FrieslandCampina, manufacturer and distributor of high-quality dairy product brands namely Foremost, Falcon, and Debic, unveils the executives’ thoughts featuring Mr. Jan Derck van Karnebeek, CEO, and Ms. Corine Tap, Asia President, on the organisational management framework and product development in response to market demand, as well as their commitment to sustainable development, addressing the quality of milk as good nutrition for people around the globe. On this occasion, FrieslandCampina executives visit Thailand aiming to explore the market and gain new insights among consumers in the region.
Jan Derck van Karnebeek, CEO of Royal FrieslandCampina, the seasoned leader who has driven the brand's success, stated, “FrieslandCampina’s vision and mission are purposed to deliver the best nutrition to as many people as possible worldwide. We continue the non-stop development to achieve being the most trustworthy ready-to-drink dairy company. In addition, we are dedicated to providing higher quality of our nutritious dairy products for consumers in all groups and addressing our focus on sustainable growth by establishing collaborations among partners and staff to provide the most valuable diet for the most important customer.”
“Consumers nowadays have addressed concerns towards environmental responsibility and therefore driven the milk manufacturer to follow suit. Their concerns lead the manufacturers to implement sustainable development such as waste management, water utilisation, and packaging design. Besides, FrieslandCampina is one of the manufacturers dedicated to nutrition-boosting products for higher nutrition. Our product development is focused on low-fat milk, protein supplements, prebiotics, minerals, and vitamins. We take this challenging mission seriously and believe that we are able to make changes. We are therefore initiating the original formula, introducing the market with a highly nutritious and delicious diet. We are certain that with a deep understanding of milk, informed by our over 150 years of dairy heritage no one knows milk better than us. Our endeavour is prioritising the manufacturing process alongside responsibility to the environment as well as our own actions on waste management without leaving the issues for others to deal with.”
Jan Derck van Karnebeek commented on the organisational management framework, “Besides progressing on product development in parallel to social development, our key development is the organisation. We are working in collaboration as a team worldwide under similar guidelines in order to provide the same direction aligning to the same achievement. Skillful and talented staff are our secret weapon; therefore, investment in human resources, including training and development, is constantly conducted. Our team is urged to be confident in their skills, capabilities, and inclusiveness to achieve the goal and company value. We believe that the best teamwork is the significant foundation for business operation.”
Jan Derck van Karnebeek commented on the management plan in Thailand, stating, “While Thailand is undergoing recovery from the pandemic, the market growth in Thailand marks a delightful performance, as seen by the increasing consumer spending and return to their pre-pandemic lifestyle. Recently, we have witnessed significant developments paving the way for a stronger potential market with higher incomes among the population, as well as changes in consumer needs that support the surge in dairy products in Thailand. This phenomenon advances us to progress with manufacturing techniques, distribution strategies, and product innovation in response to emerging changes in consumer needs. The dairy product industry in Thailand is expected to continue its growth and positive trends going forward.”
Corine Tap, Asia President, Royal FrieslandCampina, commented on FrieslandCampina's overall performance in the Asian market, “The majority of children are suffering from malnutrition, which has vastly impacted their growth and opportunities in life. We believe every child is entitled to maximum body growth; therefore, we are committed to delivering the benefits of dairy products to children in Asia as much as possible.”
In countering challenges in the dairy products industry in Asia and Thailand, Corine remarked, “While Thailand has remarkable records on increasing wealth, malnutrition issues continue to impact children’s growth development throughout the region. The imbalanced diet intake has urged us to provide fast solutions with supplies of milk fortified with nutrition and good taste, recognised under a top-of-mind brand with reasonable prices and wide availability, so that everyone can grow to their maximum potential with access to dairy nutrition as much as possible. In addition, we are implementing product development to meet Asian consumer needs with the initiation of a large research project targeting the Southeast Asia region called SEANUTS (Southeast Asian Nutrition Surveys). SEANUTS II has revealed in-depth data on the nutrition outlook of six- to twelve-year-old children in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The insights have been cultivated to progress product development customised to the needs in each region, such as calcium and vitamin D deprivation, and to proceed with collaboration with government and health institutes.”
Corine further stated on management strategy, product development, innovation, and operational management in the Asian market and Thailand, “Our strengths are quality and trustworthiness; therefore, the business management plans are established as the 'Asia Back to Roar' strategy, with aims to defend the core market and maintain market share, invest for growth to build a solid foundation in each fast-growing dairy product category, and establish rigour in execution to become the dairy industry and business leader through sustainability, advancing nutrition along with enhanced packaging and local dairy product procurement.”
“To support children and families in Asia, delivering good nutrition with dairy products is our key mission. The successful 'Foremost One Million Smiles' campaign in Thailand was launched to provide 1 million boxes of milk to vulnerable children and families in collaboration with all sectors. Following the campaign's success, we plan to drive it forward and continue the operation as we foresee Thailand’s future depending on the wellbeing of the next generation. We are committed to continuing the company’s core vision and mission with anticipation to collaborate with more partners to help unlock the untapped potential among Thai kids,” concluded Corine.