D&L Industries said Wednesday it is spearheading a paradigm shift in its approach towards sustainability with its upcoming state-of-the-art manufacturing facility located at the First Industrial Township in Tanauan, Batangas.
D&L aims to offer turnkey solutions to customers that are both economically and environmentally friendly with the new capabilities that the Batangas plant will bring.
The company envisions empowering brands globally to make a meaningful shift towards high impact sustainability initiatives in the manufacturing of their products by giving them the option to buy direct from source.
The direct from source approach means converting raw materials into finished goods in the country of raw material origin, instead of going through multi-leg production stages which usually happen across different locations in the globe.
This translates into simpler logistics, less wastage, lower costs, higher efficiency, and as such, significantly cutting down the carbon footprint on the entire supply chain.
Starting mid-2023, D&L’s Batangas plant is set to expand the manufacturing capabilities of the company’s food, oleochemicals, and consumer products ODM segments.
It will operate under wholly-owned subsidiaries Natura Aeropack Corp. and D&L Premium Foods Corp.
This plant will allow the vertical integration of sourcing, formulation, packaging, OEM/ODM, and export capabilities, enabling D&L to offer a one stop shop, direct from source manufacturing solutions to global brands.
The said facility will be focused on developing new markets being in a Philippine Export Zone Authority location.
D&L’s Batangas plant is required to maintain at least 50 percent export revenue contribution to be able to take advantage of PEZA tax incentives.
D&L said coconut oil continues to gain traction globally as a sustainable, natural, and organic substitute for many petroleum or palm-oil based applications and the Philippines is the world’s largest exporter of coconut oil.
However, much of what the Philippines exports are low value-added coconut oil products, and the higher value-added processing typically happens elsewhere in the globe.
With D&L’s vertically-integrated plant in Batangas, the company’s goal is to bring home the higher value-added processing of coconut oil, and in the process significantly reduce the total carbon footprint of its entire supply chain.
The company also aims to put the Philippines on the map as a quality manufacturing hub for sustainable, natural and organic products.
D&L plans to launch a full range of shelf-ready products for its export customers, made from coconut oil, for the personal and baby care, cosmetics and beauty care, household cleaning, health and nutrition, and food and vegetable oils categories that are sustainable, natural, and organic.
This initiative offers a plug-and-play solution for global brand owners who are looking to beef up their sustainable product offerings.
Under this strategy, D&L will primarily target export customers who do not have the proximity to the source and instead would traditionally go through multiple layers of production before their products get into its final form and ready for end-customer purchase or consumption.
“As the world shifts toward more sustainable consumption, we believe that having truly sustainable operations and product offerings are the way forward. There’s a lot of interest in the space and consumers are demanding businesses for their fair share of efforts in preserving the only planet that we have,” NAC president Dean Lao, Jr. said.
“Our Batangas facility and our high impact sustainability efforts put us in a very good position to capitalize on these trends. We believe that it is the next leg of growth for the company. We see the coming decade as transformational for us, both from a business and sustainability perspective. It is our advocacy to stay relentless in developing products that better lives while staying attuned to the needs of the planet. We see this as one of the great secrets for a lasting business,” Lao said.
D&L is also cognizant of the difference it can make on the lives of Filipino coconut farmers.
As part of the group’s corporate social responsibility, through its partner foundation Lao Foundation, D&L continuously shares its blessings through educational scholarships, livelihood training, and values formation programs with the aim of uplifting the lives of Filipino coconut farmers.
D&L is a Filipino company engaged in product customization and specialization for the food, chemicals, plastics and consumer products ODM industries.