Salinas, California, USA
October 15, 2015
American Takii has opened a new modern and highly sophisticated facility on the outskirts of Salinas that gives the giant international seed company greatly enhanced seed processing operations.
American Takii is a key subsidiary of Takii & Company, which has been owned and operated by the same Japanese family for 180 years and has its headquarters in Kyoto, Japan.
The Grand Opening was Wednesday [October 14]. It included a welcoming by Steve Wiley, general manager and chief operating officer of American Takii, and by Denichi Takii, president of Takii & Company. He was one of several company officials who came from Japan for the special day.
“Takii’s management has a global strategic vision to create better efficiencies for distribution as we move forward into the future,” Wiley said. “We are currently shipping seed produced in the Americas to Japan for processing, only to be re-shipped to the Americas. We will now realize a faster turnaround, less handling and a reduced carbon footprint.”
Denichi Takii said, “On behalf of both Takii & Company Limited and American Takii, Inc., I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of today’s guests, all of our dealers, marketers, wholesalers, growers, consumers and suppliers for using Takii varieties.” He added, “Not only in vegetable, but also in the flower world, Takii has continuously bred out many varieties.”
Among the approximately 200 people on hand for the festive day, which included a lively presentation of traditional Japanese Taiko music by San Jose Taiko, were representatives from a wide variety of agricultural businesses, including seed companies.
The new structure, at 301 Natividad Road, includes a 22,500 square-foot warehouse, an additional 7,000 square feet featuring a conference room and a workers’ lunchroom and another 5,000 square feet that can be used for additional logistics and customer service.
Takii is a breeder, producer and marketer of seeds, which are sold to seed dealers and growers around the world.
“This is part of the long-term strategy of corporate headquarters in Japan,” Wiley said in an interview. “It provides us with a more efficient and decentralized seed system. This is an expansion and growth for Takii. Our old facility has served us well for over 30 years.”
Ausonio Inc., which has its headquarters in nearby Castroville, was the general contractor for the new structure, just as it was for the American Takii building next door that was constructed 30 years ago.
American Takii’s mission statement includes: “to breed, develop and produce superior quality vegetable and flower varieties to meet the full potential of a dynamic market.”
Takii produces much of its seed in Chile and the United States, dealing mostly in vegetable and flower seeds.
Previously, a great deal of Takii’s seed produced in the United States had been sent to Japan, where it was then processed and packaged and sent elsewhere.
However, in its new building, Takii is sizing, processing and packaging seeds, which are then sent to Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, Central American, Latin America, Asia and Europe, explained Wiley.
“This will be the logistics hub for the Americas. If we have seed here, why send it to Japan when we can ship it directly ourselves?” said Wiley, who earned a degree in agriculture from the University of California at Davis, a school renowned for its seed biotechnology center and its curricula in agricultural management.
According to the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA), “The U.S. seed industry is one of the most dynamic seed industries in the world. It is also increasingly subject to the forces of globalization as a number of foreign seed businesses establish a presence in the U.S. and U.S. seed companies invest in and establish facilities in overseas markets.’
The ASTA reported that there are over 750 companies doing seed business in the U.S. and more than 60,000 varieties of planting seed.
The U.S. is the largest and most diverse planting seed market in the world, followed by China, France, Brazil and India,’’ said the ASTA.
Each country to where seeds are shipped has different requirements and Takii works hard to ensure that it continuously meets the individual needs of all recipient nations.
“Before we export seed we have the Monterey County Agriculture Commissioner’s Office inspect,” Wiley said. “Ag departments inspect it wherever we grow seed. Or, perhaps, officials from foreign countries. Ag departments for foreign countries also provide field inspection services.”
Additionally, representative of foreign countries are frequently at American Takii.
“Some of them are from other governments,” Wiley said. “They are usually sponsored by the American Seed Trade Association. There are also laboratories that test the seeds for seed borne diseases.”
The International Plant Protection Convention, which includes about 180 countries, works to prevent the spread of pests and diseases. In that regard, there are phytosanitary regulations in each country. It is important that the individual needs of each nation are met.
“This is a business that is truly global. The objective is to bring in and evaluate and identify the best genetics that work in any given regional market or country to be able to feed people,” Wiley said. “And flowers have a very aesthetic affect on people. They smell nice and they look like.”
Scientific advancements are a key element in the operations in the new building and will be so in the future as well.
“We will be continuing to process improvements in logistics and technology. Some of the equipment is much more sophisticated and employs higher technology. A lot of it is computerized,” said Wiley, a fifth generation native of the Salinas Valley, one of the richest farming areas in the world.
For example, one of the new machines can keenly distinguish the hues and color of the seeds to allow for more advanced sorting.
“These electric eye sorters see the different colors,” Wiley said, and that allows for removal of inert material. “Overall, this is a more efficient higher quality of sorting.”
The entire process is complicated and precise, including germination tests and genetic purity tests.
“Once you harvest the seed it needs to be cleaned,” noted Wiley. “You harvest it in the fields, and when you bring it in it has a lot of chaff and dirt. We mill the seeds, remove all of the foreign matter that’s not seed matter, but there are still other operations that we perform to improve the quality.”
Takii has also installed state of the art machines in screening seed for size.
“The new sizing machines are much more efficient than our old ones, which have minor stress points that we have to repair from time to time,” Wiley said. “The newer ones are much more efficient when it comes to transfer of energy. We expect lower maintenance and repairs costs and a more efficient movement of products through the machines.”
Advancements in the new facility also feature the replacement of a semi-automated system with one that is fully automated, allowing far more seed packages to be prepared each hour, thus increasing the scale of what can be accomplished.
There also are solar-tube skylights, diminishing the need for electricity, and improved controls of humidity.
Takii’s new building not only provides for greatly increased warehousing and shipping but also has room for expansion, said Wiley.
The international company is sensitive to the Central Coast’s deep concern for preserving natural resources.
“We will have a soft impact on the environment.” Wiley said. “Our only use of water is in the seed treatment process.”
The opening of the new building means the hiring of a number of semi-skilled and skilled workers in such positions as warehouse workers and seed-processing functions.
The old building, which includes a 10,000-square foot warehouse, will continue to be used, primarily for storage.
The Takii site in Salinas consists of 20 acres.
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