Overview of Facilities

Overview of Facilities

Building C20: R&D facility for elemental technology

Building C20 includes a number of laboratories incorporating artificial climate chambers capable of controlling plant growth conditions such as light, air circulation, temperature, humidity and CO2 concentration, which can be suitably used for contract and joint research purposes.

Built under a scheme called the “advanced plant factory development project” led by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

R&D facility for elemental technology

As shown below, Building C20 includes artificial climate chambers and cultivation simulation rooms capable of controlling plant growth conditions such as light, air circulation, temperature, humidity, and CO２ concentration, which are used for contract or joint research programs.

Building C21: R&D facility for plant cultivation
 

In Building C21, there are some multilayer-type and flat-type plant cultivation rooms that make it possible to conduct simulated cultivation experiments and research programs with a view to social implementation.

Built under a scheme called the “model-house demonstration, exhibition and research project” led by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

R&D facility for plant cultivation

In Building C21, there are some multilayer-type and flat-type plant cultivation rooms that make it possible to conduct simulated cultivation experiments and research programs with a view to social implementation.

Building C22: R&D facility for plant mass production
(The new-generation plant factory)

　Building C22 is a model facility as an artificial light-type mega plant factory capable of mass-producing up to 6,000 heads of two types of leaf lettuces (Frill lettuce and Batavia lettuce) combined per day. Here, various experimental researches from production, distribution through sales are conducted with an eye to realizing the social implementation of artificial light-type plant factories.

Built under a scheme called the “Innovation base location promotion project” led by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Structure: two-story steel frame
Total floor area: approximately 1,300 ㎡
Total project cost: approximately 700 million yen
(Construction cost: approximately 300 million yen,
Equipment cost: approximately 400 million yen)
 

The new-generation plant factory

(Overall view)

(The floor map)

(The elevational view)

Seedling transplantation and Nursery room scenes

Although our seedling selection operation is currently suspended, the automatic transplanting system is an essential technology in any mega plant. The seedlings embedded into nursery panels (153 cells/panel) will be grown up into 5-8 gram seedlings on 15-layer shelves in about two weeks.

Cultivation room scenes

The seedlings planted in 32-cell cultivation panels will be grown up into 80-90 gram plants on the 16 to 18-layer shelves formed in six lanes in about 20 days. Those cultivation panels are moved by two pallets per day toward the harvest room by the automatic transport devices.

■Construction purposes

Resolve social issues and meet industrialization needs
1 . Make plant factories well-known and widespread to help industrialize indoor farming.
2 . Strengthen the supply system to deliver “delicious”, “safe”, and “fresh” vegetables grown in plant factories to consumers.
3 . Make new social and local contributions to the field of agriculture through a demonstrative model project based on the industry-academia-government partnership.
4 . Respond to overseas demand for farming crops in uncultivable land areas such as a desert or cold region.
 

Introduction of state-of-the-art technologie

As the new-generation mega plant factory, cutting-edge technologies have been employed at each stage: such as a seedling selection system and an automatic transplanting robot, both following a circadian rhythm attributable to clock gene;automatic transport devices intended to release workers from heavy labor and curb labor costs; a direct air distribution system to each cultivation shelf; and a hybrid LED lighting system consisting of red, blue, white, and far-red lights. Those LED lights have been gradually replaced with white light LEDs, however, as technology progresses.

Production process in the-new generation plant factory
Product Name: Frill Lettuce / Batavia Lettuce
Daily production: up to 6,000 heads　　

Starting with the seeding / germinating process, the cultivation flow goes through the nursing, cultivation and harvesting processes, before the trimming / packaging process. The entire operation takes approximately 40 days, about half the period of conventional production.

Minamihanada Lab. (OSP&PFC Second R&D Center)
– a model research institute for on-demand plant factories: Opened in October 2019
 

As artificial light-type mega plant factories are opening a new chapter in agriculture history, this laboratory is aimed at becoming an on-demand model research facility for studying and verifying mass production methods to cope with emerging demands for high-mix, high-volume or rapid-growth production of vegetables. This facility has been converted from an SC built earthquake-resistant warehouse and has three stories with each floor area of about 1,640 square meters. The building includes a would-be food supermarket on the first floor, the working area on the second floor and on the third floor located is Minamihanada Lab.(OSP&PFC Second R&D center).

The third floor: Minamihanada Lab. (OSP&PFC Second R&D center)
Production capacity: up to 4,000 heads of leaf lettuce per day
Products: Batavia lettuce
Frill lettuce
Five kinds of herbs

The second floor: the working area

The first floor: a food supermarket (plans)

Building structure: steel concrete structure
Building area: 1,640㎡
Each floor area: 1,640㎡
Total project cost: approximately 320 million yen
(Construction cost: approximately 130 million yen,
Equipment cost: approximately 190 million yen)

Converted from a distribution warehouse

Funded by
(1) Sakai City Monozukuri Subsidy (July 2019)
(2) Sakai City Corporate Growth Promotion Subsidy (Jun 2019)
 

Cultivation Scenes in Minamhanada Lab.

This lab is capable of producing up to 4,000 heads per day in terms of leaf lettuce. In addition to two types of leaf lettuces, baby leaves including Swiss chard, Pino green and Pino red and herbs such as Arugula and Green mustard are cultivated.

The introduction of the most advanced technologies at Minamihanada Lab.

Cutting-edge technologies have been introduced as proven by Hitachi Industrial Equipment Nakajo Engineering’s automatic transplanting machine equipped with a DENSO SCARA robot, as well as an air conditioning system using a vinyl duct system for air distribution.