ASKACOMPANY

Thank you for reading Market News. Spout pouches are increasingly being used not only for traditional refill applications but also as containers in place of bottles. We have been developing various spouts and caps called AS Spout Series such as AS18 Spout. The main feature of the AS18 Spout is that a general-purpose pump or trigger can be attached to the spout pouch, thereby reducing the need to refill the contents of the liquid, which many people consider to be a hassle. ■Ideas to make spout pouch x pump easier to use Part 1 Unlike bottles, spout pouches have the disadvantage that the spout pouch is soft. When the pump is attached and we push the head, the pouch part is crushed, making it difficult to use. The "AS18 Pouch Stand" was developed to solve this disadvantage. The stand can be detached with a single touch from the spout section and is both sturdy enough to withstand the force of pushing the pump and minimalistic to minimize the amount of resin used and not detract from the pouch design.       ■Ideas to make spout pouch x pump easier to use Part 2 In bathrooms and washrooms, where pouches with spouts are used, there are many things to put down, and things tend to get messy. Recently, "floating storage" has become a trend. Aska Company has developed a hanging hook for AS18 Spout. Like the "AS18 Pouch Stand," it is designed to be attached to the spout with a single touch. You can store ...

Digitization and IoT At Aska Company, we continue to promote digitalization. The company's sensors and devices are connected to the network through the IoT, and employees can see data from anywhere. As we understand the benefits of digital, we get actively networked. We can check and review the data from production lines and check the operating status and abnormalities of factory infrastructure from afar. Networking has helped bridge the distance and increased the time that we can spend on review. The Aska Company's digitalization challenge has lasted more than 20 years, including the parts that are undisclosed to the public, and these many years of digitalization have enabled us to take advantage of skills that used to be tied to individual and regional areas. But when we are surrounded by so much data, which ones do we need? That is where "LMK" comes in. What is LMK? LMK stands for "Let me know." The LMK is a system that "automatically notifies you of its status." If certain conditions are exceeded, the Apple Watch (and other devices) worn by workers receive the information. Workers can see the problem on the spot. We use a communication tool called Slack for notifications. The general-purpose tool provides good communication stability and saves time and effort in creating, installing, and operating applications. In the past, the use of digital technology required operators to see the data from camera inspections on a monitor and to check the molding machine data for any abnormalities. Since LMK automatically notifies us of its status, ...

Thank you for reading Market News. In this issue, we would like to reintroduce the "Spout Pouch," a product we have introduced many times before, and summarize its functions, applications, and merits. What is a Spout Pouch? Spout pouches have become increasingly common in supermarkets, home centers, and drugstores in recent years. Originally, we often used them for refill purposes, but now, with the increasing variety and usefulness of their functions, many products are beginning to switch from "pouch-only products" to "pouches with spouts," as people's understanding of their use has increased. A "spout pouch" is a product that combines a spout and a pouch, and the Aska Company develops and manufactures Spouts and Caps for these products. The spout produced by our company is welded to the pouch film, and they finally become a spout pouch. We design caps specially for spout pouches, and various caps are available, including screw-type caps with a tamper-resistant function, hinged caps with one-touch closure, and caps with nozzle diameters that match the intended use of the pouch. What are the Uses of Spout Pouches? Spout pouches are still often used for refill applications. The spout makes it easy to refill a bottle container. The cap also makes it possible to use only the necessary amount and store the remainder (resealability). The acquisition of resealability has also led to the development of applications for replacing plastic bottles. Aska Company is developing products that allow spouted pouches to be as containers themselves, and as one such product, we are offering ...

In the December 2022 issue of ASKA MARKET NEWS No. 334, we introduced the evolved mold change application. In this issue, we would like to introduce our review after its operation. 1. ASKA's Approach to Management of Mold Change Operations (Purpose) First, I would like to introduce the purpose of ASKA's work management of mold changes. As shown in the figure below, the purpose of ASKA's work management of mold changes is to provide time management in the workplace and motivational information for each individual.   2. Comparison Before and After the Introduction of Mold Change App After introducing the mold change application, we began to focus on the "planning" part. We also began to plan more carefully, as shown in the figure below. In addition, we are also reforming the workplace so that we can perform the PDCA cycle of the mold changeover operation in conjunction with the introduction of the mold changeover app. ※A manufacturing standard is a written standard for the replacement of molds for each product. We are able to retrieve the numerical values of each job as data after the introduction of the mold change application. For the issues that existed before the introduction of the app, we now analyze the data in a way that meets the needs, and visualization of individual results, such as achievements, has been realized. 3. Mold Change Time Review After Operation Before and after the application, the average time for mold change was reduced by as much as 60 minutes. The following three factors ...

Aska Company's Spouted Products Considered Up to Now We sell spouts and caps for pouch containers as original products. The caps are available in diameters from 9.5 to 18 mm, and there are screw-type caps and hinged caps. We can give functions such as inner stoppers and discharge control valves to expand the range of usage. We are developing spouts and caps in an interesting way. Let us introduce some of them. ※We are currently making rapid development molds for the pouch stand. (As of 2023.03) Inverted Pouch   小容量パウチをキャップでI tried to make it inverted. It is similar to the tube product and stands firm. The pouch is small and compact, making it easy to carry around. Moreover, the hinged cap allows one-touch opening and closing! Twin Pouch - No.1 and No.2 2つのスパウト付きパウチのThe name is "Twin Pouch," which is a container in one. By folding it in the middle, it is compact and can be used at the same time. How about using it to hold items used in the same situation, such as shampoo and treatment, lotion and milky lotion, sauce, and mayonnaise, etc. It will be great for travel use or as a seasoning container for camping! Please note that I have no idea about the filling machine.   Pouch Stand This stand allows the pump function to be utilized with a pouch. We are considering material recycling and coffee residues for material and weight reduction. Environmental friendliness is one of the concepts! Decoration "Gold plating" The customer applied the plating treatment to ...

We introduced the article"Easily Analyze Various Sensing Data" in the July 2022 issue of Market News. In this issue of Market News, as a sequel, we would like to introduce examples of Aska Company's utilization of sensing data. First of all, we proceeded step by step, considering the following three steps for the utilization of sensing data. "Three Levels of IoT" for Utilization of Sensing Data Level.1『Monitoring』 Visualization of data on the status of facilities, people, and goods Level.2『Optimization』 Energy-saving operation and determination of abnormal conditions by integrating products, equipment, and applications Level.3『Maintenance』 Areas that can be addressed without constant human supervision We use various sensors to sense and visualize data on infrastructure systems, production equipment, human movement, temperature, and humidity (environmental systems) for monitoring.   Level.1　Example from Monitoring Main Plant: Demand Alarm   The following case is an example of consolidating power data from infrastructure facilities, monitoring the power values at all times, and linking them to LINE notifications. By notifying relevant parties in the event of an abnormality, we suppressed the demand value and reduced the electricity costs. Monitoring Contents Since we didn't monitor the demand, we made it possible to monitor the power data of infrastructure facilities together. Result When demand values are about to be exceeded, a line is sent to the relevant parties, and we can deal with the situation. We prevented an increase in contracted electricity (400,000-500,000 per year). Level.2　Example from Optimization Main Plant: OHU Automation   Problem The Manual operation has limitations and may result in lost opportunities ...

Thank you for reading Market News. Aska Company has been developing spouts and spout caps of original shapes. One of them is the AS18 Spout, which we have introduced several times before. We have been using a pouch with a spout as a container for conventional bottles for "refill" purposes. We can use the AS18 Spout as a container with a pump and trigger nozzle attached. Issues when using AS18 Spout & Pump However, when we press the pump from above, the spout crushes since it is made of soft material. We wondered if there was a solution to this problem. We produced a stand made of paper to support the pouch so that it doesn't crush. Here is the actual paper pouch stand we made. Since the stand is made of paper, we don't expect to use it permanently. However, we can use it in washrooms and other watery places if we apply a water-repellent finish to the surface. (Cooperating manufacturer: Crown Package Co.) Three advantages of Paper Stands ①Plastic-free There have been stands that cover the pouch section for pumping with spouted pouches, too. However, most of them are often made of plastic. On the other hand, the stand we have made is from paper. That means we can reduce the total amount of plastic used for the container. ②Compact when folded We can fold the stand for compact packaging. That makes it possible to display the products in stores in a space-saving. ③High degree of design freedom We support printing methods such ...

Aska Company is developing spouts and spout caps with distinctive original shapes. In our previous Market News, we introduce the development of narrow spouts and hinge caps that we can put in a post. In this issue, we will report on the "AS16 Spout Inner Plug Specification" as a continuation of the report. What is the "AS16 Spout Plug Specification"? Aska Company is developing a middle plug version of the AS16 spout. Here is how we use it. ①Set the cap The cap has a pre-installed inner plug. Thus you can close the cap like a normal screw cap. ②Tighten the cap By tightening the cap, the inner plug set in the cap is fitted into the spout side to form a spout with an inner plug. You can open the cap in this state without removing the inner plug from the spout. You can fill the contents from the φ16 diameter, and you need to cap the inner plug. You don't need to modify the conventional production line. Since the dimensions of the external part are the same as those of a regular spout and cap, there is no need to modify the line in terms of cap outer diameter, etc. Since our hinge caps do not have a tamper-evident mechanism, some customers have hesitated to adopt our hinge caps because of the difficulty in ensuring virginity. We can offer shrink processing of the hinge cap, but there is a concern that this would increase the number of processes. With the newly developed inner ...