Summary of Research Findings

This questionnaire was sent to OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers) in the food industry, i.e., the companies of food manufacturing and processing for t the sake of their client companies and was responded by 43 manufacturers.

When asked to the food OEMs why their clients use food manufacturing or processing, 83.7% (36 companies) responded that “No factories/plants at the client,” followed by “The production facilities are not appropriate for the particular products,” which occupied 67.4% (29 enterprises).

It seems that market entry and product development of food at non-manufacturing companies such as retailers has invigorated. Also, food makers are increasingly depending on OEM when developing brand new products and categories that are different from conventional products.

Among those 36 companies responded that “No factories/plants at the client,” 21 companies (58.3%) replied that their requests to OEM for food manufacturing or processing have been on the increase in recent years, which shows rising tendency for developing products at non-manufacturing companies.

In addition, the fourth largest percentage of reply was marked by the response of “Limited manufacturing capacity at the clients (in terms of facility)” by 13 companies (30.2%). The sixth largest percentage of response was “Limited manufacturing capacity at the clients (onsite labor shortage)” by 9 companies (20.9%). These indicate that some clients (food manufacturing companies) rely on OEM for food manufacturing because of their production structure issues.

Noteworthy Topics

Some Intended t0 Secure Multiple Production Bases Aiming at Reduction of Distribution Cost or Risk Avoidance

While the number of responses for the background (reasons) of why the clients order OEM food manufacturing, there are some other responses by small number of companies, such as “To secure multiple production bases to reduce distribution cost” responded by 3 companies (7.0%), or “To secure multiple production bases to avoid risks at the time of disaster” by 2 companies (4.7%), which indicate that OEM for food manufacturing/processing is used as a method to prevent extreme concentration of a production base.

In addition, there were responses by 2 companies (4.7%), “To cope with allergy” which is the issue that usually requires large investment in production such as to avoid cross-contamination. “JAS-certified organic food” was also one of the responses.

Research Outline