In an IR interview, President and Representative Director Yamana Toru (山名徹) discussed Yamami Company's business, which centers on tofu manufacturing, and its growth strategy based on mass production and automation. The company is expanding from its primarily western Japan sales base into the Kanto market and aims to address the full range of soybean-based foods through digital transformation and new product development.
Yamami Company, whose core business is the manufacture and sale of tofu products, operates around mass production and automation and has expanded its sales network mainly across western Japan. The company was founded by the president's grandfather, and the tofu business has become its current core operation. In 2000, it introduced mass-production equipment and established product lines offering longer best-before periods, low prices and high quality. In 2022, Yamana Toru (山名徹), the company's largest shareholder, became president, and the company has continued to advance automation and IoT adoption.
Yamami Company's business is centered on the manufacture and sale of tofu, fried tofu and other products in western Japan, with a focus on high-volume transactions with mass retailers. It also supplies some products to the prepared-foods and convenience-store markets, but avoids niche sales and expands its sales network by using high-volume production channels. In light of the impact of the industry adjustment law, the company pursues automation and high quality as points of differentiation from its competitors.
As part of its growth strategy, the company is prioritizing expansion in the Kanto market, supported by stable demand in the tofu market, while also considering the future development of health foods in overseas markets. For new product development, it is focusing on products that contribute to in-store margins, such as fried tofu with a longer best-before period, and aims to balance quality and cost through the use of fully automated hygienic production lines.
The company places emphasis on factory digital transformation and employee development to improve profitability. It is introducing systems that promote labor savings through IoT and data visualization and reduce operational waste, including the automatic updating of inventory-count data. Ultimately, it aims to expand beyond traditional tofu manufacturing into the full range of soybean-based foods and become a leading company in the industry.