Chapter 6

        

       The starting of the trip was not a good one for me because my stomach was not feeling well in the beginning of the trip. We left our campus by bus at 12pm (suppose to start our journey at 11.30am but we had to wait for a person which delayed the journey by 30 minutes. ^^) and it took us exactly 1 hour to reach Seremban 2.  As we reached the factory, the rain started pouring down and I had no chance to snap the outside view of the factory due to the heavy rain. As we got down from our bus, we were greeted by a friendly guide which will guide us around the factory. When u walk in through the front door, you could immediately see a map made of metal on the wall showing those countries that had Yakult brand.

      We were told that we will be given a briefing about Yakult products, the processing of the product and also the history of Yakult. We were then brought upstairs to the briefing room. Just outside the briefing room, you are able to see the different types of product that is under the Yakult brand. To our surprise, Yakult is not just about cultured milk but they also sell others product such as cosmetics and other food products. When asked why the other products are not brought into Malaysia market, the guide told us that this is because Yakult cultured milk drink is the main core product of the company. So, they want to make it the number 1 brand in Malaysia first before they bring in the other products.

       In the briefing room, we were shown slides about the processing of the cultured milk drink and also the bacteria that it contains. We were also shown a video about how Yakult cultured milk drink had help  people who had digestive problem. We were also told that the efficient amount of Yakult we should drink per day is 2 bottles. Drinking more than that will be a waste because the number of bacteria in 2 bottles of Yakult is sufficient to help the digestive system. Then, the guide ask us did we realize that the shape of the bottle sold in Malaysia is different from other countries. All of us actually realize that and the reason was because Yakult came in late to this country and Vitagen had already used that bottle shape for their cultured milk drink so, Yakult could not use the same bottle shape and changed it. 

      There are two types of Yakult cultured milk drink. One is with the red cap while the other is with the blue cap (as shown above in the photo). The blue cap is the less sugar drink while the red cap is the original flavor and the blue cap is a little bit more expensive compare to the red cap bottle. The sugar level in the original flavor Yakult drink is similar to the sugar level in an apple.

      After the briefing, we were brought to see the processing and also the machines that process the cultured milk drink. Too bad we could not take photo of those machines and thus, I could not show them to you here. ^^ We were told all the materials are imported from Japan except water and sugar. They even control the quality of the plastic bottle by having a machine in the factory itself to produce them and we were shocked to know that the whole factory only have 40 workers including the 2 Japanese Director and Quality Control Manager. This factory is the only factory in the whole Malaysia but it only have 40 workers?? We continue to tour and see the whole process until the end packaging. The factory operate on office hour base which is from 8am - 5pm and the blue cap, less sugar drink are only produce on Wednesday because the demand is not as much as the original flavor. Yakult is also not available in Sabah and Sarawak due to transportation difficulties. For more information about the whole process, please visit the Yakult website at http://www.yakult.com.my/ . The process are too lengthy for me to explain here and also there are too many scientific terms which are involved and I fear I may explain wrongly to you. ^^ 

       After the tour ended, we headed downstairs again. Some of them bought the cultured milk drink at the counter provided. They were selling it cheaper by 10 cent compare to the price in the market. After visiting the factory, we went to Jusco Seremban 2 to have our lunch. There is nothing much for me to say about Jusco except that I had my first Manhattan Fish Market dish there. ^^ Overall, the trip was an educational one and I learned a lot about Yakult products and its' origin. Kudos to all the MMUIET members for having all this factory visiting trip which educate us about the real working environment in a factory and also all those products and materials that are out there in the market. Hopefully they will held more of such trip.