As the market leader in the Philippines snacks and beverage, Universal Robina Corporation (URC) is riding high on increasing demand from an expanded population base and the ever-rising demand for ready-to-drink beverages.

We are number 1 in snacks, crackers and green tea and number 2 in candies and coffee,” said Eduardo Quintos XVIII, URC’s Area Distribution Manager for South Luzon. Sales volume in the Philippines currently amounts to 4.5 million cases a month, or 55 million cases a year.

While the core products marketed under well-loved brand names like Jack ‘n Jill, Cloud 9, Nips, Magic, Chippy, and Great Taste product profits year in and year out, it is the on-premise, ready-to-drink beverages that generates the biggest excitement within the corporation, the food manufacturing arm of diversified conglomerate JG Summit Holding Inc.

Taking pride of place is the C2 Green Tea, which has surpassed even its most optimistic forecast. When the C2 – the first green tea beverage, was first launched in 2004, the initial sales forecast was merely 10,000 cases per month. Three years on, it is averaging a million cases a month, and growing, even with the entrance of competing products.

It is a healthy drink, a thirst quencher and it comes in different flavors. It’s open information, it is affecting the sales of carbonated cola,” said Mr Quintos. Flavors such as lemon, apple and peach have made the green tea more acceptable to Filipinos, who do not have a tradition of drinking tea. Currently, C2 has 11 flavors and is continually expanding.

As the demand grows, new plants are being set up and existing plants expanded. “Philippines has too many islands, we want to decentralize the production.  This is a 50-year old company. As the business grows, we look for plants. We want to save on costs,” explained Mr Quintos. Today it has 11 plants – nine in the main island Luzon, including three in Manila, and 1 each in Visayas and Mindanao.

The company operates 11 distribution centers (DCs) located next to the plants – a reduction from the 26 it had previously. This follows the launch of Project Geometry in November 2005 to realign its distribution system.

“We started delivery from the source plants to the distributors instead of consolidating the cargo at DCs. It is efficient, it is fast, there’s no double handling,” said Mr Quintos. “The company saved a lot. We were able to close the smaller DCs, reduce the ageing stocks and increase the order fill rates.”

As the distributors are expected to operate own warehouses, URC closed DCs which are not connected to the plants while at the same time expanding some which it retained to keep pace with the increasing production. The brisk expansion includes Nissin Universal Robina, a noodle joint venture between URC and Japan’s Nissin; Calamba, the base of its C2 production; and in Pampanga.

For Mr Quintos, the recently completed warehouse at Cavite is a model for what can be achieved for South Luzon, the area under his purview. In development the warehouse, Mr Quintos, who was part of the design team, said the team took into consideration the cost, product mix, area where racking system would be constructed and how it could be maximized to get the most pallet position, as well as to optimize the flow within the warehouse.

The 2,144-sq meter warehouse stands 13 meters high, the highest within URC. It is equipped with 11.83-meter high Schaefer Drive-in Pallet Racking system to maximize the ceiling height. Extending over six levels, with 2.1 meter height for the first level and 1.7 meters for remainder, it provides 3,744 pallet locations.

Though slightly bigger in area than the 2,100 sq meter old warehouse, it can accommodate over twice the number of pallets because of the extended ceiling height and improved space usage. “It is a very organized system,” remarked a rather pleased Mr Quintos.

The warehouse is designed for easy forklift mobility and maneuverability to facilitate the quick turnaround of stocks. Its aisle length is 30.89 meters and has a width of 3.1 meters. It has loading bays that can accommodate 10-12 trucks.

The completion of the new warehouse has increased the capacity for the Cavite DC by 68% to 5,444 pallet locations. Completed in September 2006 just ahead of the year-end peak, the warehouse has proven to be a worthy addition to URC’s plant in Cavite.