Project Snapshot

About the Customer

The customer is one of the two best-known century-old soy sauce manufacturers located in Yuasa, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. Yuasa is widely recognized as one of the birthplaces of traditional Japanese soy sauce production and remains well known for preserving its historic wooden-barrel fermentation techniques.

Committed to preserving traditional craftsmanship, the company continues to produce soy sauce using domestically sourced Japanese ingredients and natural brewing methods. While maintaining its long-established product quality and brand heritage, the manufacturer also recognized the need to modernize production in response to changing labor conditions and evolving market demand.

Rather than replacing traditional manufacturing practices, the customer's objective was to introduce automation that would improve operational efficiency while preserving the production standards that distinguish its products.

Manufacturing Challenges

Although the company's product quality remained highly regarded, its production operation faced several practical manufacturing challenges common across Japan's food industry.

The most significant issue was the increasing shortage of skilled production workers. As experienced employees approached retirement, recruiting younger operators became progressively more difficult. Manual filling and capping processes that had been reliable for decades gradually became constraints on productivity, staffing flexibility, and future production capacity.

The manufacturer also produced multiple product sizes, requiring frequent production changeovers. More than five different glass bottle formats ranging from 90 ml to 720 ml were in regular production. Under the existing manual process, each product change required considerable operator time and increased production scheduling complexity.

Food safety requirements added another layer of engineering considerations. Soy sauce is a high-salinity liquid, and certain formulations also contain sugar. Equipment therefore needed to provide excellent corrosion resistance while remaining easy to clean in order to maintain hygienic production conditions and long-term operational reliability.

At the same time, the available factory space limited the installation of conventional large-scale production equipment. Any new system would need to integrate efficiently within the existing production environment without disrupting plant workflow.

The customer therefore required an automation filling and capping solution capable of improving production efficiency, reducing labor dependency, supporting multiple bottle formats, and meeting food-grade manufacturing requirements within the constraints of the existing facility.

Project Requirements

Following multiple technical discussions with the Neostarpack engineering team, the customer defined several key objectives for the new production line.
1. Support Multiple Bottle Sizes
The production line needed to accommodate five different glass bottle sizes—90 ml, 150 ml, 200 ml, 500 ml, and 720 ml—while minimizing downtime during product changeovers.
2. Handle High-Salinity Soy Sauce
All components in direct contact with the product were required to provide excellent corrosion resistance suitable for continuous production of high-salinity liquids while complying with food-grade manufacturing requirements.
3. Simplify Cleaning and Maintenance
Because certain soy sauce formulations contain sugar, the equipment needed to be designed for efficient daily cleaning to reduce product residue, maintain hygienic conditions, and support stable long-term operation.
4. Integrate Within the Existing Factory Layout
The customer required a production line designed around the available factory space, allowing efficient workflow while preserving future expansion flexibility.
5. Reduce Labor Dependency
The primary automation objective was to reduce reliance on manual labor, improve production efficiency, and maintain consistent product quality despite ongoing workforce shortages.

Why Neostarpack

Before selecting Neostarpack, the customer evaluated several filling packaging equipment suppliers in Japan. While many offered standardized filling systems, the customer required a solution specifically engineered around its products, manufacturing process, and factory layout rather than an off-the-shelf machine.

The introduction to Neostarpack came through the customer's Taiwanese soy sauce distributor. After observing Neostarpack's equipment in operation at an exhibition in Japan, the customer began a detailed evaluation of the company's engineering capabilities, project experience, and long-term service support.

As is common among Japanese manufacturers, supplier selection was based on long-term reliability rather than immediate purchasing decisions. Over approximately one year, the customer reviewed Neostarpack's automation filling projects across multiple industries before selecting the company to design and integrate its complete soy sauce filling and capping packaging line.
Key Factors Behind the Decision

•  Customized engineering tailored to the customer's products, production process, and factory layout.
•  Proven capability in integrating bottle rinsing, liquid filling, capping, labeling, and conveyor systems into a complete automated production line.
•  Flexible production line design supporting rapid changeover between multiple bottle sizes.
•  Extensive experience in food filling equipment and liquid capping packaging applications.
•  Comprehensive project planning, engineering consultation, installation, and technical support.
•  Equipment designed for long-term operational stability and continuous food manufacturing environments.

Customized Soy Sauce Filling Solution

Rather than supplying a standard filling machine, Neostarpack engineered a customized automated soy sauce bottling line based on the customer's product characteristics, manufacturing process, factory layout, and long-term production objectives.

The project addressed several key operational requirements simultaneously, including support for multiple bottle sizes, food-grade production standards, simplified cleaning procedures, limited factory space, and reduced labor dependency.

The complete solution integrates botte rinsing, liquid filling, capping, labeling, conveyor transport, and centralized PLC control into a coordinated production system. Each workstation communicates through an integrated control architecture to ensure stable line operation while maintaining production flexibility for future expansion.
Beyond increasing production capacity, the primary engineering objective was to help the customer preserve the quality associated with its century-old soy sauce manufacturing process while gradually transitioning to automated production.

Solution Architecture

The customized filling production line consists of six integrated production modules.
Bottle Infeed → Bottle Rinser → Liquid Filling Machine → Automatic Capping → Round Bottle Labeling Machine → Conveyor & Product Outfeed

Each production station is synchronized through the PLC control system, allowing the entire packaging line to operate as one coordinated process rather than as independent machines. This solution architecture improves operational consistency, reduces manual intervention, and simplifies future equipment upgrades when production requirements evolve.

Production Equipment

Design Philosophy

For this project, automation was not treated as the objective itself.
Instead, every engineering decision was evaluated according to four practical manufacturing priorities:
• Maintaining traditional soy sauce production quality.
• Improving operational efficiency.
• Reducing dependence on manual labor.
• Supporting sustainable long-term production.
The resulting filling capping production line combines customized mechanical engineering, integrated automation, and practical operational design to help the customer modernize production while preserving the manufacturing standards associated with its century-old brand.

Technical Advantages of the Customized Filling & Capping Production Line

Compared with conventional standardized filling systems, this customized solution provides several operational advantages tailored to the customer's manufacturing requirements.

Implementation Results

Following on-site installation, commissioning, and production validation in Wakayama, Japan, the customized automated soy sauce bottling filling and capping line was successfully integrated into the customer's existing manufacturing facility.

The completed system established a food-grade automated filling production line that combines bottle rinsing, liquid filling, capping, labeling, and conveyor handling within a unified workflow. Rather than replacing the customer's traditional brewing process, the automation solution was designed to improve packaging efficiency while preserving the production quality associated with the brand's long-established manufacturing methods.

One of the most significant operational improvements was the reduction in labor requirements. Previously, four operators were required to complete the packaging process. After commissioning the new production line, routine operation could be managed by a single operator, substantially reducing labor dependency while improving production consistency.
The customized line also enables multiple bottle sizes to be produced on the same system, reducing downtime associated with product changeovers and improving scheduling flexibility for smaller production batches.

Production Performance Comparison

Outcomes

The customized filling production line helped the customer achieve several measurable operational improvements.
1. Reduced Labor Requirements
Automation reduced the number of production operators from four to one, helping address workforce shortages while lowering dependence on manual labor.
2. Improved Production Efficiency
By integrating bottle rinsing, filling, capping, labeling, and conveying into one coordinated production line, the customer achieved a more efficient and continuous packaging process.
3. Production Flexibility
A single production line now supports multiple glass bottle formats ranging from 90 ml to 720 ml, enabling more flexible production scheduling without requiring separate filling systems.
4. More Consistent Packaging Quality
Automated filling and packaging reduce variations associated with manual operation, helping improve filling consistency and overall product presentation.
5. Food-Grade Equipment
All product-contact components are manufactured using food-grade materials suitable for soy sauce production, improving corrosion resistance, hygiene, and long-term equipment durability.
6. Customized Production Line Integration
Rather than installing individual standalone machines, the project delivered a complete automated filling packaging solution designed around the customer's products, factory layout, and production workflow.

Engineering Considerations for Soy Sauce Filling Automation

Soy sauce presents several engineering characteristics that should be considered when designing an automated filling line. As a high-salinity liquid, the product requires corrosion-resistant wetted materials. Certain formulations also contain sugar, making equipment cleanliness and routine maintenance important factors in maintaining hygienic production.

Depending on the formulation, soy sauce may also generate foam during filling. Production line planning therefore typically considers anti-foaming filling methods, filling parameter optimization, and equipment configurations that support stable filling across different bottle sizes.

When manufacturers produce multiple container formats on a single line, recipe management and simplified product changeover become equally important. Production systems designed with parameter-based changeover and minimal mechanical adjustment can improve operational flexibility while reducing setup time between products.

Customer Testimonial

"Neostarpack provided more than automation filling equipment. Their engineering team took the time to understand our products, manufacturing process, bottle specifications, and production requirements before proposing a customized solution. The soy sauce filling production line was designed around the characteristics of soy sauce and our existing factory environment, allowing us to modernize our packaging process while maintaining the product quality our customers expect." 
— Soy Sauce Manufacturer, Japan