Tate & Lyle’s pioneering Singaporean automated lab to redefine NPD
Tate & Lyle’s customers will experience improved speed-to-market and new product development with the introduction of robotics systems in the food and beverage industry for the first time.
Tate & Lyle has announced the launch of its new ‘Automated Laboratory for Ingredient Experimentation’, known as ‘ALFIE’, at its Customer Collaboration and Innovation Centre in Singapore.
Through the use of automated robotics, ALFIE represents a revolution in the delivery of mouthfeel solutions for customers, providing faster and more accurate ingredient design and accelerating speed-to-market for new products.
ALFIE, which represents a multi-million pound investment in innovation by Tate & Lyle, has the ability to run characterisation tests at around 10 times the current rate, and provides enhanced predictive modelling. It comprises two robotic systems with complete connectivity and seamless data flow for fast ingredient and solution design. By accelerating sample production, characterisation and modelling, the company will be able to trial new ingredients more efficiently and create new solutions for customers at greater pace.
This major investment makes the Singapore lab Tate & Lyle’s Asia Pacific hub for mouthfeel R&D and customer solutions. While ALFIE will be operated by Tate & Lyle’s on-site scientists in Singapore, it is also connected to Tate & Lyle’s Customer Collaboration and Innovation Centre in Hoffman Estates, near Chicago, US, where scientists will be able to operate ALFIE virtually.
Nick Hampton, chief executive, Tate & Lyle noted that the multi-million pound investment will transform the new product development process for mouthfeel solutions, empowering scientists to accelerate experiment design, analysis, and delivery of innovative solutions for customers.
“Our goal was to create a revolutionary tool that will better predict product performance in food manufacturing, allowing us to create faster and improved solutions to customer challenges,” Hampton said. “ALFIE’s cutting-edge technology will enable us to push the boundaries of food innovation, speed up our customers’ innovation cycles, improve consumer choice for healthier food and beverages, and help shape the future of the food industry.”
Andrew Taylor, president, Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, Tate & Lyle said: “ALFIE is a ground-breaking lab which we believe will redefine research and development in our industry. With automation and advanced data analytics at its core, ALFIE will accelerate innovation, enabling us to provide tailored solutions for our customers’ most complex needs. ALFIE’s unique system will offer our customers access to technology and insights they didn’t have before.
The launch of ALFIE positions our Singapore Customer Innovation and Collaboration Centre as a leading food innovation hub globally. It also aligns with Singapore’s Food Manufacturing Industry Transformation Map (ITM) 2025 which charts the development of Singapore into a leading food and nutrition hub in Asia.
“If you consider that about 60% of the world’s population lives within a five-hour flight of Singapore, the location for ALFIE places Tate & Lyle very much at the centre of the future of food globally.”
Marcus Dass, senior vice president, global enterprises, Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) said: “The opening of Tate & Lyle’s new Automated Laboratory for Ingredient Experimentation (ALFIE) reflects Singapore’s position as a trusted hub for the region and for cutting-edge innovation in the food and nutrition space. We look forward to the lab accelerating ingredient solution discoveries and enriching Asia’s food innovation ecosystem.”
