Fujiseiki Co., Ltd.

Fujiseiki was founded in 1962 as a manufacturer of “enveloping machines” for the production of buns and ohagi (sweet red bean rice balls).
In 1970, they developed Japan’s first onigiri forming machine, using their “enveloping” technology. They have expanded their scope to include sushi and noodles, and currently handle over 100 types of food processing machinery. Among its product lineup, the company’s flagship automatic rice ball forming machine boasts an 80% market share, demonstrating an overwhelming presence in this field.

“When food processing machinery stops for just one hour due to a part failure, thousands of units are lost. In this respect, our company has a wellequipped in-house manufacturing department, so parts that would take two weeks to get through a partner company can be delivered on the same day. We can also take feedback from the sales department and give it a concrete form in the inhouse manufacturing department, providing feedback quickly. This is because our action policy is based on the idea of ‘sensation, promptness and action,’” says Ryosuke Hirano, head of the production group in the manufacturing department, explaining the company’s strengths.

As the company’s history of replacing the previously manual process of wrapping bean paste with machinery shows, its product development focuses on “how to reduce the number of people and labor required to increase profitability amid a worsening labor shortage.” For example, the company’s first Mazak machine was the SLANT TURN CNC turning center, introduced for compound machining of cast parts. “The introduction of this machine dramatically shortened the previous process, which involved going back and forth between a generalpurpose lathe and a milling machine. It achieved our company philosophy of reducing manpower and labor. The ease of use of the Mazatrol was also a major factor in the decision to introduce subsequent Mazak machines,” says Group Leader Hirano.

Currently, a total of 10 INTEGREX and 2 VARIAXIS machines are installed in the 3 fatories of Fujiseiki. They process the resin of the die cutter, which is the main part of the automatic onigiri forming machine, and the metal of the cam of the drive unit. Due to the characteristics of the automatic onigiri forming machine, a wide variety of parts are required in very small quantities. Therefore, they introduced the production support software MAZATROL DX to create part programs. We aim to improve our manufacturing by focusing on our strength: the system that covers planning, R&D, precision machining, assembly, testing, delivery, and support all at once. If we are not putting our efforts into it, it will not be convincing to meet the customer’s urgent needs for manpower and labor saving,” he said.

As part of the company’s efforts to reduce manpower and labor, the VARIAXIS i-300 AWC began full-scale operation in December 2023. Group Leader Hirano evaluated the effectiveness of the introduction, saying, “We adopted it to process plastic parts, and even though we haven’t increased our staff, our production volume has increased by about 30%.”

Onigiri is said to be a product that determines the sales of convenience stores. This makes automatic forming machines the differentiation factor for store branding, which explains why the expectations for these machine grow day by day.

The company is also looking to overseas markets and has already begun to expand sales channels in Southeast Asia through its overseas group company FFMA (FUJISEIKI FOOD MACHINERY ASIA), based in Bangkok, Thailand. In the future, the company will also focus on sales in the US market. It is likely that the company will accelerate its collaboration with Mazak in order to prepare for increased production in anticipation of market expansion.