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SUCCESS CASE
How a Bean Curd Manufacturer Secured S$215K for Automated Production
RIC helped a Singapore bean curd manufacturer secure EDG support for a fully automated production system to improve throughput, quality consistency, and labour efficiency.
CATEGORY
Factory and Process Optimisation
CLIENT TYPE
Food manufacturing / bean curd products
GRANT TYPE
Enterprise Development Grant support
FUNDING SECURED
SG$215,000
About the Client and Project
Client Profile
The client is a well-established Singapore-based bean curd manufacturer producing tofu and bean curd products for retail and wholesale markets. With over 30 years of operating history, it serves grocery stores, restaurants, and food service providers. The company has over 200 workers and offers a wide variety of traditional and plant-based food options, giving it meaningful production scale and strong demand pressure to modernise its factory operations.
Project Nature
The project involved implementing a fully automated production system for food production and packaging. The automation covered robotic arms, automatic filling machines, conveyor systems, and connectivity with the client’s existing inventory management systems. The project was designed to streamline packaging and handling processes, reduce manual production bottlenecks, and support higher-volume manufacturing. Rather than adding isolated machines, the client needed an integrated factory automation setup that could increase production output, maintain consistent quality, and support future market expansion.
Funding Objective and Challenge
Funding Objective
The funding objective was to support factory automation under the Enterprise Development Grant. The grant provided up to 70% funding, amounting to SG$215,000, for automated machinery used in food production and packaging. The support enabled the client to implement a fully automated production system, improve production efficiency, reduce reliance on manual labour, strengthen product consistency, and build a more scalable manufacturing base for retail, wholesale, and future export markets.
The Challenge
The client faced increasing demand and needed to scale production without compromising product quality. Its existing production model still relied heavily on manual labour, which created bottlenecks, consistency risks, and operating cost pressure. The challenge was to frame the automation project as a serious factory transformation initiative rather than a routine machinery purchase. The EDG application had to show why robotic arms, automatic filling machines, conveyor systems, and integration with existing inventory management systems would improve capacity, quality, manpower efficiency, and long-term scalability.
How RIC Supported the Client
RIC scoped and prepared the full EDG project proposal for the client’s factory automation project.
RIC’s support included:
• Assessing the existing production line to identify bottlenecks and areas suitable for automation.
• Structuring the project around increased throughput, quality consistency, and reduced reliance on manual labour.
• Evaluating automated systems, including robotic arms, automatic filling machines, and conveyor systems.
• Recommending suitable automation solutions for food packaging and handling processes.
• Supporting integration planning between the new automated systems and existing factory infrastructure.
• Helping frame connectivity with the client’s inventory management systems.
• Developing staff training and change management plans so the team could operate the new automated systems effectively.
• Preparing the grant application narrative and supporting materials for EDG submission.
Outcome
FUNDING SECURED
SG$215,000
The client secured SG$215,000 in EDG support for its automated production system. The project increased production by 50%, saved over 1,500 hours per month in manual labour, improved production consistency, reduced quality deviations and wastage, and positioned the company to expand into new retail and export markets across Southeast Asia.
What This Means for Similar Companies
For food manufacturers, automation grants work best when the project is tied to clear operational pressure: rising demand, labour constraints, quality consistency, throughput limits, and market expansion. This case shows that a fundable project is not just about buying machinery. It is about showing how automation changes the production model, improves measurable outcomes, and supports commercial growth. Manufacturers with manual workflows should build the grant case around bottlenecks, productivity impact, implementation readiness, and the business reason for scaling now.
