Yili Group – headquartered in Hohhot, capital city of North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region – held an opening ceremony to celebrate the official launch of the first phase of the Yili Indonesia Dairy Production Base on Dec 10, which is the company's first self-built factory in Southeast Asia. 

The first phase of the project involves an investment of 867 million yuan ($130 million). On completion of the first and second phases, the production hub will become Indonesia's largest ice cream factory, with a daily production capacity of 4 million ice cream products.

It will also be the largest production facility built by Chinese dairy enterprises in Southeast Asia to date, setting a record for the scale of investment of its kind.

Representatives attend the launch ceremony of the Yili Indonesia Dairy Production Base on Dec 10. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Indonesian Minister of Industry, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, attended the ceremony and unveiled the facility. Chairman and President of Yili Group Pan Gang delivered a virtual speech.

The minister lauded Yili for the high standard of the facility and said the Joyday ice cream produced by Yili Indonesia Dairy would satisfy the local people's growing demand for dairy products, especially high-quality ice cream products. 

He also praised the company's active participation in the vaccination program for children in Indonesian schools and its help in the Indonesian government's fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.

Yili's Pan said in his speech that the choices and trust of local consumers had strengthened the company's confidence in its long-term investment and development in Indonesia.

"Yili is always dedicated to following the highest standards to drive quality, as well as sustainable development over the long term and in establishing localized operations to better serve local consumers and contribute to the stable economic and social development of Indonesia," he added.

At the site, Yili also signed a cooperation agreement with the Indonesian Vaccination Center to support it to fight the epidemic.

After the unveiling ceremony, the guests visited the production base and spoke highly of it. In the product-tasting area, the guests tasted Joyday ice cream, including the minister.

The Yili Indonesia Dairy Production Base. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Double centers in Southeast Asia to better serve consumers

At present, dairy product consumer demand globally is said to become increasingly individualized, diversified and differentiated. How to accurately judge and quickly meet the evolving demand is widely regarded as a compulsory need for every enterprise, in order to become bigger and stronger. Not long ago, Yili Group officially released its "Comprehensive Value Leadership" strategic goals and "Consumer Value Leadership" was set as a priority.

Its commitment and care for its customers have for a long time reportedly boosted Yili's ability to gain more and more recognition and trust in the international market. Even though Yili Joyday ice cream was only launched in Indonesia three years, it can reportedly be seen everywhere in supermarkets and convenience stores throughout the country.

Local media also reported that Yili products are very popular with Indonesian consumers, for their nutritious and healthy quality, rich and unique flavors and vibrant product image.

Tan Lih Ming is a distributor of Joyday ice cream in the city of Bandung. He said he was interested to learn that Yili Indonesia Dairy Industry had officially started operations.

"I believe that after the local factory is put into production, there will be more new products suitable for the Indonesian market," he said.

"Joyday ice cream will become more and more popular among Indonesian consumers. We look forward to long-term common development with Yili, so that the Joyday brand will be the best in the Indonesian market."

The automated production workshop of the Yili Indonesia Dairy Production Base [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In order to better serve consumers in Southeast Asia and create the best product quality, the Yili Indonesia Dairy Production Base will reportedly take advantage of Yili Group's global leading innovation system. It will also leverage its global production system and quality management system -- to build a more intelligent, innovative, open, green and localized modern factory, as well as to promote the sustainable development of the industrial supply chain.

It is understood that the production facility will not only serve the local Indonesian market, but will also form a "double center" for Yili -- radiating out into the Southeast Asian market together with the Yili production base in Thailand. The aim is to provide consumers in Southeast Asia with higher-quality products and services.

High-standard planning, construction to expand global health system

The Belt and Road Initiative is widely said to provide a broad platform for Chinese companies to go global. Chinese dairy companies are also believed to be actively exploring the development path of "global thinking and localized management".

In the process of building a global health ecosystem, Yili has reportedly always adhered to high-level design, high-standard construction and high-quality production. The Yili Indonesia Dairy Production Base has adopted world-class technology and equipment and is said to apply cutting-edge Internet of Things and big data technology, realizing full-line automation of the production process.

With its "headquarters empowerment, global collaboration and local development" model, the Yili Southeast Asia Innovation Center has been established. Its aim is to help the group better satisfy local consumer demand, implement a "green industrial chain" development strategy and build a green factory which can save 1.21 million kWh of electricity each year and reduce more than 8,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. After treatment, wastewater can be used for cultivating plants in the factory.

Taking the core refrigeration system at the new production base as an example, it has joined hands with leading companies in the global refrigeration industry to create a more efficient and eco-friendly refrigeration system. 

The supplier of the refrigeration system said that participating in the construction of the Yili Indonesia Dairy Production Base had helped it expand its international market share and strengthen the brand's international influence. The production base is said to have implemented the most stringent standards in the entire process of design, construction, inspections, installation and operations. 

From Asia, to Europe, America and Oceania -- to the expanding markets in Southeast Asia and Africa -- the Yili Group is reportedly building a backbone network covering the global resources system, global innovation system and global market system from a global perspective. 

The completion and commissioning of the Yili Indonesia Dairy Production Base are expected to further extend the reach of this large network, enhance the depth of cooperation with partners in the global health system and provide global consumers with higher-quality products and services.

Interpreting "comprehensive value leadership"

"The high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative is on the way and it coincides with the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership between China and ASEAN," Yili's Pan said.

"Looking to the future, we will use Yili Indonesia Dairy as a carrier to build a bridge of dairy cooperation and contribute to the healthy lives of the people, with the green and sustainable development and economic and social prosperity of the two countries," he added.

Workers inspect product quality at the Yili Indonesia Dairy Production Base on Dec 10. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

At the new production base, local employees account for 95 percent of the total workforce. With its construction, more than 5,000 jobs will be created directly and indirectly in the future. At the same time, the Yili Indonesia Production Base has reportedly established cooperative relationships with more than 90 local high-quality suppliers. 

In terms of market channel expansion, it is understood that Yili will cooperate with local distributors and plans to cover more than 200,000 sales outlets in Indonesia to promote its products to a broader international market.

Local employee Muhamad Irfan joined the production base and Yili provided him with a series of training sessions on production technology, product knowledge and sales skills. It only took nine months for Muhamad to be promoted to team leader. Not long ago Muhamad also organized a wedding and formed a happy family. "I will cherish the hard-won job opportunities and hope Yili can develop better and better," he said.

As the pace of Yili's internationalization becomes more stable, the "global health system" built by Yili and its global partners is also growing. 

In Yili's strategic plan, it is not only necessary to achieve the strategic goal of being "No 1 in the global dairy industry" in 2030, but also to achieve "comprehensive value leadership" to create greater value for consumers, society, employees and enterprises. 

The expectation is that the sharing of its comprehensive value will bring together more peers -- and that the vision of becoming the world's most trusted health food provider is becoming a reality.