Thursday, September 24, 2009

FOCUS ON GREEN PRODUCTION, MARKETING

       To help curb global warming, Betagro Group has been concentrating on making its businesses eco-friendly by applying green manufacturing technology and green marketing, which not only save production costs but also boost sales.
       Betagro, through is subsidiary B International and Technology, yesterday launched Kooling Max, a biodegradable cleaning product for the livestock industry made mainly from natural materials such as citric acid in lemons.
       Rising global concerns over the environment and consumption have prompted the group to focus more on green manufacturing. This will also allow the company to engage more in health-conscious markets.
       Nopporn Vayuchote, group executive vice president, said the product is another development step of the group to green its business since it started focusing on the issue more than 20 years ago.
       The product makes use of an innovative electrolytic cleaning method for ventilation systems that produces no harmful wastewater discharge and has no harmful effects on the environment.
       The product is estimated to help reduce production costs by about 2 per cent and imported paper to produce cooling pads by 30 per cent.
       "We have to catch up with the rising global environmental-friendly trend so that all materials entering our supply chain should also be 'green' to promote our green marketing strategy," Nopporn said.
       Cherdchai Sinsarng, general manager of B International and Technology, said the product had been under development for more than two years to ensure its quality. Its special feature is helping to maintain the temperature of the chilled water for longer than normal while reducing water wastage.
       It will allow greater ventilation efficiency to reduce not only electricity costs but also chicken deaths. It will reduce maintenance costs of related farm equipment used to smooth the operation of the evaporative cooling farm system. And it reduces the scale problem on cooling pads, gates and foot valves and pipes in the system.
       B International expects the new product's sales will reach Bt15 million next year.
       Using Kooling Max will cost a standard 140-metre-long farm with 20,000 chickens only Bt2,000 per crop cycle of about 40 days.
       The product will be exported to Bangladesh, Burma, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia - the traditional markets for the company's farm equipment.
       The company focuses on livestock engineering goods and related products. It targets sales of Bt300 million this year. Total revenue of the group is set to increase 10-15 per cent to Bt50 billion this year, he added.
       Nopporn said the group is also preparing a manufacturing model for ready-to-eat foods such as sandwiches, steamed pork and pork leg with pork and chicken as their base material.
       The customer target will be the institutional food service market rather than the retail market. The product will be sold under the Better Food brand.
       "We are not experts in the retail business but we have experience in catering, cooking technology and shop decoration so we have to focus on our strength," Nopporn said.

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