Inspection work to check each piece by hand

Inspection is one step before the towels reach the customer’s hands.
This section is difficult to mechanize, and even today, the quality of each towel is strictly controlled by human hands and eyes.
At IKEUCHI ORGANIC, about 30% of all employees, including part-timers, are involved in the inspection process.

During the inspection process, the following points are checked

Are the towels finished in the size according to the specifications?
Are the edges and hems of the towels sewn properly?
Are there any weaving flaws?
No pile loss
No stains
Are there any uneven colors?
Is the name tag attached in the correct position and sewn properly?

We inspect each bath towel for these points in about 5 minutes.

An Unwavering Eye for Quality Control

Shiraishi, who is in charge of the Inspection and Shipping Section, talked about his daily work in inspection and shipping.

I have become accustomed to the work, but I still find inspection difficult and demanding.

After all, it is completely done by hand. I inspect face towels by myself, but for bath towels and larger towels, two people are in charge. Ikeuchi also makes bed sheets, and it takes a really long time to inspect one king-size sheet.

In addition, we cannot ship any items that we deem to be “damaged” or “soiled”. As we want to take good care of the organic cotton delivered by the producers, we would like to ship all products as much as possible, but we have to have an unwavering eye for quality control.

There are some items that we think, “This much is fine…,” but we make our decision in light of the “maximum safety” that Ikeuchi upholds. If something can be fixed with a little work, we fix it on the spot, but this is a very difficult decision to make.

And since the inspection is the last step in the manufacturing process, it can cause wrinkles in many areas (laughs).

(Laughs). Especially the shipment of cotton nouveau is a big rush every year. Yarns from Tanzania arrive late via India, and if they are not woven well, they have to be redone, or dyed again because the color is slightly different, and so on. But we have a fixed date when we can put them on display in the store. So the entire inspection staff has to work together to inspect the items and ship them immediately after they are inspected, and every year we are always in a rush.

Everyone is working really hard in a tight time frame (laughs).

The inspection staff also prepares the towels for shipping by putting them in bags and sealing them before placing them in the stores, and every time when the towels are shipped in cardboard boxes, we are relieved and think, “We made it in time this time, too.

That is how Ikeuchi’s towels are delivered to everyone. We hope you will try our towels and choose the one that suits you best!