Bel Group, France, inaugurated a plant in Binh Duong province, Vietnam, to produce The Laughing Cow cheese. The new production site is aimed at supplying the Vietnamese market and supporting the group's growth in Southeast Asia.

“I’m very pleased today to be inaugurating this Bel plant in Vietnam, which marks another step in our development in Southeast Asia,” says Antoine Fiévet, chairman and CEO. “The Laughing Cow is an iconic brand here, and I am delighted that we are strengthening the group’s presence in this country to supply Southeast Asian markets. Bel’s international business model helps balance our growth opportunities and risk, while serving to locate our production facilities closer to consumer markets.”

The production site was built in 11 months, and integrates all of Bel’s manufacturing expertise to deliver the highest quality products, food safety and environmental performance.

“As soon as we fired it up, the plant rapidly attained a high level of performance,” says Hubert Mayet, general manager of manufacturing and technical operations, research and innovation. “This site was built according to our sustainable plant model, which blends productivity with preserving resources. For example, the roof reflects sunlight, and a particularly effective insulation system was installed to reduce energy consumption as much as possible. Designing our plants based on these fundamentals allows us to continue innovating and hitting new operating efficiency and environmental preservation targets.”

The plant’s teams produce over 3 million single-serving portions of The Laughing Cow each week for the entire Vietnamese market, as well as for the Cambodian, Philippine, Singaporean and Thai markets.

Situated on 20,000 square meters of land, the plant itself spans 10,000 square meters, and can double its current production capacity to meet increased demand in the years ahead. The plant employs 120 people.