Nourishing the future through innovation. Aboitiz Foods team members from the Philippines and Indonesia celebrate their winning breakthroughs during the “Breakthrough Day” of The MILL – a company-wide platform that empowers employees to innovate practical, scalable solutions to real-world challenges in food and agribusiness.
In an era where Asia’s food and agriculture landscape faces mounting pressures—from volatile raw material costs to the urgent need for sustainable systems—evolving continuously to remain resilient and competitive has never been more essential.
Adapting to this rapid transformation, Aboitiz Foods is cultivating a culture that empowers its people to create practical, scalable solutions to improve performance across the production cycle.
This commitment comes to life through The Mill, a company-wide product innovation competition built on the core values of teamwork and innovation. Short for The Mill-ion Dollar Idea, The Mill, which started in 2024, encourages team members to collaborate, ideate, and explore forward-thinking concepts that can enhance the products and services of the company.
Winners of the 2025 The Mill innovation challenge talk about the journey behind their winning ideas.
Data-led strategy boosting feed efficiency
Team Indonesia’s Top-winning Project
For the Indonesia team – composed of Rifki Putra Adimulia, Yasmin Firdaus, Krisna Yulian Irwanto, and Satria Al Yuda – winning first place was the result of deep technical expertise and confidence in their data-driven approach.
Their winning project, titled “Optimization of Liver Function to Boost Broiler Performance,” explored the use of bile acid as an alternative raw material to improve fat digestion efficiency for broiler poultry.
Adimulia, Assistant Manager for Nutrition Research and Development, knew their idea can contribute to something bigger. “The MIll is a platform where we can showcase our ideas that help improve our products and performance, ultimately benefiting the company.”
“It challenged us,” shared Firdaus, Junior Nutritionist from Gold Coin’s Bekasi mill, adding, “But it gave us a chance to collaborate with other departments, and turn those ideas into real impact for our business.”
The team credits their top finish to having an “Always Better” mindset – a behavior that fuels Aboitiz Foods’ high-performance culture, encouraging team members to think creatively, continually seek improvement, and make informed decisions based on data.
Turning challenges into alternatives. Faced with surging corn prices, Yasmin Firdaus and Krisna Yulian Irwanto demonstrated cross-functional collaboration to develop a “Snack Meal” solution that upcycles waste into high-energy feed, maintaining quality in a volatile market.
Reimagining practical, sustainable solutions
Team Indonesia’s “Snack Meal” Idea
Firdaus and Irwanto teamed up on another innovation to help address a daily operational challenge: maintaining feed quality without passing costs on to farmers.
By reimagining fast-food fried chicken coating to a “snack meal,” they developed a practical, cost-efficient solution turning waste into a viable, high-energy alternative source for feed.
Irwanto shared, “As nutritionists, we always have to look for alternative solutions, even unconventional ones, to stay competitive in a volatile market.”
Despite being based in different locations, the pair relied on digital tools and close coordination with production, warehouse, and purchasing teams.
“We didn’t do this alone,” Firdaus said. “Our value behavior to pursue shared wins really guided us—we celebrate this with the teams who helped make it possible.”
Their second-place finish highlighted how Aboitiz Foods’ collaborative culture turns individual ideas into operational success.
From byproduct to breakthrough
Team Philippines’ Project Silica
With just days before the deadline for The Mill, Rolando “Bon” Magdadaro Jr., Kent Andrew Tuble, and Mery Jane Bandolon from Pilmico Iligan Plant in the Philippines developed a valorization strategy for rice husk ash—often treated as waste—into a desiccant technology for sustainable feed preservation.
During the presentation, the team highlighted the benefits of converting rice husk ash into silica desiccants, which could potentially address moisture in animal feeds, especially during transportation, reduce waste and carbon emissions, and generate a new income stream for the organization.
For Bandolon, the experience reinforced the power of collaboration. “What started as an idea formed within the four corners of the office gradually turned into something bigger. It showed how collective commitment can turn simple ideas into meaningful results.”
Magdadaro shared that their third-place finish motivates them to do better and aim for the top spot as they prepare early for the next The MILL. He said, “Ultimately, these ideas are not simply for compliance; they are meant to enhance our processes.”
Cultivating talent, fueling innovation
Across all winning teams, one theme stands out: Aboitiz Foods’ commitment to empowering its people by nourishing their potential and passion to do “Always Better.”
From lab ideas to cross-country collaboration and science-driven breakthroughs, the stories of The Mill winners reflect how Aboitiz Foods is looking ahead to serve better and to build expertise for quality—by investing in the people who sustainably feed Asia’s growth from mill to meal.