December 26, 2019

The Kikkoman R&D Center, the new research and development base for the Kikkoman Group, was completed on August 29, 2019.

The research and development departments for the Kikkoman Group are based at the Brewing Laboratory of the Noda Shoyu Brewer’s Association, which was established in 1904 before Kikkoman was established. Until now, we have been working in cooperation with domestic and overseas research institutions from basic research that forms the basis of future product development to product development research, and we have constructed this new research and development base with the aim of strengthening Group R&D capabilities even further.

The Kikkoman R&D Center consists of a main building with laboratories on the first floor and work spaces to promote interactions between researchers in an open environment on the second floor, in addition to a pilot plant building (for trial production). The site area is approximately 17,000 ㎡, the building area about 7,000 ㎡, and the total floor area around 10,000 ㎡. The main building is a seismic isolation structure for enhanced safety. In addition, the building employs lighting controls that achieve both energy savings and intelligent productivity. The site has many green spaces, and environmental considerations have been taken into account, such as natural lighting, natural ventilation and rainwater use from its large roofs and skylights, and the use of energy-saving equipment.

The pilot plant for accumulating differentiating technologies was built to step into new areas in an environment with intensified basic and fundamental research, and with a focus on strengthening the product development capabilities of existing businesses.

In addition to domestic research and development departments, Kikkoman has established three R&D bases overseas. We are working on research and development from a global perspective with a global 4-pole system in Japan, Asia, Europe and the United States. The Kikkoman Group will work toward these ambitious goals while under the theme of “Striving for the creation of new value.”