Saturday, September 25, 2010

Highlight of the Study Tour

The highlight of the tour has been our last stop. David and Jason took us to the Employee Housing Project. It is difficult to put in words the gratitude felt by the employees involved in this program and the impact it has on the community, I will instead post some photos and video clips of the event we attended in an attempt to portray the day. The crew were enormously humbled and the work of those that have made this whole program happen are to be applauded and if this can be an outcome of a group such as EPFM investing in its employees, community then in is well worthwhile.






























Thursday, September 23, 2010

Bigger is Better - Eastern Pearl Flour Mill (EPFM)

Jason Craig, CEO of the EPFM and David Capper Operations Manager of EPFM gave the crew an incredibly detailed overview of the operating environment and as they are both formally of the CBH Group were able to give a fantastic insight as to the part WA Growers play and how they can make more of the WA crop into the Asian market. 

David takes the stairs (9 flights)
 The Eastern Pearl Flour Mill (EPFM) is actually two mills separated by a road (but connected via a conveyor) and the group were treated with a tour of each Mill, The Oldest Mill is the Seaside Mill and the other is called the City Mill (obvious reasons, ie the port is located at the Seaside Mill highlight for was both the view from the top of the Sea Side Mill and the 38year old Rollers, that still operating as well as the day they were commissioned.

The crew were split into two groups, Dave and Joseph took both tours.
Dave took the crew on a tour of Seaside and Joseph took the other group on a tour of City Mill. Roger has confirmed himself as the fittest of the group having climed to the top of each mill we visited, well done Roger.

Once again the message was clear, Quality and Consistency is a key as is the growing requirement for Quality assured processes in every step of the grain to flour value chain.

The crew would like to thank Jason, David and their team. All parts of the IFHL Group have had one thing in common…. A Great Team… the Management at each location has been first class and is a mix of local and international staff and the relationship with the group management is first class, I think the CBH Group and WA Growers are looking forward improving this already valuable relationship.


The highlight of the tour has been our last stop. David and Jason took us to the Employee Housing Project. I will provide details and photos of this tomorrow, but it was a humbling experience for the crew and David and Jason and the EPFM should be enormously proud.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Quick post from my iphone

Hi folks, this just a quick post from my iPhone. We are on our way to the eastern pearl flour mills. The mills are the largest in the IFHL group and have 6 times the capacity of anything we have seen to date and about 90% of the flour produced is exported.

The crew would like to congratulate Caroline House on her award as House Captain ;)

I will post photos later in the day.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

No Internet

At The Munchy Factory
Apologies for the delayed post, however after being spoilt for Internet coverage in Vietnam and Singapore we were unable to get online in Malaysia. It has been a big few days
On Monday we left Singapore for the Munchy Biscuit Factory.
An first class, modern facility that takes about 1000tonnes of flour a month from IFHL. We were unable to take photos of the facility due to the specialised nature of some of the processes, however we were given a extremely detailed view of the manufacturing line and we were all left suitably impressed (with sample bags in tow).
Once again the clear message from Munchy was one of quality control and consistency of product.
Much of the day was taken up with travel, we were on a bus for about 6 hours.

Presentation on the Mills
On Tuesday we had the pleasure of touring the Prestasi Flour mill and associated Panatura Plant.
Dr Nas started the day with a fantastic and passionate overview of the work he and his team conduct and it is clear they are on a winner with their specialised and patented dough starter. There are numerous products and IFHL Intellectual Property involved, however Dr Nas was very excited to show us through the process of creation of the Panatura products.

After this we were whisked away for a tour of the Prestasi Flour Mill which is in the process of being upgraded to double capacity. This gave the group a great opportunity to see the machinery up close as they were in shutdown for the morning, of great interest was the specialised video/Infrared grain sorter. The IFHL group really do understand how gain competitive advantage over their competitors through the building of IP and the clever use of technology.
Wednesday, we are travelling for most of the day and with an once of luck we should be in Makassar Indonesia by 5pm before travelling to the hotel by bus and arriving at 7:30pm. I am hopeful I can begin the daily updates once in Indonesia.

Nice Watch Bob


No Internet

Apologies for the delayed post, however after being spoilt for Internet coverage in Vietnam and Singapore we were unable to get online in Malaysia. It has been a big few days
On Monday we left Singapore for the Munchy Biscuit Factory.
An first class, modern facility that takes about 1000tonnes of flour a month from IFHL. We were unable to take photos of the facility due to the specialised nature of some of the processes, however we were given a extremely detailed view of the manufacturing line and we were all left suitably impressed (with sample bags in tow).
Once again the clear message from Munchy was one of quality control and consistency of product.
Much of the day was taken up with travel, we were on a bus for about 6 hours.

On Tuesday we had the pleasure of touring the Prestasi Flour mill and associated Panatura Plant.
Dr Nas started the day with a fantastic and passionate overview of the work he and his team conduct and it is clear they are on a winner with their specialised and patented dough starter. There are numerous products and IFHL Intellectual Property involved, however Dr Nas was very excited to show us through the process of creation of the Panatura products.

After this we were whisked away for a tour of the Prestasi Flour Mill which is in the process of being upgraded to double capacity. This gave the group a great opportunity to see the machinery up close as they were in shutdown for the morning, of great interest was the specialised video/Infrared grain sorter. The IFHL group really do understand how gain competitive advantage over their competitors through the building of IP and the clever use of technology.

Wednesday, we are travelling for most of the day and with an once of luck we should be in Makassar Indonesia by 5pm before travelling to the hotel by bus and arriving at 7:30pm. I am hopeful I can begin the daily updates once in Indonesia.



Saturday, September 18, 2010

A day of Travel

Today is really a day of travel. I am writing this while we are waiting at the gate of the International Airport at Ho Chi Minh. Everywhere we have gone there has been free wifi internet, Australia has a long way to go in this respect.

We will leave Vietnam after a very educational tour of the IFV Mills and the associated distribution channels and make our way to Singapore. A few of us will go and watch Sergey play his game of Soccer.

Tomorrow we will go to see the Munchy Biscuit Factory in Kuala Lumpur.
Munchy’s Biscuit Factory is located at Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia and is one of
Malaysia’s leading business of its product

Vietnam Tourist

Ladies and Gentleman,
After our tour of the flour distribution channel, several members of the party took the opportunity to go and see some Vietnamese tunnels and see for ourselves the conditions and ingenuity of the Vietnamese people. I must admit to being fairly naïve when it comes to the history of the Vietnam war, so feel free to follow a few of these links to find out more
Vietnam War Wiki Page

Chi Tunnels - Wiki Link


A working 'Man Trap'




















our guide is about to show us how they
entered the tunnel

























This is where the 'weapons' are made
















A few members of the crew and our IFHL representative

We took the opportunity to see another local industry
the rubber industry

they scar the tree and let the rubber collect in small bowls
very labour intensive

Where does all the flour go ?

Today we followed the flour to the Warehouse/Distribution centres. There are approximately 20 of these around town and the bulk of the flour is transferred by truck. From here the Flour is taken by Scooter (yes I said Scooter) to customers such as Bakeries.
There can be up to 8 Sacks of flour on each scooter and traversing the traffic is fraught with danger.
Flour Warehouse







The flour makes it to a Traditional Bakery
The owner of the Traditional Bakery
He sometimes can use 4 bags of flour in a day (sometimes)
Flour is also distributed to your more modern Bakeries



While eating products made from Interflour Flour and WA Wheat we watched the chaos that is Vietnamese

We are now going to see some history - We are off to the 250Km of tunnels from the war... look for the next update soon

Friday, September 17, 2010

As big a Day as you can have....

What a big day. The group would like to extend a special thanks to Greg Harvey
James Kirton and Sergey Lesnikov for joining us on this part of the tour from Singapore and also Arco van Herk, John Choi and Triet Le Quang from IFV (IFHL Vietnam) for their insights into the operations of the IFV Mill

IFV shows enormous potential and opportunity seems to be everywhere in a growing Vietnam. I think it is fair to say that today the group got to see the vision of Greg and his team and we were all suitably impressed.

The run down of the day went like this –

  • The day started with a ‘leap of faith’ walk across the road with the expectation that traffic will avoid you. As it turns out they do.

  • We made our way to a small jetty where we took to a large boat for the 1hr 40min trip to the mills. The trip takes between 2hrs 30mins and 4hrs by road.

  • The trip along the river was an eye opener of activity and resembles more of a highway rather than a river. The River is certainly the life line of the Vietnamese economy.

  • We were welcomed at the port of IFV by a very proud group of staff who couldn’t wait to show us around. They have every reason to be proud.

  • Greg Harvey gave a fantastic presentation of the growth and strategic importance of the IFV mills. The IFV ports geographic importance, the flour market and how the Growers of WA fit in with their current and future grain production.

  • Greg and his team also gave great insight into the competitive nature of the Vietnamese market and how it differs to the rest of Asia.

  • We were then treated to a tour of the mills from start to finish. The highlights being
    • The complete run through of the milling process from start to finish.
    • Getting the full sense of the types of wheat and the traits required to make the differing types of flour
    • The trip to the top of the mill and silos. This gives a perspective of the vision that the IFHL staff have  

The crew just after crossing the road (sounds easy)




All Aboard












After 1 ½ hours we get to IFV

A Barge being loaded






Safety First











More Flour in Bags - A barge is twice as quick to market












Increasing IFV's Storage Capacity












Arco,  in charge of all Milling at IFV
shows us around the Mill











Flour at the start and end of the process










Getting perspective from the silos















Bagged Flour Warehouse



Finally we bag some Flour