Unilever Zhang Haitao: Supply chain "intelligent" manufacturing upgrade can open up more imagination | Foreign companies look at new opportunities

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(The world's first condiment lighthouse factory produces chicken powder in the dark, with a total duration of 58 seconds)

The world's first condiment lighthouse factory produces chicken powder in the dark

In the past three years, catering companies have collectively fallen into a "cold winter" due to the impact of the epidemic, but Unilever, which accounts for 75% of the 2B-end catering business, has maintained a positive growth in revenue in the Chinese market.

Since 2020, Unilever Food Nutrition has begun to plan to move towards a "lighthouse factory" and upgrade the Tianjin Food Factory. Through the overall layout of the technology empowerment business, the digital "intelligent" manufacturing upgrade has been completed in three aspects: personalized service, order optimization and integration, and the monitoring and traceability of the whole product process.

Tianjin Food Factory is currently Unilever's largest integrated condiment production base in North Asia, in the face of such a huge production system, how does "intelligent" manufacturing upgrading empower enterprises to operate at high speed and efficiency through high digitalization and intelligence, so as to achieve contrarian growth?

To this end, on March 21, when Unilever Tianjin Food Factory was officially launched as a "lighthouse factory", Nanfang Daily and Nanfang + reporters conducted an exclusive interview with Zhang Haitao, general manager of Unilever Food Nutrition North Asia, on related topics.

The food retail business has doubled in the past three years

At present, China is one of the most important markets for Unilever Food Planning, and the business is mainly 2B business in the Chinese market. "In the Chinese market, the catering business on the 2B side accounts for 75%, and the retail business on the 2C side accounts for about 25%." Zhang Haitao revealed that our food retail business has grown rapidly in the past three years, "It can be said that it is doubling." ”

For example, the "one sauce to taste" series of seasoning products have good sales, of which "Knorr sour soup fat beef" seasoning has become a hit, and when it is launched on the Dingtone grocery shopping platform in 2022, this single product has a monthly sales of more than 2 million.

The "One Sauce to Taste" series is a product launched in 2018, and the product concept is to enable kitchen novices to achieve the level of executive chefs.

This series has become a hit in the three years of the epidemic, reflecting Unilever's forward-looking taste.

Zhang Haitao is proud to say that Unilever has always focused on the study of taste, so it can become a "taste" expert.

"We started tracking young diners at home for about 13 years, including some analysis of their consumption behavior. It is with this continuous tracking and data accumulation that we are very sensitive to taste, and can predict what flavor shapes will become popular in the future, and which flavors and ingredients may become a trend among young people. ”

Of course, it is not enough to predict the taste, but also to be able to produce and restore the taste.

Zhang Haitao said, "We have nearly 100 chefs, 85% of whom have worked as executive chefs in hotels and high-end catering. They are professionals in different cuisines and different food categories. ”

At the same time, Unilever Food Solutions has 5 R&D kitchens in Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Hangzhou, and the R&D kitchen in Shanghai headquarters is also the training base of the Chinese National Olympic Culinary Team, so we have enough professional background to accurately predict popular flavors, and carry out innovation, application and production.

In order to fully restore the ideas of the R&D department, we will demand the best industrial transformation of the supply chain according to the highest global standards. Zhang Haitao said that from the perspective of Unilever's global business, the development performance of domestic condiment business is leading, "China is not only one of Unilever's most important markets, but also a source of inspiration for us to seek innovation and breakthroughs." ”

Digitalization increases service value

In the past three years, Unilever Food Solutions has continued to grow its C-side business while the B-side has also kept pace. "There are currently about 7 million restaurants in the country, and we serve 1 million of them." Zhang Haitao introduced that due to the impact of the epidemic, many of our services are difficult to reach face-to-face, but digital empowerment solves this problem.

Zhang Haitao further said that first of all, through the big data terminal to provide target customers with personalized solutions, can respond more quickly to iterative market demand. "Our customer base is very large, and in addition to the form of offline visits, digitalization can allow our sales staff to break down some barriers in time and space, and serve our customers in a more real-time and comprehensive way." Zhang Haitao said.

In addition, he revealed an impressive figure: "In the past three years, the number of customers we have reached in the Chinese market has almost quadrupled, from 200,000 to more than 800,000 at present, and our sales team has not changed much." ”

Whether it is the doubling of the C-end retail business or the 4-fold increase in the number of B-end customers, it is thanks to the high degree of digitalization and intelligence of the entire supply chain system of Unilever Tianjin Food Factory. After three years of building a "lighthouse factory", Unilever has risen to the global digital benchmark in the field of condiments.

According to reports, the "Lighthouse Factory" was jointly selected by the World Economic Forum and management consulting firm McKinsey, and is a demonstrator of digital manufacturing and globalization 4.0. To date, there are 132 "lighthouse factories" around the world, and Unilever Tianjin Food Factory is the first factory in the world in the seasoning industry to receive this award. Up to now, the number of "lighthouse factories" in China has increased to 50, ranking first in the world.

In the future, the core competition of the industry must be the supply chain

As we all know, under the background of the impact of the epidemic and the uncertainties of the international environment, enterprises are more cautious about investment and expansion.

Why Unilever bucked the trend and upgraded its Tianjin food factory to a "lighthouse factory".

"The reason why we do this must be based on changes and needs on the demand side." Zhang Haitao emphasized. The era of comprehensive digitalization has arrived, and the "Overall Layout Plan for Digital China Construction" issued by the State Council emphasizes the strategic height of promoting the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy. Zhang Haitao said, "The core of enterprise digitalization comes from rapid response to market demand and end-to-end implementation through intelligent manufacturing and digital supply chain system. ”

The domestic consumer market is becoming more and more "rolled", and the demand for products by young people is changing very quickly, which poses a considerable challenge to the supply chain of enterprises. "In the future, the supply chain must be a core content of enterprise competition."

For example, Zhang Haitao said, for example, the expansion of demand during e-commerce festivals may even be hundreds of times higher than usual. Sales forecasting is becoming more and more difficult, and supply chain AI forecasting has further improved the accuracy of forecasting after it went online. Through customized AI models that take into account decision-making factors such as production lead time, capacity, and urgency of demand, we can translate long-term demand plans into factory supply plans covering 13 weeks, or even less.

It can be seen that the "intelligent" manufacturing upgrade of the supply chain is rewriting the growth logic of Unilever's food nutrition business and opening up more imagination. "The core of enterprise digitalization comes from rapid response to market demand, and end-to-end implementation through intelligent manufacturing and digital supply chain system." Zhang Haitao said that the lighthouse factory is only a starting point, and will continue to explore new trends and new technologies in the future to set a new "industry benchmark".

[Reporter] Li Jie

【Poster】Wu Yinglan Tan Wei

【Coordinator】Yao Chong

【Author】 Li Jie; WU Yinglan; Tan Wei

Southern Industry Think Tank