In Japan, where the birthrate is declining and the population is aging, the food and beverage manufacturing industry, such as food factories and central kitchens for prepared foods, is a field that is constantly plagued by a shortage of job openings. Labor shortages are a matter of life and death at sites where large quantities of food must be reliably manufactured and shipped to supermarkets and convenience stores every day. Under these circumstances, the industry that is most actively accepting applicants is the specified skill “food and beverage manufacturing industry.” In this article, we will provide a detailed explanation of the latest status of foreign employment in this field, along with specific examples of food factories that have successfully accepted foreign workers.<\/p>\n\n\n
The scope of work covered by the specified skill “Food and Beverage Manufacturing Industry” is extremely wide. Specifically, it includes the production and processing of all food and beverage products (excluding alcoholic beverages), such as the production of cooked rice and side dishes, bread and confectionery production, seafood processing, meat processing, and seasoning and beverage production. In addition to this, “incidental tasks” such as cooking, packaging, sorting during shipping, and cleaning machines and factories can also be carried out on a daily basis. This makes it possible to cover the entire manufacturing process at food factories, making it extremely useful.<\/p>\n\n\n
Here, we will introduce a successful case of a seafood processing factory that dramatically improved its production site by hiring foreign workers with specific skills. At this factory, there were no Japanese job seekers for the late-night and early-morning shifts, and the company had been struggling to secure temporary workers for many years, causing monthly staffing costs to rise and putting pressure on the company. Therefore, we hired two Myanmar nationals with specific skill visas as full-time employees. They had previously passed the Food Manufacturing Skills Evaluation Test and had a high level of hygiene awareness, so they voluntarily put into practice thorough HACCP management rules from the time they joined the company. In addition, because they work full-time every day, production schedules at the site are much easier to schedule, and production efficiency has improved by more than 20%.<\/p>\n\n\n
The key to success is that we not only “delegated work” to the employees, but also installed manuals and safety signs in the factory’s native language, and introduced a clear personnel evaluation system that increases hourly and basic wages based on regular annual evaluations. Specified skilled workers actively seek “better treatment and evaluation,” so in order to have them stay highly motivated and work for a long time at your company, it is essential to have a fair evaluation and an attitude of supporting career development in Japan. This success story should be a great reference for many manufacturing sites suffering from labor shortages.<\/p>\n\n\n