No. 140: Bread machine that makes bread from rice is too promising (August 22, 2010)

Sanyo Electric decided to put off the launch of its bread machine, GOPAN, that makes bread from rice by month to November 11 because it received an unexpectedly large number of orders from volume retailers of home electronics. The company expected to receive 5,000 units as the advance order, but advanced orders rushed into the company immediately after the product announcement in last July, and it has already secured an advance order for nearly 10,000 units that exceeds the production capacity of its subcontractor in China. This bread machine makes bread from rice grains not from ground rice that is expensive and unavailable in significant amount. It is the first bread machine of this kind in the world. It invited great attention from people with wheat allergy. The retail price is about 50,000 yen. GOPAN a compound word, and it means rice and bread. Go is Gohan that means rice, while Pan means bread in English. Related web page: http://jp.sanyo.com/gopan/