Pulmuone Completes 'State-of-the-Art HMR Fresh Noodle Factory'... Establishes 3 Major Innovation Infrastructures in 'Quality, Menu, Packaging'

Introduction of State-of-the-Art Fresh Noodle Manufacturing Equipment
Incorporating Pulmuone's 30 Years of Noodle-Making Technology Expertise

Pulmuone State-of-the-Art HMR Fresh Noodle Factory

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Pulmuone, which pioneered the domestic fresh noodle home meal replacement (HMR) market, has embarked on market innovation with the completion of a new fresh noodle factory.

Fresh Noodle Market to Double in 5 Years

On the 25th, Pulmuone Foods announced that it has completed the 'state-of-the-art HMR fresh noodle factory' in Daeso-myeon, Eumseong-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do, and will lead innovation in the domestic fresh noodle market with the latest equipment and noodle-making technology.

Pulmuone's 'state-of-the-art HMR fresh noodle factory' was built with an investment of 60 billion KRW, covering a total floor area of 20,237㎡ (approximately 6,051 pyeong) across three above-ground floors. Ahead of the summer peak season, the factory began operating the HMR cold noodle line, Pulmuone's summer strategic product, and plans to start the HMR udon line, the winter strategic product, from autumn.

The HMR fresh noodle factory plans to drive three major innovations?'quality innovation, menu innovation, and packaging innovation'?for Pulmuone's HMR fresh noodle products, aiming to more than double the domestic fresh noodle market, which currently stands at around 240 billion KRW annually, to a scale of 500 billion KRW within the next five years.

Pulmuone has poured in the noodle-making technology accumulated over the past 30 years, as well as capabilities and data accumulated in global markets such as the United States, China, and Japan, into this 'state-of-the-art HMR fresh noodle factory.' It plans to introduce high-quality HMR fresh noodle products and new menus that were previously difficult to mass-produce domestically due to technological limitations, which had not been available in the domestic fresh noodle market until now.

State-of-the-Art Fresh Noodle Factory: A Base for Quality, Menu, and Packaging Innovation

For quality innovation, Pulmuone introduced fresh noodle manufacturing equipment from advanced global HMR countries, including moisture control and ultra-high-pressure facilities, which are not available domestically.

In particular, the fundamental process of fresh noodle production, the 'dough,' was redesigned. Applying the know-how of hand-pulled noodle artisans, the surface area of the dough subjected to heat and pressure was maximized to make the dough structure uniform and dense. Additionally, with the 'ultra-high-pressure noodle-making method' enhanced from 100 horsepower to 150 horsepower, it became possible to produce chewy noodles at the level of specialty noodle restaurants.

Through the completion of the state-of-the-art HMR fresh noodle factory, Pulmuone plans to introduce various global noodle dishes as HMR products, which were previously difficult to mass-produce due to technical limitations. Pulmuone pioneered the fresh noodle market in the mid-1990s by launching udon, followed by cold noodles in the 2000s, and pasta and Vietnamese pho in the 2010s, creating the 'cooking noodle' category.

With this factory completion, Pulmuone expects to achieve 'packaging innovation' that allows easier and more convenient cooking. Most fresh noodle products currently on the market require boiling the noodles first, heating the sauce separately, and then combining them. Pulmuone plans to minimize this process by introducing 'one-touch fresh noodle HMR' that does not require separate cooking of noodles and sauce.

Moreover, through 'packaging innovation,' the shelf life of fresh noodles has been significantly extended from the existing 45 days to 180 days. Pulmuone aims to raise the shelf life of fresh noodles, a fresh food product, to a level comparable to ambient and frozen products, alleviating consumer concerns about product spoilage and securing higher competitiveness compared to competitors.

Yoon Myung-rang, Refrigerated FRM DM at Pulmuone Foods, said, “With the completion of the state-of-the-art HMR fresh noodle factory and the introduction of new equipment, we have established an infrastructure that enables the three major innovations of product innovation, menu innovation, and packaging innovation for fresh noodle HMR. We will develop various trendy noodle dish HMRs and once again lead a leap-forward innovation in the stagnant domestic fresh noodle market so that consumers can easily and deliciously enjoy high-quality noodle dishes at home.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.