Monday, December 19, 2005
Health drink maker opens plant in Liloan
TO ANSWER the growing demand in domestic and international markets, a Cebu local health drink manufacturer expanded its facility to increase production.
LactoPafi Techno Resources Corp. (LPTRC) inaugurated its new manufacturing plant in Catarman, Liloan, Cebu last week as part of its P150-million expansion program.
In an interview, LPTRC president and founding chairman Gregorio Sanchez Jr. said their new plant, equipped with fully automated facilities, would increase their production to 200,000 bottles of Lacto products a day from 300 bottles a day in 2001.
LPTRC produces Lacto-Pafi, a BFAD-registered medicinal drink that contains probiotic or pro-life bacteria extracted from soya beans.
New
The new manufacturing plant houses a laboratory, raw material storage area, fermentation area, purification area, bottle-filling area and packaging area.
“The demand is so big that we have to increase our production in order to meet it,” he said.
Sanchez recalled that on their first month of operation in March 2001, they recorded a sale of P37,000. This increased to P104,000 in April, then to P400,000 in May of the same year.
In June 2001, the firm’s sales reached P800,000 and went up to P1 million the following month, he said.
From then on, LPTRC enjoyed “phenomenal” growth sales, he added.
Aside from its local market, LPTRC also exports to the United States, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Australia, Hong Kong, Dubai and Japan, among others.
Future market
Sanchez told Sun.Star Cebu that they are eyeing Indonesia as a future market with possible partnership with distributors there.
“There is a bright future of the business and we can see more growth (in the) coming year,” he said.
He advised consumers, though, against “fake Lacto products.”
“Fake Lacto products are not effective and are dangerous because they don’t have the right lacto bacillus content and processing. They might even contain bad bacteria,” he said.
Start
Sanchez, in his inaugural speech, said LPTRC started with his Pagpalambo Foundation Inc. (Pafi).
The foundation tried to teach low-income households entrepreneurial skills. One of the projects of the group was to give piglets to beneficiaries in the Visayas and Mindanao.
The project, however, was a failure, he said.
Just as he was about to give up the foundation due to fund shortage, Sanchez said he read in an old newspaper about probiotic bacteria being good for the health of livestock.
“I began researching more about it and later on experimented,” he said.
With the help of his daughter Gigi Sanchez Zaballero, a chemical engineer, he said he began producing the drink, which turned out to be good for humans as well.
From only five employees in 2001, the business grew and now employs around 300 people, he said. (ALC)
(December 19, 2005 issue)
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