Recently, Yuanqi Forest announced that its entire line of sparkling water products will no longer add sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate and other preservatives, becoming the first domestic food company not to add the above-mentioned preservatives to carbonated drinks, and moving forward in the product concept of focusing on health. Another crucial step has been taken.
Behind "zero preservatives", on the one hand, the three factories of Yuanqi Forest that have been put into operation have completed the deployment of the industry's most advanced sterile carbonic acid production lines. On the other hand, it means that Yuanqi Forest has shifted from the past light-asset model of OEM to the self-built and self-produced heavy-asset model, and achieved the "freedom" of the supply chain. Supply chain integration and efficiency competition have become one of the key factors determining the future development of domestic brands.
The technical fulcrum of “zero preservatives”—sterile carbonic acid production line
At the beginning of this year, Yuanqi Forest officially launched the "zero preservatives" plan, which now covers the entire production capacity of sparkling water. Yuanqi Forest no longer needs to add sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate and other preservatives to preserve freshness, and has achieved full sterility in the material liquid, packaging, and environment.
The aseptic production line is a necessary prerequisite for realizing "zero preservatives" in sparkling water. The production line uses aseptic carbonated filling technology to achieve the industry-leading log6 microbial control level. In other words, every million bottles of Yuanqi Forest beverages contain The probability of being affected by microorganisms is no higher than one bottle.
It is reported that there are currently less than 30 sterile carbonic acid production lines of the same scale worldwide. Yuanqi Forest has currently put 8 into production, and 24 are expected to be put into operation next year. By then, Yuanqi Forest will also become the beverage company with the most aseptic carbonation production lines in the world.
In the production and delivery process, Yuanqi Forest has realized full-line automation, covering the entire process of water treatment, blending, sterilization, filling, and packaging, improving detection accuracy and ensuring product quality; eliminating unnecessary manual contact and continuously optimizing sterility environment; at the same time, data tracks the entire production process, and any problems can be quickly located. More than 50 quality inspections are completed by automated equipment, ensuring the safety of every detail.
"We have invested a lot in not adding preservatives such as sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate, but it is very worth it. Our ideal beverage factory has fewer unnecessary additives, higher sterility requirements, and is more environmentally friendly. " Li Bingqian, general manager of Yuanqi Forest Production Center, said that the cost of a sterile production line is several times that of a traditional production line.
Since preservatives facilitate long-term storage, transportation and distribution, almost all traditional carbonated beverage companies in the world use preservatives that comply with national standards, especially sodium benzoate. However, with the improvement of the health concept of modern consumer groups and people drinking various beverages and foods more frequently in multiple scenarios, reducing the addition of preservatives has become an inevitable trend in the upgrading of the food industry.
"Yuanqi Forest just wants to tell everyone that carbonated drinks can be healthier. They are not only sugar-free, but also do not add preservatives such as sodium benzoate. This time, we are at the forefront of international giants." Li Bingqian said.
It is necessary to point out that "zero preservatives" is the first step of Yuanqi Forest's "Three Zero Factories" strategy. Based on the increasing demand for healthy diet among young consumers, Yuanqi Forest hopes to further improve the process standards on the basis of building its own factory and gradually achieve the three major goals of "zero preservatives", "zero pollution" and "zero carbon". .
"Zero pollution" mainly refers to sewage treatment. Yuanqi Forest Factory improves water resource utilization through RO concentrated water recycling, water-saving management of key water points, reclaimed water utilization for sewage treatment, and upgrading of oxygen-consuming sewage treatment processes. Through high-standard water treatment processes, the treated gray water can also be used for urban municipal greening in the future to achieve water resource recycling. In terms of solid waste emissions, the factory will move towards "zero landfill" to protect soil health and reduce environmental impact.
In terms of "zero carbon", Yuanqi Forest promises to achieve the goal of five self-built factories becoming domestic carbon-neutral beverage demonstration factories by 2025 and build a true "zero carbon factory". Yuanqi Forest revealed that since the first day of the company's establishment, Yuanqi Forest has not used a single PVC label, and everything from bottles to packaging is made of PET environmentally friendly materials. Yuanqi Forest attaches great importance to green and low-carbon. All its self-built factories are equipped with rooftop solar photovoltaic systems and use renewable and clean energy such as photovoltaics for energy supply.
Li Bingqian said that Yuanqi Forest hopes to ultimately promote the whole society to achieve "burden-free consumption" through efforts in several aspects, so that consumers will have no physical and psychological burdens and the environment will have no pollution burden.
"Super urban agglomeration + five self-built factories" solves the problem of supply chain bottlenecks
The realization of Yuanqi Forest's "zero preservatives" benefits from the application of new technologies on the one hand. On the other hand, it means that Yuanqi Forest has broken through the "Iron Curtain" of international giants on a large scale for the first time in the supply chain field and achieved basic independence. .
In recent years, Yuanqi Forest has suffered from many production “supply interruptions”. According to Li Bingqian, the main reason is that most domestic carbonated beverage production lines are in the hands of international giants. In 2018, Yuanqi Forest began planning to build its own factory. At that time, the annual revenue of Yuanqi Forest was only 200 million yuan. After experiencing the game between various parties around the supply chain, Yuanqi Forest realized that the supply chain bottleneck problem must be solved.
Since then, Yuanqi Forest has started a series of actions to build its own factories.
In June 2020, Yuanqi Forest's first self-built factory in Chuzhou, Anhui Province was put into operation. The factory is located in Langya Economic Development Zone, Chuzhou City, covering a total area of ??200 acres. It has six high-standard aseptic production lines in two phases, with an annual production capacity of over 900 million bottles of beverages.
In April 2021, Tianjin Xiqing Factory was completed and accepted, covering a total area of ??110 acres. It has 4 high-standard aseptic production lines and an annual production capacity of over 600 million bottles of beverages. In the same month, the factory in Zhaoqing, Guangdong was put into production, covering a total area of ??150 acres.
On October 6, 2020, Yuanqi Forest's fourth factory, Hubei Xianning Factory, officially entered the equipment installation and commissioning stage. It is mainly for central China, with an annual production capacity of over 900 million bottles of beverages, and is expected to be put into production as soon as the end of this year. On September 30, Yuanqi Forest also broke ground on its fifth factory in Dujiangyan, Sichuan, with an annual production capacity of over 1200 million bottles of beverages and is expected to be put into production next spring.
It is reported that Yuanqi Forest's Hubei Xianning factory will be an open "ecological garden factory"; Sichuan's Dujiangyan factory is positioned as an integrated production base for industry and tourism. It is also the western R&D and sales settlement headquarters of Yuanqi Forest. After completion, it will further enhance the level of local green industry development.
This series of actions also marks the initial completion of the national strategic layout of "five super city clusters + self-built factories" that Yuanqi Forest has laid out since 2019. The above-mentioned self-built factories respectively correspond to the five major urban clusters in North China, East China, South China, Central China and Southwest China, focusing on markets such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Sichuan and Chongqing, and the two lakes and central and southern regions, directly covering the 700 million people.
Up to now, Yuanqi Forest's five major factories have planned a total investment of 5.5 billion yuan, covering a total area of ??more than 0,000 acres. After all are put into production, the total production capacity will exceed 5 billion bottles. Yuanqi Forest's product development and supply chain are also due to the advantages of its own factories. The construction is more geographically targeted, as well as the flexibility and responsiveness to quickly adapt to market changes.
In addition, the self-built factory has also solved many R&D problems in Yuanqi Forest. Official data shows that in the past 12 months, Yuanqi Forest has added more than 30 new beverage flavors, with an average product development cycle of 5.5 months. Many new products have special requirements for production lines. For example, Yuanqi Forest Milk Tea has relatively high requirements for production lines, and many domestic production lines cannot process them. Another example is that the "full score" of Yuanqi Forest Juice product is microbubbles + juice. This kind of product has not been available in China before, and even OEMs can't do it.
CICC Research pointed out that as major new consumer brands increase investment in building their own factories to increase production capacity and continue to improve logistics and warehousing systems to achieve full control of digital production and sales, supply chain integration and efficiency competition have become the key to determining the future development of domestic brands. One of the key elements. Yuanqi Forest's self-built factory can better cover the entire product life cycle of new product research and development, large-scale production and quality control.
"0 tolerance" for food safety issues
Whether it is the "Three 0 Factories" strategy or supply chain construction, food safety is a top priority. Wang Xuegang, president of the Yuanqi Forest Research Institute, said that food safety is the “least negotiable” bottom line in the construction of the Yuanqi Forest supply chain. Yuanqi Forest adopts a resolute attitude of "zero tolerance" for any food safety issues.
To this end, Yuanqi Forest has established a Food Safety Committee, chaired by Tang Binsen, founder of Yuanqi Forest. For major decisions, the technical department will be involved, and everyone will participate in the decision-making. The Food Safety Committee has the right of "veto".
In order to ensure food safety, Yuanqi Forest has internally established the principle of "food safety first, the four most stringent, and one system", that is, food safety is the first priority in all matters of the company, and the strictest standards, supervision, penalties and accountability are established system, establish a scientific, rigorous, and effective quality management system, etc.