Yakult Excursion - Unit 3
On Tuesday, 7 June the Unit 3 Business Management class visited the Yakult Factory in Dandenong, as part of their studies for AOS 3 – Operations Management. This excursion is undertaken annually to enhance students' understanding of Unit 3 Area of Study 3 Operations Management. With the AOS 3 SAC the next day, the tour also provided a fantastic means for revision. The Japanese-owned company sells Yakult (a fermented milk drink) across forty countries, with the factory in Dandenong making all the Yakult for the Australian and New Zealand market.
Students were able to see the entire production process, beginning with the large vats that conduct several processes to turn water, skim milk powder, sugar, flavouring and bacteria into Yakult. From there, students observed the bottles being manufactured on site, labelled, packaged into five and ten packs, and finally secured onto crates ready for delivery to supermarkets. Students also learned about the quality control conducted on site and were able to get a peek into the laboratory where samples of Yakult are randomly tested.
As a part of the tour, all students were offered a free Yakult drink, Yakult shaped post-it notes along with the information pack on Yakult products and their business objectives. This information pack provides extremely useful during exam revision. There was a short video on the history of Yakult, their products and how they maintain 100% satisfactory customer service.
The students thoroughly enjoyed the tour whilst also taking the opportunity to further clarify their knowledge on operations management.
