With the focus on liquid-based food and beverage categories, the new Product Development Centre brings world-class pilot production capabilities and end-to-end innovation support closer to food and beverage manufacturers across the region
SINGAPORE, March 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Tetra Pak has officially opened its latest Product Development Centre (PDC) in Rayong, Thailand, to support food and beverage manufacturers across Asia Pacific (APAC) in taking new products from concept to production.
(Left) Julia Luscher (Middle) Anna Hammargren (Right) Kanchai Thepvorachai
Southeast Asia, as one of the fastest-growing sub-regions within APAC, is seeing strong momentum in food and beverage innovation, driven by urbanisation, rising middle-class consumption and demand for healthier, functional products. This has driven functional beverage market launches across the region to grow in double digits of around 15% year-on-year.
To meet this momentum, Tetra Pak has strengthened its innovation ecosystem in APAC to help food and beverage manufacturers in the region accelerate product development and bring new ideas to market more efficiently. With its integrated capabilities and strategic positioning, the ecosystem is well-placed to support food and beverage producers across the APAC region.
Julia Luscher, Vice President, Marketing at Tetra Pak, comments: “Across Asia Pacific, we are seeing strong demand for higher-value, more differentiated food and beverage products. To compete regionally and globally, manufacturers need faster validation cycles, more efficient development, and the ability to scale with confidence. Tetra Pak Product Development Centre’s global network provides that platform, bringing together our capabilities in product innovation and processing excellence with a strong regional ecosystem for food innovation. This will help manufacturers accelerate product development and support more sustainable growth across the industry.”
Spanning 40,000 sq. ft., the facility brings together two integrated areas: the Liquid Food Solutions and the Food Development Facility. Equipped with semi-industrial, end-to-end pilot plants for both aseptic and non-aseptic applications, the PDC supports six high-growth, liquid-based food and beverage categories spanning dairy, beverages (juice, nectars, still drinks, coffee, and tea), plant-based foods, ice cream, food applications including Tetra Recart® culinary and porridge dishes, and food supplements and nutrition.
Together, these capabilities enable food and beverage manufacturers to:
- Validate recipes and processes before commercial roll-out, reducing risk and enhancing product quality.
- Optimise investment in development by trialling sensitive or high-value ingredients under near-identical conditions to full-scale production.
- Accelerate time-to-market through end-to-end support, from laboratory recipe development through pilot-scale trials to process optimisation.
- Support regional product development by enabling manufacturers to test new ingredients, formulations and processes close to actual production, while gaining access to capabilities across Tetra Pak’s global network of Product Development Centres, each tailored to different food and beverage categories.
- Gain confidence in product launches through sensory testing, nutritional analysis, shelf-life studies and consumer research conducted on-site.
The centre features dedicated laboratories and a team of food scientists, bioprocess engineers and process specialists, ensuring every customer trial is backed by rigorous science and industry expertise. Designed to serve manufacturers of all sizes, the PDC provides access to pilot production facilities, technical guidance and quality validation processes that would otherwise require significant capital investment.
This investment builds on Tetra Pak’s growing presence across the APAC region. From the expansion of its packaging material production plant in Binh Duong, Vietnam to building innovation capabilities in Rayong, Thailand, Tetra Pak is positioning itself at the centre of the region’s growth, serving its customers with full-scale reliability and innovative solutions.
Marcelo Perazzo, Managing Director Tetra Pak Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines & Indonesia (MSPI), “The PDC in Rayong is designed to support manufacturers across the region with hands-on product development, helping them bring to market innovations that are not only technically sound, but also relevant, differentiated and scalable in today’s competitive landscape. This reflects Tetra Pak’s commitment to enabling customers across Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia to innovate with confidence, backed by our Product Development Centres’ global network.”
The Rayong PDC is now officially open, joining Tetra Pak’s global network of 12 Product Development Centres. The commercial trials for customers is expected to begin in Q2 2026. For more information, please visit the Tetra Pak website.
ABOUT TETRA PAK
We’re here to make food safe and available. It’s why we provide advanced food production systems. In collaboration with our customers and suppliers, driven by more than 24,000 dedicated employees worldwide, we protect food sustainably every day for hundreds of millions of people in more than 160 countries. Because we’re here to fulfil a purpose:
We commit to making food safe and available, everywhere, and we promise to protect what’s good: food, people and the planet.
More information about Tetra Pak is available at tetrapak.com.
