Sweet-talking company boss has ambitious plans

Tanant Suwanraks, Mondelez International’s national chief in Thailand, said during an exclusive interview with The Nation, that the company had big plans for the Thai market, which it first entered in 1961. The company was previously known as Cadbury Adams (Thailand) and became Mondelez Thailand in 2014. Its most famous products in Thailand include Halls candy; Dentyne gum; Clorets compressed mint and gum, Oreo, Ritz crackers, plus Cadbury and Toblerone chocolate.
The company has 11 manufacturing sites in Southeast Asia and two of them are in Thailand – one in the Lad Krabang Industrial Estate and the other in Khon Kaen. The manufacturing plant in Lad Krabang produces gum (Dentyne) and candy (Halls and Clorets) for both local market distribution and export. 
The Khon Kaen plant produces the fruit-flavoured drink “Tang” for export only.
“With our purchasing power increasing thanks to the economic recovery, the snack and confectionery market will continue to grow this year and for the next two years,” said Tanant. “The snack and confectionery segment has been growing around 5-10 per cent on average over the last few years, slightly ahead of GDP and fast-moving consumer goods [FMCG] growth of 3-5 per cent. We foresee this trend continuing in 2018 with a similar growth rate,” he said, adding that snack and confectionery companies will launch new products focusing on premium and more healthy choices for consumers, targeting the 18-34 age group, who are the largest consumers of snacks and sweets.
He said the company believed that the biscuit market in particular has an opportunity to grow in 2018 because of the consistent growth at a compounded annual growth rate of 3 per cent in the past three years.
“Our Oreo is ranked among the top four players in the biscuit market with a growth rate of 15 per cent. The launch of Oreo Thins last year has strongly contributed to our share of the biscuit market,” he said.
Tanant said the candy market had grown consistently at between 6 per cent and 10 per cent over the past three years and was expected to increase by more than 12 per cent in 2018, as Thai consumers will still need a few refreshing moments during the day. Halls is the leader in the market with a 26-per- cent share. 
For the gum category, there has been a global penetration of the market over the past few years. In Thailand, Dentyne is the market leader with 49-per-cent share and the company plans to stimulate the market and maintain its number one position with new and innovative products. 
The chocolate market has been growing slightly over the last two years and this is likely to continue in 2018. The company’s products driving this market are Cadbury and Toblerone and limited editions are normally introduced into the market during special seasons such as Valentine’s Day and New Year to meet the special needs of consumers during these celebrations.
He said Mondelez had seen key opportunities for the growth of confectionery products in the Thai market. They are to serve unmet consumer needs through product innovation and drive up penetration, which is still low compared with other markets in the Southeast Asian region or the world. This is particularly true for chocolate – chocolate consumption is relatively low in Thailand, just 0.1 kilogram per year, one-third of that in other Southeast Asian countries and 1/100th of that in EU countries. 
The company is to introduce products to leverage new lifestyle trends, such as health and wellbeing (e.g. Halls XS, Clorets Mint Tab). Busier lifestyles lead consumers to replace main meals with more flexible, light and convenient snacks in portable, on-the-go formats.
“We have seen an opportunity to expand into e-commerce. The Thai e-commerce market is rapidly growing, and both offline stores and local players have ventured into online business,” said Tanant.
He identified the key challenges in the confectionery market as being external factors such as economic risks from unforeseen factors, including political or foreign crises, as well as aggressive competitors, especially local players with low pricing strategies.
The company’s three main goals and strategies are:

1 Grow its people
Create a great place to work for their employees through their unique “Joy culture”. “We emphasise joy in everything, starting with employees, stakeholders and the community, as our products give joy that makes people smile,” he said
l Build world-class capabilities through their development programme: 70-20-10 (on the job learning-coaching-training) and training at their Mondelez International University, the online learning platform.
l Empower courageous leaders and winning teams
l Retain talent through concrete career development.

2 Grow its business
l Generate fuel through best-in-class cost management 
l Focus on consumers and customers
l Accelerate core innovations boldly and with speed and excellence in response to customers’ needs in Thailand (such as Oreo Thins, Halls XS, Clorets Mint Tab)
l Sell their brands everywhere with our “perfect store concept” by emphasizing our products’ on-shelf visibility and ensure that they are always in full stock on the shelves 

3 Grow its Impact
l Fulfill their mission of well-being by creating more moments of joy.
l In Thailand, the “Joy Schools” programme has been operating for 6 consecutive years, helping more than 1,500 students at 5 in-need schools in Samut Prakan and Chachoengsao provinces. We plan to expand the programme to more schools every year. 
l Lead in healthy snacks (with sugar-free products including Halls XS and Clorets Mint Tab).

Tanant said that Mondelez had invested constantly to improve the productivity and efficiency of its manufacturing facilities in Thailand, as well as leveraged automation to increase safety, productivity and minimise defects. 
With two current manufacturing plants, the company can maintain the manufacture of leading products for both local distribution and export. Both plants have been selected as one of Integrated Lean and Six Sigma (IL6S) lead sites globally with Zero Waste to Land Fill Plant management system.