NESTLE TO ESTABLISH NEW R&D HUB IN BEVERAGES IN SINGAPORE

By Zakaria Abdul Wahab

SINGAPORE, July 23 (Bernama) -- Nestle announced Friday it will set up a
new regional hub for research and development (R&D) in coffee mixes beverages in
its R&D centre here.

Klaus Zimmermann, Nestlé's global Head of Product Technology and R&D
Centres, said the new innovation hub will be fully functional in the beginning
of next year.

Making the announcement on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of its R&D
Centre in Singapore at a media conference, he said Nestle had a strong and
growing business in coffee mixes worldwide.

Nestle R&D Singapore Director Susanne Kulhanek said the new innovation hub
was to serve the Asia-Pacific region where the demand for coffee mixes was
growing and expected to increase over the coming years.

In Singapore alone, 350 million cups of coffee mixes are consumed annually.

She said the hub's mission would be to accelerate innovation and
improvement in beverages and develop new product concepts based on local tastes
and preferences for both local and wider geographical roll out.

Zimmerman said the new regional hub, with initially a team of 10 specialists
and experts in beverages, would extend Nestle's existing hub for innovation in
Milo, the company's another beverage brand.

The R&D centre, manned by 100 people, has been spearheading inventive
research for a large range of products under global brands such as Maggi in
culinary, Milo, Nestle Professional and Nestle Nutrition, for the past 30 years.

In addition, the hub will develop new packaging solutions, including
packaging for consumers with limited income, and provide training and technical
assistance to Nestle markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

On the production of Nestle halal products, Zimmerman said the company
always conducted research and stringent checks to ensure all its products
adhered to Islamic food requirements.

Nestle globally invest around two billion Swiss franc in research and
development annually.
-- BERNAMA