To supply safe and secure beverages and to further accelerate global environmental conservation

OMRON Corporation and Kirin Brewery Company, Limited announced that they have signed a Stock Purchase Agreement regarding OMRON’s investment in Kirin Techno-System Company (KTS), Limited to supply safe and secure beverages. OMRON’s equity stake will be 60%, and Kirin Brewery’s 40%.

Lately, as consumers’ interest in the safety and security of food and beverages has increased, there is a growing need for advanced quality control and quality inspection to ensure the safety and security of food and beverages at the manufacturing site.

On the other hand, as the labour shortage in the manufacturing industry accelerates, automation of manual processes has become a management issue. In addition, reducing waste due to quality defects is also critical from the perspective of global environmental conservation to reduce plastic use.

There is an urgent need to achieve higher inspection accuracy, automation, and reduction of defective products in order to both ensure the safety and security of food and beverages and protect the global environment by reducing the use of plastics and use of production energy.

Through OMRON joining the investment in KTS, the two companies will jointly develop “Manufacturing DX (Digital Transformation)” solutions utilizing inspection data and contribute to the development of the food and beverage industry. Both companies will co-create new value (solutions) by combining OMRON’s advanced control technology with KTS’ inspection technology. Specifically, by identifying the causes of defects from inspection data and taking countermeasures, both companies aim to achieve manufacturing sites that do not produce in-process defects. By extending the solutions created through co-creation to customers in the beverage industry around the world, both companies will promote quality improvement and production innovation in the entire food and beverage industry and contribute to global environmental conservation by reducing the number of defective products.

Through the investment in KTS, OMRON aims to further enhance corporate value by leveraging the strengths of both companies to jointly develop value, providing safe and secure beverages, and contributing to the protection of the global environment.

About Kirin Holdings Company, Limited
Kirin Holdings Company, Limited is an international company that operates in the Food & Beverages domain (Food & Beverages businesses), Pharmaceuticals domain (Pharmaceuticals businesses), and Health Science domain (Health Science business), both in Japan and across the globe.
Kirin Holdings can trace its roots to Japan Brewery which was established in 1885. Japan Brewery became Kirin Brewery in 1907. Since then, the company expanded its business with fermentation and biotechnology as its core technologies, and entered the pharmaceutical business in the 1980s, all of which continue to be global growth centers. In 2007, Kirin Holdings was established as a pure holding company and is currently focusing on boosting its Health Science domain.

About Kirin Techno –System
Kirin Techno-System Company, Limited is a manufacturer of inspection machines that was spun off from the engineering division of Kirin Brewery Company, Limited.
Starting in the 1970s, the company developed a high-performance bottle inspection machine using a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) camera – which was not widely used at the time – and since then the company has grown to boast a large share of the Japanese domestic inspection machine market through its high quality and extensive track record. We are expanding our business in a wide range of industries, including beverage, food, pharmaceutical, and container manufacturing mainly in Asia by taking advantage of our product and technological strengths and services cultivated over the years.