Innovation Management                                                     

 

 

BJC remains observant of the ever-evolving and increasingly globalized world, which is particularly driven through the advancement of technology and innovation, transforming the market environment, and shifting customer/consumer needs and demands, changing the way in which business and customers/consumers interacts. Beyond this, these technological advancements also impact the economy, environment, and people, including their human rights such as data privacy, right to express opinions, right to access information and right to access products and services. For this reason, to keep up with changing customer/consumer needs, companies like BJC must actively adapt business operations through the use of technology and innovation to identify, develop and implement new innovations.

Doing so will also allow BJC to contributes towards the development of the nation above and beyond the expectations of stakeholders, which may be in the form of improved efficiency and productivity, reduce operating expenses and increase profits for retailers, identification of new business opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises, which can help to promote competition and innovation in the retailing industry, and enhance customer experience, leading to increased customer loyalty and higher revenues for retailers, and safeguard BJC operations from negative impacts such as, job displacement, as increased automation and artificial intelligence can replace certain tasks and employee groups, risking it ability to product, deliver and serve customer daily needs efficiently, should it fail to appropriately adapt operations with technology and innovation.

 

Technology & Innovation Management Approach

 

Through the process of BJC’s operations, BJC is directly at risk of impacts from poor technology and innovation management, throughout the value chain, including the manufacturing and retail supply chain, and its relationship with various business relations, as it requires continuous development in order to remain competitive with To mitigate this, BJC has integrated technology and innovation as part of the corporatewide mission to deliver quality goods and services through innovative solutions, solidifying BJC’s prioritization of technology and innovation, and fostering an innovation culture throughout the organization.

 

Innovation Integration in BJC’s Strategy

 

 

 

BJC has integrated innovation through cooperate strategy by focusing on implementation of innovative projects, digital transformation, data analytics, online platform, and automatic tools through the innovation management in business unit, with the emphasis on the packaging and engineering business. The responsible team for implementing innovative project is the Research and Development department of each facility. This strategy aims to increase business’s competitiveness and to accommodate the fast-changing, uncertain, and complex competitive environment together with human resource management and financial stabilization to serve personalized customers’ expectation. Moreover, it aims to minimize the amount of time spent on non-essential task, limit human error, and reduce operating cost in the production process.

 

Definition: Innovation

Innovation is the creation, development and implementation of new products, services or processes, with the aim of improving operational efficiency, and effectiveness, allowing for the creation and development of new business opportunities, resulting in competitive advantage. 

 

 

BJC Innovation Working Group

 

 

A technology and innovation oriented corporate culture, is fostered through the establishment of a BJC Innovation working Group, headed by the Vice President of the quality and innovation in packaging and engineering business. The group was established in 2016 to conduct research on the innovation for the glass business operations. The group eventually expanded to become BJC innovation and technology center and conducts annual meeting to gather information and communicate initiative ideas across the organization and strengthen operational efficiency and effectiveness in business operations, as well as to increase business opportunity. As a result, additional technical skills, which is useful for product and process development, are provided to the relevant parties for further development. Beyond innovation representative from each business, accountable for the following responsibilities.

 

 

To improve integration of technology and innovation throughout the organization, to surpass above and beyond past performances and expectations, the working group established the Research and Development Department at each operating facility, with the responsibility to develop and implement innovative projects, which fosters competitive advantage for BJC, enabling the company to meet modern customer and consumer needs in the new market environment. Furthermore, the research and development departments also aim to develop projects which improves the effectiveness and efficiency of employees, including time spend on tasks, limit human errors and minimizes operating costs in production processes.

 

 

Technology and Innovation at BJC

 

In 2022, BJC developed a new corporate wide strategy for technology and innovation development, which aims to increases emphasis on the utilization of technologies and innovation to enhance the efficiency of all employees throughout the value chain, enabling them to work better and produces superior products and services. This includes the development of superior packaging solutions for customers and consumers, increase atomization throughout the operation and development of new technologies in new operations. All new technology and innovation are developed with an objective not to replace valued personals, but instead as a tool in which employees utilizes to increase operational efficiency, resulting in a more seamless operation.

 

Research & Development Culture 

 

In 2022, to further integrates technology and innovation considerations in all business decisions, BJC continue to promote active Research & Development throughout all business operations to further foster a technological and innovation culture. This aims to develop new products and/or services to meet and go beyond the expectations of customers and consumers. These cultivated innovation cultures are recognized by both internal and external stakeholders, evident from BJC’s recent invitation as a speaker to share knowledge and best practices at an event hosted by the ASEAN Innovation Business Platform in November 2022.

The event was centered around the topic of overcoming hurdles to drive Thailand 4.0, an initiative aimed at promoting digital transformation and technology adoption in the country. BJC's Group Innovation Leader was a prominent speaker at the event, sharing insights on how the company responded to supply chain disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic. The leader also discussed BJC's contribution to the national strategy on Thailand 4.0 and the BCG Model, highlighting how the company's innovative efforts are aligned with the country's vision for technological advancement.

 

BJC Big C Intelligence Network

 

BJC Big C established the Intelligence Network (B2IN) to maintain competitiveness in the new market environment. The network, established by the Innovation working group in 2020, is a platform for all employees to share knowledge and innovative ideas with the potential to be developed into new processes, products or services, to meet customer expectations and demands. Shared knowledge and innovation ideas are communicated across the organization through the network, creating an open source innovation format. The platform fosters employees’ creativity to build initiative projects and to enhance competitiveness by learning and addressing the needs of customers in line with the value chain process. Innovation will facilitate market competitiveness and enhance profitability. The network focuses on the innovation process, transforming valid innovative ideas into applicable innovations as a showcase on innovation.bjc.co.th. From the establishment of B2IN, BJC could ensure a rapid and sustainable innovation source for future development. In 2020, innovative ideas have been submitted and are under assessment and review, which would be implemented by 2023.

 

 

 

In-house Research & Development

 

Following the integration of technology and innovation throughout the value chain, each respective supply chains continuously seeks to identify, develop, and implement appropriate technology and innovation to improve their respective products and services, one of which is the establishment and improvement of in-house research and development capabilities.

 

Rubia In-house Research & Development

The in-house research and development department at the Rubia Industries Limited (RIL) has longed been committed to continuously identify, and develop new products that meet the needs to consumers, offering consumers quality products, at a cost-effective price, which are delivered in a timely manner. Furthermore, RIL products are developed in accordance with both applicable domestic laws, regulations, and standards such as Cosmetic Products Under the Cosmetics Act, Candy and Chocolate Products under the Food Act, Hazardous substance Products under the Hazardous Substance Act, in addition to the product destination country and international standards such as GMP, HACCP, ISO9001, ISO14001, FSSC22000 and HALAL.

 

Innovative Tissues

Berli Jucker Cellox Co., Ltd (CPC) has longed been committed to develop the best tissue products to serve the needs of everyday customers. Through a combination of in-house research and development and use of existing technologies, CPC has continuously been able to develop and offer customers with superior tissue products above and beyond the normal expectations of customers and to surpasses products currently available in the market to meet their daily needs.

- Cellox: Softer product with more absorbent ability

- Zilk: superior softness

- Maxmo: More durable compared to other paper towel on the market

 

Technology and Innovation at Big C

In 2022, Big C developed a new corporate wide strategy for technology and innovation development which aims to integrates and utilizes technology as a means to connect all operations, enabling a more coherent operations to better serve all customers. This will allow Big C to keep up with the need and demand of modernized customers.

 

Big C Application

In order to optimize services to modernized customers, in 2021, Big C appointed Dr. Piyawan Piyapong as the first executive vice president of the Big C digital platform to over the newly established Big C Digital Business Unit, comprised of tech teams to develop its digital platform. In 2022, the team launched the “Big C PLUS” application to facilitates and enhance its online shopping services in Thailand, targeting to reach 5 million downloads in 2023, an increase from the 2.4 million current users. The new application is more efficient, convenient with improved speed for online and in-person shopping experience, in addition to improve loyalty program, enhancing Big C’s omnichannel commerce to meet customer needs.

 

The NEXT Hackathon 2022

Following the success of the NEXT Hackathon in 2021, in 2022, the NEXT Hackathon was continued and organized under the theme “Process to Innovation”. The program was participated by over 100 NEXTORs, proposing innovative solutions for process improvement with an aim to minimize unnecessary work processes throughout the value chain, improving operational efficiency, identify potential cost saving solutions and develop new work processes. On the Demo Day, 21 teams took to the stage to present their invented and hands-on prototypes. A consequence of the Hackathon resulted in a reduction of over 2 million working hours reduced from obsolete working process, achieved through careful analysis and comparison of working hours before and after the implementation of the project to reduce/cut wasted time from defect, overproduction, waiting time, non/under authorized people, transportation, inventory, motion, and extra processing.

 

Seedtainable Challenge 2022

BJC offers an opportunity for all employees from all departments and businesses within the BJC group to participate in the ‘Seedtainable Challenge 2022’, which aimed to foster an internal innovation culture, creating a DNA of innovation and sustainability for the company. The challenge encouraged employees to identify, analyze and present new business models or new products/services which positively impact the environment, society, economy, and business governance (ESG). The project consisted of open house activities, design thinking workshops, business model and prototyping training, and a pitching day.

A total of 70 employees participated in the project, divided into 25 teams. As a result of this project, BJC has generated 12 new innovative ideas from the 12 teams that made it to the final round. The top 3 winners presented ideas related to, healthcare services, refill station, and health data monitoring application. 

 

Thailand Social Awards 2022

On the 22nd February 2023, Big C Supercenter Company Limited (Big C) was awarded with the Best Brand Performance on social media for the Hypermarket & Supermarket category in the 11th Thailand Social Awards 2022 event, the biggest social media award ceremony in Thailand, organized annually by WISESIGHT (Thailand) for the past ten consecutive years. Big C was awarded for its ability to utilizes social media platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Line and Twitter to drive operational growth, and adapt to the digitized market environment, to create contents which are original, interesting, attractive, informative, and easy to understand for customers/consumers. Created contents includes news, lifestyle content, promotional news and updates, and various other events, inviting customers/consumers participation

 

Highlight Activities