Veteran dried bee hoon producers, People Bee Hoon partners with RoPlus to fuse technology in producing the traditional bee hoon.
Bee hoon or rice vermicelli, is a well-loved staple ingredient across Southeast Asia. From Singapore's satay bee hoon to Malaysia’s bee hoon goreng—these noodles warm up family dinners and breathe life into numerous Asian dishes.
Founded in 1943 under its flagship ‘Chilli’ brand, People Bee Hoon Factory products have been a mainstay in pantries across Singapore. The company manufactures dried rice vermicelli from rice grains sourced from Thailand to be used by homecooks, restaurants, food courts and many others. In an effort to introduce bee hoon dishes to more families within and beyond Asia, People Bee Hoon’s methods have evolved from labour-intensive, handmade processes to semi-automated production, all while maintaining a distinctive taste and fragrance.
However, the delicate nature of bee hoon meant that some processes still required manual labour. This has further intrigued the People Bee Hoon to explore new machinery and technology to automate production to ensure consistency and quality of the products. With IPI’s help, People Bee Hoon partnered with RoPlus, a smart automation solutions provider equipped with soft robotic gripper technologies.
People Bee Hoon faced two production bottlenecks: folding the bee hoon and the secondary packaging process. The latter involves manually transferring the dried bee hoon bags to plastic bags or carton boxes. As the company began exporting in 2011, production capacity had to be increased.
“At first, we relied on hiring more staff to keep up with the demand. However, doing this proved to be unsustainable and was not increasing our capacity fast enough,” shared People Bee Hoon Factory Director, Desmond Goh.
The company explored various automation solutions offered by robot arm original equipment manufacturers but the irregular sizes of the packs and the fragile nature of the bee hoon proved to be an obstacle.
In May 2021, People Bee Hoon sought out RoPlus’ reconfigurable hybrid robotic gripper technology through IPI’s Innovation Marketplace, which offers a list of curated enabling technologies. As a spin-off under the National University of Singapore’s Graduate Research Innovation Programme, Roplus is commercialising soft robotic gripper technologies for food and fast-moving consumer goods production use.
“Traditional rigid grippers struggle to work with delicate food items like tofu and pudding. These grippers usually consist of fixed gripper bases, which also limit its ability to grip a diverse range of items,” said RoPlus Chief Marketing Officer Han Qian Qian
To accommodate a wide range of products, RoPlus’ soft robotic grippers incorporate pneumatic pressure sensors and programmable rigidity of finger segment technology to handle delicate items of various shapes and sizes.
For People Bee Hoon, the versatility of RoPlus’ gripping solutions perfectly complements the bee hoon’s meticulous production process. During its engagement with People Bee Hoon, RoPlus customised automated solutions for the two production bottlenecks of the factory.
By closely observing how human workers fold the bee hoon, RoPlus designed a wet bee hoon folding machine that mimics the folding motion, making the folding more consistent and less labour-intensive.
“We managed to save around 1,300 man hours per month. The machine made the folding less physically exhaustive and allowed us to place older workers in the department and redeploy excess manpower,” said Goh.
In the next phase, the teams will look into the secondary packaging project. To automate the secondary packaging process without damaging the delicate bee hoon packs, RoPlus designed a gripper that grips the bee hoon at its four corners. “It was almost impossible to squeeze grippers between the packed bee hoon and the box without damaging the product,” shared Qian Qian.
Both companies recognise the role IPI played to their mutual success. Goh says that People Bee Hoon remains on the lookout for further collaborators introduced by IPI to modernise its business. For RoPlus, IPI’s platform allowed them to testbed their technology and get a step closer to commercialising their solutions.
“IPI’s tech matching is very beneficial for start-up companies or SMEs like us because it not only helps us find potential partners, it also brings in clients who would like to explore our technologies,” shared Qian Qian.
People Bee Hoon Factory faced challenges scaling production as demand increased, particularly after expanding into export markets in 2011. Although the company had transitioned from fully manual production to semi-automated processes, several steps remained labour-intensive due to the delicate and irregular nature of bee hoon.
Two key production bottlenecks persisted:
Folding the wet bee hoon required careful handling to maintain product integrity, making it difficult to automate without risking breakage.
Similarly, the secondary packaging step involved manually transferring fragile bee hoon packs into plastic bags or cartons, a process ill-suited to conventional automation due to the product's irregular sizes and fragility.
These tasks required careful manual handling to prevent breakage, making conventional robotic automation unsuitable. Attempts to adopt standard robotic solutions from equipment manufacturers were unsuccessful, as rigid grippers could not handle the delicate noodles without causing damage. As demand increased, the company initially tried to address the issue by hiring more staff, but this approach proved unsustainable and did not sufficiently boost capacity. The need for a more effective, scalable, and gentle automation solution became increasingly urgent to ensure consistent product quality and operational efficiency.
IPI Singapore facilitated a partnership between People Bee Hoon and RoPlus through its Innovation Marketplace, connecting the company with a smart automation solutions provider specialising in soft robotic gripper technologies.
Working closely with People Bee Hoon, RoPlus studied the production workflow and developed customised automation solutions to address the key bottlenecks.
For the folding process, RoPlus observed human workers and designed a wet bee hoon folding machine that mimics the precise folding motion required, ensuring consistency while reducing physical strain on workers. This custom solution allowed the company to redeploy older workers and optimise manpower allocation.
For the secondary packaging process, RoPlus developed a specialised gripper capable of gently gripping bee hoon packs at four corners, enabling automated transfer into packaging without damaging the product. The programmable rigidity and pneumatic pressure sensors in RoPlus’ soft grippers allowed the system to adapt to the irregular shapes and delicate texture of the bee hoon, overcoming the limitations of conventional rigid automation.
Through IPI Singapore’s technology matching, People Bee Hoon was able to adopt an automation solution tailored to its production needs, improving operational efficiency while preserving the quality of its traditional products.
Both companies recognise the role IPI Singapore played in their mutual success. For People Bee Hoon, the partnership opened opportunities to work with new technology providers to modernise its production processes. For RoPlus, a startup specialising in soft robotic gripper technologies, the collaboration provided a valuable testbed to demonstrate and refine its solution in a real manufacturing environment, supporting its journey towards broader commercialisation.
"We managed to save around 1,300 man hours per month. The machine made the folding less physically exhaustive and allowed us to place older workers in the department and redeploy excess manpower."
"IPI’s tech matching is very beneficial for start-up companies or SMEs like us because it not only helps us find potential partners, it also brings in clients who would like to explore our technologies."
Founded in 1943 under its flagship ‘Chilli’ brand, People Bee Hoon Factory has been a staple in Singaporean kitchens for generations. The company manufactures dried rice vermicelli from Thai rice grains, supplying homecooks, restaurants, and food courts. However, as demand grew and the company expanded into export markets, People Bee Hoon sought to modernise production by exploring new machinery and automation technologies that could improve production efficiency while ensuring consistent quality without damaging the fragile product.