Herbalife Nutrition to open innovation center in 4th quarter

Herbalife Nutrition, the United States-based nutrition product manufacturer, will put an innovation center into operation in China in the fourth quarter of this year, and deploy more resources into digital-related business to stay competitive in this fast-growing market, a senior executive said.

As a three-time participant at the China International Import Expo, the company has not only exhibited items made in its plant in China, such as a protein mix drink, during the ongoing third CIIE, but also showcased more than 50 products in over 20 categories, including weight management, nutrition and snacks, brought from the overseas market to the event held in Shanghai.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has changed many companies' growth plans, Woody Guo, senior vice-president of Herbalife Nutrition, and president for business in China, said the company has put quality and digitization as the main themes at its booth this year.

In the context of the new normal of the pandemic, Guo said holding the CIIE as scheduled not only reflects China's achievements in fighting the pandemic, but also highlights China's firm strategy on openness and inclusiveness, cooperation and innovation, mutual benefit, as well as the nation's responsibility as a major country to actively promote global cooperation and facilitate the recovery of the world economy as soon as possible.

To better support the "Healthy China 2030" initiative, Guo said that backed by a quality control system formed by 14 parts, including selecting quality raw material, manufacturing, test and product delivery, Herbalife Nutrition has already established a complete traceability system to further control its operations via digital information management.

The company has invested over $300 million to ensure product quality and further optimize its supply chain globally between 2010 and 2020.

"China's further opening-up will bring more development opportunities to multinational companies. Our development will be more diversified," he added.

Herbalife Nutrition runs three manufacturing bases in Nanjing and Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, and Changsha in Central China's Hunan province. About 95 percent of its production material is from the domestic market. Its global inspection and testing center, based in Changsha, also is responsible for overseeing the quality of products manufactured in Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Central and South America.