Matterport, Inc., announced that Kikkoman Corporation, the world’s leading soy sauce producer, has used Matterport's Digital Twin Platform to create a digital twin of the company’s historic Goyogura soy sauce brewery.
Originally established in 1939 as a dedicated facility supplying soy sauce to the Imperial Household Agency of Japan, the Goyogura brewery produces some of Kikkoman’s premium series of soy sauces, including the ‘Goyogura Shoyu’ and the D2C exclusive brand, 'Kikkoman Honten'. Although the brewery was moved to the current location in 2011 due to its age, it is still constructed with original elements of the historic facility like wooden barrels, stone walls, and gates, continuing to preserve its traditional brewing methods to supply the Imperial Household Agency with its world-renowned soy sauces.
Using Matterport’s Property Marketing solution, Kikkoman aims to offer factory tours to consumers so that it can be shared with the world. Enriched with notes, guides and videos, the digital twin serves as an educational resource for understanding and preserving the traditions and culture of soy sauce production.
The company is also considering Matterport’s Facilities Management solution for maintenance, repairs and measuring the space to reduce equipment management costs and time on site. By minimizing the need for personnel to physically enter and inspect the facility, the company would be able to save time and effort for hygiene management.
The Goyogura brewery was captured quickly with Matterport’s Capture Services and the Pro3, minimizing disruption to the facility's operations and ensuring low-impact on the historic equipment. Equipped with lidar and RGB sensors, Matterport’s Pro3 produces both photo-realistic 3D tours and photos as well as detailed point cloud data that can be used for BIM (.ifc, .rvt) and CAD (.dwg) files.
“As part of the branding of the ‘Goyogura Shoyu’ and the ‘Kikkoman Honten’ series, we believed that allowing customers to see the traditional brewing methods of the production site would create interest in the craftsmanship of our brewing process,” said Kaname Tsuji, Manager of the EC Strategy Group, Products Management Division. “Having seen the accuracy and smoothness of the technology, we considered Matterport capable of conveying the reality of the Goyogura brewery, providing access to areas of the facility which visitors cannot step in. We hope that through this special access, including views of the interior of our cedar brewing barrels, which are usually seen through glass, we will delight our customers as part of our exhibitions and communication on the D2C exclusive 'Kikkoman Honten'.”
“We are honored that Kikkoman, a symbol of Japanese food culture, is using our services,” said Howard Xiao, President and Operating Officer of Matterport Japan K.K. “We hope that by utilizing Matterport, the charm and craftsmanship of traditional soy sauce production will be passed on to generations to come, not only in Japan but also overseas. We also look forward to supporting Kikkoman’s consideration of uses in the future, such as our Facilities Management solutions, using the power of our digital twin platform as part of this journey.”
The 'Goyogura Shoyu Brewery' is part of Matterport Japan’s 'Connecting Culture and the Future with Digital Twins' project, which aims to digitize and widely share Japan's cultural properties and historical buildings such as Aso Shrine, Tenzan Sake Brewery and others.
