MANUFACTURING / Skin care

The skin care products area requires particularly strict hygiene management. Before entering the production room, there is a secondary changing room where employees change their shoes and put on clean wear. They wash their hands and don gloves immediately prior to entering the production room. Employees are also required to disinfect with alcohol. Nothing is allowed into the room unless it is directly involved with production.

  • Obviously, the clean wear worn by the staff is changed every day. Cleaning is handled by a partner company that also does uniforms for medical institutions. A deep well fed with natural underground water from Mt. Fuji north base provides the water for the Fujikawaguchiko Factory. The well extends to a depth of 200 m. It was drilled in conjunction with the construction of the Fujikawaguchiko Factory. Before being used, it is purified with an ion exchange resin and then disinfected.

  • This is the raw material weighing room. Skin care product recipes are extremely detailed, and even a slight change in the formulation can produce a completely different product from the same raw materials. Raw materials are weighed by teams of two, and both the raw material name and the amount are double checked. This system helps to prevent mistakes.

  • For milky lotions and creams, water and oil are combined into an "emulsion" that serves as the base material. The "emulsion" process is similar to that used to make mayonnaise. The lipid in the egg yolk (lecithin etc.) mixes and emulsifies oil and vinegar, substances that would not normally mix on their own.

  • When producing milky lotions and creams, water-based raw materials and oil-based raw materials must be emulsified evenly, and this is done in a vacuum emulsification pot to prevent any admixture of air. The Fujikawaguchiko Factory has three vacuum emulsification pots of various sizes that are used to produce skin care products. Which pot is used depends on the volume to be produced.

  • Production processes have been optimized and are strictly adhered to: amounts and ratios of raw materials, order of introduction, stirring time and temperature, emulsifier operating time and number of passes etc. This work is performed repeatedly, but requires careful checking each time to maintain the same levels of quality and safety.

  • Intermediate tests examine visual appearance, color, volatility, pH, viscosity and other properties. Intermediate testing allows early discovery of any mistakes in the production stage so that they can be dealt with appropriately.

  • Prior to filling, there is an inspection for material organization and cleanliness. It is crucial that equipment, and particularly containers, be clean at all times. After visual inspection, air cleaning is used to prevent foreign matter from entering the product. When intermediate testing is passed, the containers are air cleaned and then filled.

  • Finally, caps and pumps are tightened down, and the lot number is printed. Lot numbers are an essential tool for managing products. All products are given visual inspection for correct printing, and containers are wrapped with shrink wrap to prevent improper opening and soiling before being placed in dressing boxes.

  • And now it is time for the final test. In addition to all of the items on the intermediate test, the product must also pass a viable bacterial cell count test. Products are only shipped if they pass final testing for all standards.