Vol.50

We pursue maximum safety based on the idea that our products are food.

In 2015, IKEUCHI ORGANIC became the first company in the towel industry to obtain ISO-22000 certification, the safety standard for food factories, based on the idea that our products are food. Mr. Sogabe, who spearheaded the acquisition of the certification and is currently the manager of the company, spoke with us about his thoughts on ISO-22000.

Head of Business Development Office/ISO Manager, Soga Division

ISO-22000″ is based on the understanding of all workers

My name is Sogabe, and I am also the manager of the Business Promotion Office at the Imabari Head Office Factory, and I am in charge of ISO-22000 management.

I was born and raised in Imabari, and worked for a towel company before working for this company.

I joined IKEUCHI ORGANIC (then Ikeuchi Towel) in 2003, and before being appointed to my current role, I had a long career in towel design. I love manufacturing, and the towels I have worked on are, in the words of the representative (Keiji Ikeuchi), like my own children.

Currently, I leave the manufacturing work to other members of the team and am engaged in the task of maintaining the environment in which manufacturing takes place.

In 2015, the Imabari headquarters factory acquired ISO-22000 certification, a safety standard for food factories.

As visitors to our factory know, we ask our employees to wear shoe covers and caps when entering the factory. This is because we have adopted food factory safety standards. In addition, there are various other rules based on “ISO-22000.

Once the “ISO-22000” is mastered, it is not the end of the process; there is an annual audit to ensure that the standards are being followed. The content of the standard itself is also updated, so it is necessary to catch up with the updated content and respond to it each time. In addition, there is a major audit every three years, and we must prepare for that audit.

We have to create new rules, revise manuals, and so on. In preparation for the audit, we need to compile a record of our daily work and prepare a report. Such detailed work must be done repeatedly.

Of course, even if new rules are created, they will be meaningless unless everyone working at the factory puts them into practice. Since each site has its own way of doing things, there may be times when conflicts arise. In such cases, we sit down and discuss what the best landing point is.

In this way, continuing “ISO-22000” is not an easy task. I feel that it is based on the understanding and cooperation of everyone who works for us.

The concept that our products are food products

The decision to acquire “ISO-22000” certification was made in the first place because of the company’s policy to “create towels that babies can eat by 2073 (the 120th anniversary of the company’s founding).

Until then, IKEUCHI ORGANIC had acquired ISO-14001, an international standard for corporate environmental management, and ISO-9001, an international standard for product quality assurance, so I already had an understanding of ISO standards.

However, I was indeed surprised when the representative told me that they wanted to acquire ISO-22000, the safety standard for food factories. In the first place, I wondered if it would be possible to acquire the certification. In fact, the people at the certification organization were quite puzzled at first, since there had never been a case of a towel taking ISO certification, which is accreditation for food companies (laughs).

After consulting with various sources, one consulting firm suggested that since towels are made from cotton, a vegetable that is not eaten, we should define “food” in the food safety management system as “Foodsfabric,” and we are still proceeding with certification in this manner. We are now proceeding with certification in this manner.

Since the concept of “Foodsfabric” was born, the way I look at towels has changed. The raw material of our towels is organic cotton, which is indeed an inedible vegetable. If so, the idea that our products are food is also a good fit.

In addition, there is a concept in “ISO-22000” called “food chain,” which means that everything is connected from the primary producer, through food manufacturing companies, food wholesalers and retailers, to the final consumer. This overlaps with our idea of manufacturing.

At first, I half-expected to acquire ISO-22000 certification as some kind of joke, but as I faced this standard as the person in charge of management, I came to feel that it was a standard that IKEUCHI ORGANIC should acquire.

The future that we have set for ourselves lies ahead of our steady efforts.

Even before acquiring ISO-22000 certification, I believe that IKEUCHI ORGANIC was a strict company in terms of safety and quality control. However, I feel that our awareness of these issues has been further enhanced by the acquisition of ISO-22000 certification.

In terms of manufacturing, the number of quality checks has increased and the number of items to be checked has risen. I think that the awareness of the people on site has naturally changed as a result of these changes in daily operations.

After all, no matter how many manuals and rules are in place, it is the people working there who implement them, and if their awareness is lost, they can easily become a mere skeleton.

For what purpose do they follow the rules? What is the purpose of the detailed checks? In order to make sure that we are all on the same page, I try to think carefully about what we should communicate and how we should communicate it.

It is a steady effort, but if we continue to work steadily on safety, we will be able to achieve our goal of “creating towels that babies can eat” in the future.

I would like to continue to firmly establish a manufacturing environment that does not shy away from our corporate philosophy of “maximum safety and minimum environmental impact.

Interview July 2023
Interview and text by Keiji Ide
Photographer/ Yuji Kimura