New Spins on Classic Ingredients

104 LEADERS OF TRANSFORMATION LEADERS OF TRANSFORMATION 105 things changed after it was acquired by business- gapore itself is a branding”, she adds. Singaporean man Sam Goi in 1977. players such as Tee Yih Jia benefit from the country’s Seeing the need to expand beyond Singapore’s reputation for food safety and quality. limited domestic market, Mr Goi took its products But a major obstacle, not least when competing abroad to Australia and the United States. against firms within China, is price. Providing prod- He was also keen on mechanisation, ramping up uct ideas is an important way in which Tee Yih Jia the use of automation in its production process. competes, says Ms Goi: “This is a value-added ser- It took a while for chefs to accept the popiah skins vice that people can come to us for.” produced by automation, which were square rather “People always tell us that we’re very expensive. But than round. But eventually they were convinced by they will come to us because they want our ideas.” the consistent quality – and Tee Yih Jia’s business Tee Yih Jia is also willing to go the extra mile for took off. its clients. One client wanted to sell pan-fried radish Says Ms Lee: “Usually when you start off, you have cake, but its outlets were only equipped with air fry- to go to the traditional customers who use it, because ers, which would not be able to produce the classic that will build up your volume. browned edges. Tee Yih Jia provided radish cakes that “Then after that, slowly, you do all these modern were pan-fried in advance to achieve that effect. products, then people will use it for other purposes.” In recent years, the firm’s product development The firm’s internationalisation and automation -ef efforts have gone even further. To circumvent the forts did not go unnoticed. In 1986, Tee Yih Jia be- difficulty of exporting products that contain meat, came the first small- and medium-sized enterprise the firm is working with a partner from the United (SME) to receive the government’s National Produc- Kingdom to develop meat-free products that taste tivity Award. like the real thing and do not rely on traditional It was an Enterprise 50 Award winner for six con- soya-based proteins. secutive years from 1995, taking first place in 2000. This meat substitute can be used in dim sum Organised by The Business Times and KPMG, the an- products, as well as the next area that Tee Yih Jia nual awards honour Singapore’s 50 most enterpris- is exploring: ready meals, the production of which ing privately held local companies. will be made possible by the upcoming move to a larger factory. SELLING IDEAS, NOT JUST PRODUCTS The turn of the century was also when Tee Yih Jia was THINKING BIG making serious product development efforts, most Tee Yih Jia has moved several times since it was TEE YIH JIA FOOD MANUFACTURING ED BEAN pancakes, seaweed crackers, ba- notably frozen roti prata in 1999. founded, settling into its current premises on Senoko nana fritters, nacho-esque chips – these and Today, the product development team comes up Road in 1999. “Each time we moved, it’s because we R more can be made using the humble spring with ideas not just for Tee Yih Jia, but its clients as well. want to automate,” says Ms Lee. “Each time we auto- roll skin, as Tee Yih Jia Food Manufacturing’s cheer- “About 10 years ago, the company started think- mate, we need bigger premises.” New spins on ful recipe videos demonstrate. ing: ‘How do we differentiate ourselves from com- Machinery simply takes up space, both on the fac- Posted on social media and screened at trade fairs, petitors?’ ” says general manager of export sales and tory floor in general and also along the length of pro- the short clips also showcase how the food manufac- marketing Laureen Goi. “The answer we came up duction lines in particular. classic ingredients turer’s frozen roti prata can be used as puff pastry for with: ‘We sell ideas.’ ” In the firm’s current facility, conveyor belts snake everything from fruit tartlets to salmon wellington, The firm has three broad business areas: industri- back and forth in a bid to make the most of the space. Since its inception in 1969, Tee Yih Jia has and how its dim sum range can be jazzed up with al, which involves supplying materials to other food The factory is already at full capacity, says group creative plating. manufacturers; food services and quick-service res- financial controller Loo Wen Lieh. “Our manage- burgeoned from manufacturing popiah skins “Our customers themselves, they are always hard- taurants; and retail. ment is very in tune with the technology (that is out to becoming a global player producing a pressed to continuously introduce new products,” Instead of simply selling frozen pratas to a caterer there). But we’re limited by what we can do now in says Tee Yih Jia executive director Juliette Lee. “That’s or popiah skins to a manufacturer, the firm comes up this space.” (From left) Tee Yih Jia group wide range of foodstuffs, with the judicious where we come in to help them.” with product ideas and applications. That is why Tee Yih Jia is set for its next big move: financial controller Loo Wen Lieh; executive director adoption of automated production. Finding new uses for familiar food products is part “For pastry and roti prata, we see it as a raw ma- to a newly secured plot of land nearby, which spans Angeline Guat; GM of export of Tee Yih Jia’s constant efforts to set itself apart from terial,” says Ms Goi. “So we’re teaching them how to four hectares, up from the current site’s 1.37ha. sales and marketing Laureen the competition. Over the decades, it has evolved make products from this raw material.” Crucially, the new plot is almost 300 metres in Goi; and executive director Juliette Lee. Finding new from a tiny one-product firm to a global player pro- For one fast-food chain in China, for instance, Tee length, which will allow for long, straight produc- uses for familiar foods is ducing a wide range of foodstuffs. Yih Jia suggested using shredded pastry skins to form tion lines. how the firm sets itself apart Tee Yih Jia started out in 1969 as a small semi- the coating for fried prawns. Mr Loo estimates that construction of the new from the competition. mechanised factory producing popiah skins. But China is a good potential market because “Sin- building will take some three years, with an expected BT PHOTO: JONATHAN CHOO 106 LEADERS OF TRANSFORMATION LEADERS OF TRANSFORMATION 107 investment of S$300 million to S$400 million. – for instance, when pastry machines are heating With more space, Tee Yih Jia will be able to up- up. But if this can be systematically monitored and grade its current production lines and introduce tracked, and peaks of energy use noted, “it can re- new ones. ally help us to manage our energy and utilities us- It plans to produce specialised ready meals, both age”, he adds. for the consumer retail market and for caterers. Another Industry 4.0 initiative in the new factory These could be tailored for specific groups such as will be the collection of real-time production data. the elderly, athletes or people with diabetes. Or they This can be shared with suppliers on “a more continu- could simply be pitched as a healthy range of ready ous basis”, reducing paperwork and back-and-forth meals – not least given their meat-free nature. communication. Quality control reports can be easily Apart from providing more room for production, generated and even sent automatically to clients. the new facility will also allow for new investments in their coldroom operations. DRIVERLESS VEHICLES The current coldroom is very labour-intensive, Automation and innovation is not confined to the with workers having to enter with forklifts in order to production line. Tee Yih Jia is also looking at au- retrieve products, notes Mr Loo. For the warehouse tonomous guided vehicles for waste disposal, and management of their new coldroom, Tee Yih Jia surveillance technology to keep security manpower wants to invest in a massive automated storage and needs down. retrieval system. Perhaps one of Tee Yih Jia’s most unconventional With such a system, humans will rarely need to en- moves – made with Enterprise Singapore’s encourage- ter the warehouse. This saves not just manpower but ment – is looking beyond itself. As a small firm that has also energy, as no lighting is required. made it big, Tee Yih Jia now hopes to help other local Handing tasks over to robots “Energy is a very big component of Tee Yih Jia’s industry players scale up. costs,” says Mr Loo. He hopes to tackle this in the It plans to have joint research and development PACKAGING roti prata was a numbing task when two roles, he helped to suggest improvements for new factory with detailed energy monitoring, in (R&D) facilities in its new factory, not just for its own Chen Zhang Lin joined Tee Yih Jia in 2009, and not the equipment under his care. line with the move towards Industry 4.0 – the catch- purposes, but to serve the wider food industry. These just because of the repetition involved. This is particularly the case for equipment that is all term for smarter factories in which data and au- R&D facilities could, for instance, help smaller SMEs “The roti prata were frozen and you had to made to Tee Yih Jia’s specifications.

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