Senior Secondary

Yakult Excursion

Every body (at least every Year 12 Business Student). Every day (at least once a year).

Question: Can you pronounce the name of the probiotic bacteria - Lacticaseibacillus paracasei Shirtoa (LcS)? (See Mr Tran for help.)

FUN FACT: Every 65ml bottle of Yakult contains 6.5 billion live LeS bacteria.

Last week the Year 12 Business Management students were driven to Dandenong to visit the Yakult factory, where over 450,000 bottles are produced daily.

Currently students are studying Operations Management in Unit 3 Area of Study 3 of Year 12 Business Management. We look at how both manufacturing and service businesses both use Operations Management in their production processes.

A tour of the Yakult factory gave our students an opportunity to see Operations Management in real life. Viewing the inputs into the system (we were able to smell the bacteria which was like salt and vinegar), the process strategies including quality control, waste management, technology, materials and lean management, as well as experiencing the output (which reminded me of the lolly Fruit Tingles).

One of the standout pieces of information we learned was that as Dr Shirota, who discovered the strain, was so committed to helping everyone’s health, that the wholesale price of Yakult has not changed in the last 30 years of being produced in Australia.

The real test of the probiotics health benefits though came at the end of the excursion when we did a Macca’s run.

Sharon Payze

Year 11 & Year 12 Business Management Teacher