The 12,000-sqaure-foot facility, which is supported by a $15m investment, is the company’s third technical center in Asia. The other two are located in Suzhou, China, and Singapore.
Eco-friendly
According to Mondelēz, the site will be equipped with technical capabilities, such as a pilot plant, a packaging creative studio and a range of laboratories for technical research and development.
It said: ‘A team of around 150 scientists, developers, engineers, analytical chemists and other specialists will closely collaborate on innovations across the globe.
‘The site is also a water neutral and zero-discharge facility with a large part of its energy coming from solar panels.’
The belVita biscuits maker noted the new center is part of its strategy to invest $65m in developing a global network of technical hubs.
“With these technical centers, we are focusing our investment in research, equipment and capabilities, driving innovation to accelerate our growth,” said Rob Hargrove, EVP of research, development and quality at Mondelēz.
They will also “improve speed, efficiency and effectiveness, while increased scale will enable us to address evolving consumer needs more quickly,” he added.
India’s importance to global business
Maurizio Brusadelli, EVP and president of Mondelēz AMEA (Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa), noted India is important to the company’s global business.
“Our mission at Mondelēz is simple – to offer consumers the right snack, for the right moment, made the right way,” he said, adding the latest plant demonstrates “our dynamic markets are at the heart of the company’s growth strategy.”
The company has stated India is ‘key market’ to its 2020 goal of achieving $1bn global e-commerce sales.
Mondelēz India recently posted mid-single-digit sales growth in Q3, while AMEA grew 4.6% to $1.40bn, according to the company’s earnings results.