Tate & Lyle launches ALFIE, an automated lab in Singapore for more efficient mouthfeel R&D and customer solutions

ALFIE will serve as the company's Asia Pacific hub, and will be operated by on-site scientists in Singapore as well as scientists in the US virtually.

Tate & Lyle, a global provider of ingredient solutions for healthier food & beverages, announced the launch of its ‘Automated Laboratory for Ingredient Experimentation’ (ALFIE) on 24 October 2024, at the Customer Collaboration and Innovation Centre in Singapore.  

Leveraging automated robotics, ALFIE aims to revolutionise the delivery of mouthfeel solutions for customers, providing faster and more accurate ingredient design accelerating the speed-to-market for new products. 

This multi-million-pound investment is said to mark a major step in Tate & Lyle’s innovation journey as ALFIE has the capacity to perform characterisation tests at 10 times the current speed, bolstered by advanced predictive modelling capabilities.  

Featuring two interconnected robotic systems with complete connectivity and seamless data flow, ALFIE enables rapid ingredient design and solution testing, greatly enhancing the efficiency of sample production, characterisation, and modelling to deliver new customer solutions at a greater pace. 

With support from the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), this investment makes the Singapore lab as Tate & Lyle’s Asia Pacific hub for mouthfeel R&D and customer solutions. While ALFIE will be operated by Tate & Lyle’s on-site scientists in Singapore, it is also connected to Tate & Lyle’s Customer Collaboration and Innovation Centre in Hoffman Estates, near Chicago, US, where scientists will be able to operate ALFIE virtually. 

Nick Hampton, Chief Executive, Tate & Lyle, said that this investment will transform the new product development process for the company’s mouthfeel solutions and empower its’ scientists to accelerate experiment design, analysis, and delivery of innovative solutions for customers.   

"Our goal was to create a revolutionary tool that will better predict product performance in food manufacturing, allowing us to create faster and improved solutions to customer challenges.  

"ALFIE’s cutting-edge technology will enable us to push the boundaries of food innovation, speed up our customers' innovation cycles, improve consumer choice for healthier food and beverages, and help shape the future of the food industry,” he added. 

Marcus Dass, Senior Vice President (Global Enterprises), EDB, added that the opening of ALFIE reflects Singapore’s position as a "trusted hub for the region and for cutting-edge innovation in the food and nutrition space."  

"We look forward to the lab accelerating ingredient solution discoveries and enriching Asia’s food innovation ecosystem."

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