agro-processing industry focus.
(L-R: Mr. Surapong Kobpraditkul, Sales Manager Tetra Pak Thailand, Mr. Ashish Dahiya, Cluster Marketing, Portfolio, & Category Management Leader , Tetra Pak Processing Systems, South Asia, East Asia & Oceania, Mr. Anders Andren, Automation Solution Product Manager, Tetra Pak Processing Systems and Mr. Wanchai Suwannate, Key Account Director Tetra Pak Thailand, at ProPak Asia 2017 Tetra Pak booth.
Tetra Pak, the world's leading food processing and packaging solutions company, today revealed its mission to grow its food processing business by 50% in South Asia, East Asia, and Oceania by 2020. The company identifies Thailand as one of the key growth countries and commits to support local producers and government initiatives to grow the food innovation and agro-processing industries under Thailand 4.0.
The Thailand 4.0 development plan includes 'efficient agriculture' and 'food innovation' as part of its 10 targeted industries set for development[1]. This is part of the Government's "Super Cluster" policy to develop the processing of agricultural products to create high-value foods, such as geriatric nutrition and functional foods. With roughly 40% of Thai population working in the agricultural sector[2] and food exports in Q1, 2016 increasing by 9.5% compared to the previous year, the demands from local producers for new technology that helps maintaining the highest food safety standards, while optimizing operational performance, have been rising steadily.
To support Thailand's economic growth agenda, Thailand has been defined by Tetra Pak as one of their focus markets in the region. The company has recently showcased its latest fully integrated food processing and packaging solutions, addressing the needs of local producers, at ProPak Asia 2017
• Tetra Pak® High Shear Mixer. The next generation high shear inline mixer, offering customers unparalleled ingredient mixing performance and lower operating costs. It helps cut energy consumption by up to 50% within the overall process.
• Virtual Reality (VR) technology. Tetra Pak's new virtual reality system allows customers to experience the operations of Tetra Pak's Homogeniser 500, the indirect UHT unit for heat treatment and dairy processing lines, without visiting the factory.
• One Tetra Pak® Plant Master. The only automation solution specifically designed for the food industry that allows customers to manage end-to-end operations from raw material reception to finished packaged and palletized products.
"Thailand and the Asia region are key growth areas for Tetra Pak. Rising middle-class populations, urbanization and diversified consumer needs are the main drivers behind the high demand for food processing innovations. Our core expertise in dairy, prepared foods, ice cream and beverages together with the fully integrated solutions are the unique offerings that will help move customer's growth forward, together", says Mr. Ashish Dahiya, Cluster Marketing, Portfolio, & Category Management Leader, Tetra Pak Processing Systems, South Asia, East Asia & Oceania
The growth ambition of 50% by 2020 will potentially add 100 new jobs to Tetra Pak's regional processing operations team, in addition to the existing 800 employees. Tetra Pak's continuous expansion shows the company's strong pledge to provide global expertise through local presence to customers. In 2016, Tetra Pak Global had 11.4 € billion total net sales from its fully integrated solutions, with 76,000 processing units in operation.