Latest / The Operations Podcast with Fexingo: Process, People, and Profit in Modern Business / How a Japanese Distillery Cuts Water Usage by 75 Percent
Transcript
- Lucas: So there's this number that's been stuck in my head all week: 75 percent. That's how much water one Japanese distillery cut from its production process over the last decade. Luna: A distillery cutting water use? That sounds almost contradictory. I mean, whisky is mostly water, right? Lucas: Exactly, and that's what makes the case so interesting. We're talking about the Yamazaki distillery in Kyoto, owned by Suntory. They produce some of the most respected single malts in the world, and they realized that water wasn't just an ingredient — it was their biggest operational cost. Luna: Bigger than grain? Bigger than oak barrels? Lucas: In terms of volume, yes. For every liter of whisky they produce, they were using about 15 liters of water. That's the industry average for a craft distillery — cooling, cleaning, dilution, bottling line rinses. At Yamazaki, that ratio is now down to about 3.5 to 1. A 75 percent reduction. Luna: Okay, how? Because I'm imagining they didn't just tell people to use less. That never works. Lucas: It never does. They did three specific things. First, they redesigned their cooling system from a once-through model — where water runs over the condensers and goes down the drain — to a closed-loop system. The water now circulates through cooling towers, loses maybe 5 percent to evaporation, and comes back. Luna: That's huge. In a lot of older distilleries, that cooling water is still single-use. Lucas: It is. The second change was in their cleaning-in-place system, or CIP. Every time they switch between batches or after a production run, they have to sanitize the pipes and tanks. That used to be a fixed schedule — flush for 20 minutes regardless. They installed real-time pH and turbidity sensors, so the system only runs until the water is clean. Luna: So instead of a timer, it's a sensor. That's basically the Toyota Production System applied to cleaning. Lucas: Exactly. They call it 'water kaizen.' The third change was in their dilution water. Whisky is typically barreled at a higher proof and then diluted with deionized water before bottling. They used to discard the reject water from the deionization process. Now they capture that reject stream and use it for floor washing and landscaping. Luna: So they're cascading the water quality. High-quality for the product, lower-quality for non-product uses. Lucas: Right. And the business case is solid. Suntory estimates they saved about $2 million annually in water and wastewater treatment costs at Yamazaki alone. They've since rolled the same approach to their Hakushu and Chita distilleries. The payback period on the closed-loop cooling system was 18 months. Luna: What about the whisky itself? Did anyone taste a difference? Because I feel like some purists would argue that water quality affects flavor. Lucas: That was the biggest internal debate. The master blender was initially skeptical. But Suntory's water team did blind triangle tests with the distillery crew. They found no statistically significant difference. And the water they use for dilution still goes through the same deionization and mineral adjustment — they didn't change that. The savings come from the support water. Luna: So the product water is untouched. That makes sense. I'm curious — did they face any regulatory hurdles? In Japan, water rights are pretty strict. Lucas: They did. The local government in Kyoto has limits on groundwater extraction. By reducing overall usage, Yamazaki actually freed up capacity within their permit, which gives them room to expand production without renegotiating. That's a strategic benefit beyond cost savings. Luna: That's a smart angle. It's not just about cutting costs — it's about creating operational headroom. I wonder if other water-intensive industries are paying attention. Lucas: They should be. Suntory's soft drink division, which bottles Pepsi and Orangina in Japan, adopted the same CIP sensor technology and cut water use by 40 percent across four plants. And the principles translate anywhere you have a process that uses water for cooling or cleaning. It's really about measurement and feedback loops. Luna: Speaking of feedback loops, I know this show doesn't run ads, and that's partly because of listeners who support us directly. If these kinds of operational deep dives have been useful in your work, you can find us at buymeacoffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just a way to keep this conversation going without commercial breaks. Lucas: Appreciate that, Luna. And we mean it — no pressure. Alright, back to Yamazaki. The final piece of their program was cultural. They trained every operator to log water usage on a digital board during each shift. That data is reviewed in a 10-minute stand-up every morning. Luna: So it's not just engineering — it's habit. Every operator becomes a water manager. Lucas: Exactly. They found that when you give people visibility into their own consumption, they naturally find ways to reduce it. One operator noticed that a rinse cycle was overlapping with a cleaning cycle on the same line — a simple scheduling fix saved another 3 percent. Luna: That's the kind of thing that only emerges when you have that daily feedback loop. So what's the one metric listeners should take away from this episode? Lucas: The water to whisky ratio. From 15 to 1 down to 3.5 to 1. If you're in any kind of manufacturing, ask what your equivalent of that ratio is. It might be energy per unit, or scrap per batch. Pick one number, measure it daily, and put a feedback loop on it. Luna: And if you're a distillery, maybe start with your cooling tower. Thanks for listening. Lucas: We'll be back next week with another operations story that might give you an idea for Monday morning.