Nestlé builds P600-M new coffee plant

Nestlé Philippines is investing additional P600 million this year for its coffee manufacturing plant in Cagayan de Oro by putting up new power generating sets and further plant improvements to sustain efficient operations.

Factory manager Rudy Trillanes told reporters the company is adding two power generator sets worth R300 million to produce a total of 6 megawatts, enough to provide power requirement of the entire plant.

The remaining P300 million would be spent for further systems improvements and other efficiency measures to maximize the plant’s capacity.

The Cagayan de Oro plant, Nestlé’s coffee production hub in the country and the Nestlé ASEAN Supply Center for filled milk powder, produces coffee in soft packs in various sizes. The plant produces stick packs, 12 grams, 25 grams, 50 grams and 100 grams, requires 45,000 metric of green coffee annually to produce 20,000 MT of coffee.

At least 80 percent of the coffee green production in Mindanao is sold to Nestlé directly or through its 11 buying stations where coffee beans are graded according to moisture and quality of the beans.

"The CDO factory is being recognized for its 15 percent increase in efficiency ratio. We are one of the lowest cost producer out of 32 soluble coffee factories of Nestle because we have very knowledgeable workers, very efficient and our utilization is very high," Trillanes said.

But since the coffee produce in Mindanao is not enough to serve the country’s coffee requirement, 50 percent of its coffee is imported mostly from Vietnam.

Nescafe now accounts for 98 percent of the total domestic coffee market. A small volume of Nescafe is being exported to Japan for the Filipino market there.

The CDO plant has four coffee roasters running on a 24-hour operation with a capacity of 500 kilograms for batch. It takes between 12 minutes to 13 minutes of roasting for every batch of 500 kilograms of dried coffee beans.

Last year, the company has already saved power with the installation last year of the atmospheric fluidized bed boiler that reduced its fuel requirement.

On an average production day, Trillanes said they recycle and burn spent coffee grounds equivalent to 30,000 liters of bunker fuel.

"As early as 1994, the factory had been using the concept of biomass disposal using the Lurgi Waste Heat Boiler System," Trillanes said. This system was decommissioned in October last year when the AFBB was put in place.

"This new boiler technology has a higher capacity that can handle not only solid biomass from our coffee processes but also colored water concentrate and wastewater treatment sludge," Trillanes added.

The steam generated from the AFBB is being used for the plant’s steam requirements.

Trillanes further cited the use of biomass as substitute for bunker fuel as this has prevented the adverse air emission such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. This makes the company compliant with the Clean Air Act.

The CDO Nescafe plant began its operations in 1983 as a green coffee buying station with cleaning and drying facilities only. Coffee processing was performed at the Alabang factory, the first coffee production facility of Nestle Philippines in the country.

In 1984, a spray-drying tower for coffee production was installed and coffee production in jars started. Now, the 25-hectare factory area produces Nescafe coffee in different soft pack sizes.

When the Alabang factory closed down in 2001, the CDO factory became the hub of coffee production because of its proximity to green coffee suppliers and easier port area for the immediate shipments of coffee to other areas in the country.

The CDO plant employs 570 workers. Nestle spends P33 million for service and other technical suppliers.

It is the number one real estate taxpayer in Cagayan de Oro and in customs and duties payments.(BCM)


http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2006/05/24/
BSNS2006052464841.html