The raw sake （N A M A Z A K E） does not perform any heat treatment after squeezing the moromi. It is a liquor that enjoys freshly squeezed fragrance. Basically, it is not distributed at room temperature, and is transported to the store and lined up at stores under strict management from the brewery. Naturally, it is a phantom sake that is difficult to taste overseas, which is mainly for shipping. However, a Thai imported wholesaler who defeated such common sense appeared. The key to the impossible was the DX technology in Thailand.
Deterioration of taste
Bacchus Global in Bangkok is the company. Koji Hara (55) from Aichi Prefecture, the owner, has been importing Thailand for more than 10 years, such as sake, shochu, and French wine. He is also a food case with a sommelier and a good liquor qualification. He discovers hidden famous sake from all over the world and provide wealthy people such as Thailand and Chinese.
The trigger of trying to import Japanese sake was a word from a celebrity. “Why is the raw sake you drink abroad deteriorated so much?” Mr. Hara, who had always felt that way. After confirming again, unlike individuals brought in by air, commercial imports are virtually limited to dwelling mails. The alcohol was completely warmed up in a voyage that takes more than two weeks, and the flavor will fly.
Even if the cooling container can be used, it is likely that the outside temperature will be exposed during transportation in Thailand, before and after, while waiting for departure in Japan to the container in Bangkok and the customs clearance procedure is completed. In order to import raw sake, we needed a consistent monitoring low -temperature management from a Japanese brewery to the Thai dealer. However, it has never been a huge cost, so it has rarely exported and export.
At that time, it turned out that the Japanese brewery, which has continued since the Edo period, is considering the overseas deployment of raw sake and looking for a partner. If you ask, the condition is that you can always manage the temperature of minus 5 to 10 degrees. While rival companies gave up one after another, Hara said, “It’s not impossile.” I decided to challenge the difficult question. In my mind, there was a concept using DX, which is introduced in Thailand.
Conditions of minus 5 degrees to 10 degrees Celsius
He flew to Japan right away. Visit a major port facility nationwide, where there is a flight to Thailand, and walked for a rental warehouse that can be stored at a constant storage at less than 5 degrees. Soon one company was found in the Kansai region. Soon another company in East Japan. He had a meeting with a brewing manufacturer and installed a cooling transport from the brewery to the warehouse. In the warehouse, it was found that it could work in a short time, but it was found that it would not affect the quality.
There is no problem if you can borrow a whole cold container for shipping, but the expenses are enormous. Containers are commonly listed, and it takes time to wait until the load is ready. In that regard, the warehouse company was found and the storage of less than 5 degrees of minus 5 degrees could move to the next step.
During the two weeks to Thailand, the shipper cannot ride the same cargo ship. Once the load is loaded, the rest will be left to the ship company. Despite having a cooling function, it is not known that it is damaged or malfunctioned. Above all, it was certain that if the long -term cooling transportation was not guaranteed, the brewery would not be able to be shipped. It was a centralized management of the temperature by the sensor.
A temperature sensor bundled in the load. During the voyage, the temperature of the product continues. The data was digitally stored in a USB memory, and after arriving in Thailand, it was possible to pull it out and analyze it on a PC. By submitting this in a list, the brewery was able to trust the ability of the export partner.
Prepared cooling trucks and new cool warehouses
On December 8, 2023, the first flight from Japan to test transport arrived at Bangkok Port, the river port. When Hara, who rushed to the news, checked the load, it remained cold. Later, when data was analyzed on a PC in the office, it was confirmed that it had never exceeded minus 5 degrees from the Japanese port in late November. It was found that the time exposed to the outside temperature was only a moment at night during the loading.
The test product of the raw sake that has finished the customs clearance has been immediately exposed to a newly purchased truck purchased by Bacchus Global for this import. The truck also has a cooling function with a minus of 5 degrees or less, and a temperature sensor records. By continuously grasping the change in temperature from the time when the cargo was loaded, even a small gap time was not missed, such as the transformation.
Eventually, the truck will be installed in the newly established cold warehouse. The warehouse about 10 meters wide and about 5 meters wide is a custom -made product ordered by the company. The inside is always set from minus 5 to 10 degrees, and the computer is controlled 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. When you feel abnormal, it is set to emit an alert to the company or Hara’s smartphone to inform the current situation. It is about 20 minutes by car from here to the store. The cool truck is carried.
Universal management by temperature sensor
With the success of the test transportation, the Japanese brewery, which had been considering overseas expansion, has officially recognized Bacchus Global as a Thai partner. Exports are expected to start in October this year, and some other brands are expected to be about 1500 in the first year. For the first time, Japanese sake has been crossed the sea for the first time.
The winning opportunity is due to the unification of temperature control and under the monitoring of Bacchus Global. In other words, imports and exports tend to be ordered by different businesses in different processes: domestic transportation, storage, shipment, ship, customs clearance, domestic transportation, and storage, but it has been reduced as much as possible. If the entity is different, the temperature control will inevitably occur when the load is taken over, and the product will deteriorate from it.
“It was great to digitize temperature control and make it possible to grasp them in total,” said Hara himself. On top of that, it was worried, rather than in the Japanese side than in Thailand. In Thailand, where DX technology has advanced, digital technology has already begun in the warehouse and transportation industry, and it has become more practical. The Thai DX circle, which connects the Thailand, has realized the overseas export of live sake.
Sake with a history of over 1000 years. And raw sake. The door opened by Japanese imported wholesalers in Thailand was once tremendously heavy. The reputation that “Bangkok seems to have a great importer (imported wholesaler)” has already been heard on various markets.
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