Singapore poultry industry to get first smart and green factory with S$40m UOB loan

SINGAPORE Poultry Hub is setting up the first smart and green factory for the industry in Singapore with a S$40 million loan from United Overseas Bank (UOB).

The new 29,384 square metre factory will help Singapore Poultry Hub to improve productivity by 26 per cent and increase capacity by 70 per cent, both firms said in a media statement on Monday

The hub is a joint venture between Tan Chin Long, controlling shareholder of Boong Poultry, and four poultry producers and processors - Tong Huat Poultry Processing Factory, Kee Song Holdings, Sinmah Holdings (S) and Tysan Food.

Singapore Poultry Hub will work with partners such as the trade and enterprise development agency and Enterprise Singapore to employ smart technologies such as robotics, Industry 4.0 technologies and the industrial Internet of things at its new factory.

The smart factory, which can process 16,000 chickens per hour, will have a new waste management system that reduces waste generated by poultry processors.

Instead of disposing all the poultry waste, the system will convert part of it into protein, which is used as an ingredient for livestock feed.

This will help the hub become more sustainable in its operations and reduce its waste by 60 tonnes per day, it said.

The waste management system was created under FoodInnovate, a multi-agency initiative led by Enterprise Singapore that aims to grow Singapore's food manufacturing industry through innovation.

UOB and Singapore Poultry Hub are also exploring ways to help the poultry processor digitalise the collection of payments to reduce the use of cash and cheques through the use of UOB's cash management solutions.

Joseph Heng, CEO, Singapore Poultry Hub, said: "We recognise the need to use technology to ensure our competitiveness in the long term. As a small and medium-sized enterprise making an investment of this scale, we needed the support of a banking partner who could not only provide us the financing required but advise us on the most relevant financial solutions for our needs."