤクルト or Yakuruto), is a probiotic dairy product made by fermenting a mixture of skimmed milk (fat-free milk), sugar and water with a special strain of the live lactid acid bacterium called Lactobacillus casei Shirota. The name Yakult is derived from the world ‘Jahurto’ meaning yoghurt in Esperanto. Yakult developed the market of probiotic fermented milk drinks and, therefore, holds the higher brand recognition in the relevant market, to the point that other brand’s products are usually referred to as Yakult by the final customers.

First of all, Yakult is not artificially colored and has no preservatives. It only lasted for 40 days before going bad. The standard Yakult has sugar (sucrose) whose purpose is to balance sourness with sweetness. It also contains skimmed milk powder, glucose, water, natural Yakult flavor and lastly, the live Lactobacillus casei Shirota strain. Speaking of lactobacilli or known as lactic acid, it is what makes Yakult taste sour.

Yakult can be drunk in any time, but preferably after meals when the acid level is lower, so the good bacteria can reach the intestines alive. On the other hand, children may lose appetite if they drink excessive Yakult before meals. Additionally, Yakult doesn’t cause diarrhea. Yakult instead can help with diarrhea since it contains live microorganisms called Probiotics, which maintains the balance of the flora after diarrhea, whether caused by dyspepsia, food poisoning, stress, or excessive antibiotics consumption. There’s no worry drinking Yakult if you are healthy. Yakult has also received ISO 22000 in 2005 and ISO 90001 in 2008.

Long story short, we ended the introduction about Yakult with the movie and continued the tour to the factory to see the whole process of Yakult making. We viewed the entire high-tech production process through the glass-walled viewing gallery. The glass walls were specially constructed to provide clear viewing and prevent contamination, accidents and interferences on the factory floor so that we can view what goes into Yakult without having to watch our steps.

Yakult production process

We were not allowed to take pictures during our tour in the factory, but we did see the whole process of Yakult making. It starts with the room where they cultivate Lactobacillus casei Shirota strain, then bottle molding, the filling of Yakult into the bottles and finally how the Yakult is being packed using different machines. The following is the detailed steps of the production process.

1. Mixing of raw ingredients

Live Lactobacillus casei Shirota strain is cultured in a 'seed tank' in the laboratory. Skim milk powder is mixed with sugar, glucose and filtered, sterilized water to make a sweet milky solution.

2. Sterilization

The sweet, milky solution is going through the UHT (Ultra High Temperature) and HTST (High Temperature Short Time) process, destroying any bacteria that may be present. The solution is then transferred to a 6,500-litre culture tank via a closed system of pipes and valves.

3. Culture tank
The temperature of the tank is reduced to 37°C (similar to normal human body temperature) and live Lactobacillus casei Shirota strain is added. The solution is allowed to ferment for about one week until the number of Lactobacillus casei bacteria reaches an ideal concentration.

4. Mixing and storage tank

The concentrate is transferred to a 12,000-litre mixing and storage tank. The tank is chilled to around 2° C. Sterilized flavors, syrup solution, vitamins and calcium are added to the concentrate. Prior to bottling, the concentrate is diluted with filtered, sterile water.

5. Injection blow molding machine
The plastic bottles used for Yakult packaging are produced on site. The bottles are made from polystyrene pellets.

6. Bottling and packaging

The bottles are wrapped with individual bottle labels. Then, they are filled with Yakult, capped with a foil lid, sealed and transferred along the conveyor belt to the packaging facility. Single bottles of Yakult are sorted into groups of five and shrink-wrapped in polypropylene film. Ten "5-packs" are grouped together and wrapped again in polyethylene film and then heat shrunk, forming a 'carton' of 50 Yakult bottles.

7. Refrigeration room

Finished products are kept refrigerated (0-10 degree Celsius) before distributed to stores.

Yakult adheres to a comprehensive hygiene and sanitation program. First of all, the machines, pipes, and valves are being cleaned manually using disinfectant. This step is followed by steam, an environmentally friendly cleaner, which is used to sterilize the pipes and tanks.

Speaking of the waste caused by the production process of Yakult, the liquid waste goes into a holding tank in the water treatment facility. The tank is filled with empty Yakult bottles, which still have the bacteria sticking to them. They adjusted the acidity (pH) of the liquid waste, before being collected in the ceramics ponds just outside the lobby of the building.

As soon as we finished looking at the production process, we were directed back to the assembly hall for Q&A session. We were handed two bottle of Yakult and some snacks this time.

Yakult’s marketing and promotional mix

Yakult was initially introduced in Indonesia in 1991 and have continued to expand its business. The latest statistics shows that daily sales across the country have reached 2.74 million bottles in 2012, increasing up to 121.8% per year. The number of Yakult Ladies increased by 760 from 2011 and reaching 4,600 at the end of 2012, and the number of retail stores selling Yakult totaled 95,000 in 2012, attesting to the continued strengthening of Yakult’s sales structure. Yakult factory in Sukabumi employs approximately 400 workers and another 300 in the factory in Mojokerto, Surabaya. While the marketing department consists of circa 3,700 staffs. These numbers doesn’t include the 4,600 Yakult Ladies spread across the country.

Yakult developed four different distribution channels: home delivery by independent sellers or so called Yakult Lady, supermarket chains, canteens, and small shops/minimarket. In this distribution structure, Yakult offers the same product in different presentations and at different wholesale prices between their distributions channels, but maintains the same minimum retail price. Most favorable conditions were granted to independent sellers, which accounted for a huge proportion of Yakult’s total sales income.

Direct Selling

Yakult Lady

The introduction of Yakult Lady system for the home delivery channel also has helped Yakult a lot on building a strong foundation in Indonesia. The ladies, who are ordinary housewives, have a multi-directional network covering people of every age and income across the areas they serve. They have established a unique sales channel through local housewives for delivery of Yakult while recommending continuous consumption of one bottle of Yakult a day. Each Yakult lady is given extensive training and then allocated a specific area for propagation and delivery. Usually she delivers up to 200 bottles everyday and earns a commission on every bottle sold, thus becoming financially independent.

Yakult has also penetrated deeply into the local distribution channel by doing direct selling. In addition to sales through the most powerful local retail store chain, Yakult is strengthening marketing by providing standardised refrigerated showcases marked with the Yakult logo in an effort to boost recognition of the Yakult brand. Despite the tougher competition, Yakult has established itself in Indonesia through numerous efforts, such as consistent implementation of Shirota-ism (preventive medicine, the link between a healthy intestinal tract and a long life and offering products at a price affordable to everyone), expansion of the Yakult Lady system and further penetration through the retail store channel.

So far, the use of social media for promoting is not really embraced by Yakult Indonesia. Their Facebook account (here) is rarely updated and the last post was from 31^st December 2013. There are only a few activities that appear on their timeline since Yakult first joined the Facebook in October of the same year. A Twitter account, under the username of @Yakult_ID, claims to be the official account of Yakult Indonesia. However, judging from the older tweets updated by the account, I highly doubt it that it is owned by Yakult. While Yakult Indonesia official website can be found here. In my point of view, the website is quite interactive and it covers pretty much everything you want to know about Yakult.

One of the Yakult ads that is aired on Indonesian television.

Courtesy: Bro Films on Youtube

Other non-sales promotional effort done by Yakult is to held scientific documentary showing to schools, Family Welfare Guidance (Ibu PKK), and Islamic recitations. Yakult also provides toll-free customer service (0 800 1 925858). This toll free numbers allow the customers to easily reach for information and other matters without being charged for the call.

Drinking living bacteria?

Not everyone is comfortable in drinking living bacteria. Besides doctors, most consumers do not know much about probiotics. Making them pay for a 65ml bottle filled with live Lactobacillus casei Shirota strain is quite a challenge. We tend to fear bacterial infections at the thought of being exposed to the ‘bad, dirty and unbeneficial stuff’. But in the reality, the good bacteria in the gut will outnumber the bad bacteria by 10 to 1. When being fermented, the Lactobacilli can multiply to a billion per gram of tissue when the food is submerged in liquid in a without oxygen state. The bacteria will feed on sugar present in the food and will multiply in such great numbers that they will outnumber the bad bacteria quickly.

Additionally, mainstream consumers now have become more health conscious in the last decade, and more consumers continue to grow more health savvy and want more options that contribute positively to their bodies.. People realize that body ecology takes healthy living; one of the ways is to consume probiotic drinks and other products containing beneficial bacteria. These probiotics drinks are becoming one of the most effective methods for increasing a healthy lifestyle.

As mentioned earlier, probiotic drinks and beneficial bacteria have countless benefits. Management of lactose intolerance, colon cancer prevention, lowered blood pressure and an improved immune system are just some of the healthy assets we can gain through the use of probiotics.

"The idea is to give the body a fresh supply of friendly bacteria, because they affect both our digestive and immune systems. A lot of health problems go away – albeit slowly – when you add fermented foods daily, even in tiny quantities."

– Mike Moskos, founder of Local Food South Florida

Overall, I would say the trip was surprisingly way beyond my expectations and it was a very pleasant experience to see the Yakult production process closely. I have been consuming Yakult for as long as I can remember, but I used to be the kind of ignorant who is half aware about the countless benefits of probiotics – despite the fact that my mother is a loyal buyer of Yakult lady and there will always be Yakult in our refrigerator. Now that I have read so many articles about Lactobacillus casei Shirota strain and probiotics in general, and my love of my own guts, with no doubt I am going to drink a bottle of Yakult every day.

And the last but not least, I want to thank Yakult hosts for their hospitality, and also for INTI College Indonesia for making this trip possible.