Case Study I
Background:
Customer A is a cigarette manufacturer with good market share in Eastern Europe. Customer wants to enter Heated Tobacco Product as the leading HTP brands are growing fast. However, they do not have any experience of making HTP sticks. When they approached the European machinery manufacturers, they realized that it’s more than buying standard machines and tobacco leaves to deliver HTP, not mentioning a lead time more than 12 months to receive machines.
Solution with Hanwa:
Both companies started conversations on this project. After Hanwa team understood Customer A’s situation, we offered service to design the product with prototypes at a small cost. Available tobacco leaves were assessed. Flavors were developed in house by Hanwa. Both sticks and device prototypes were made for Customer A’s testing panel. After the product designs were approved, Customer A signed a machinery and training contract with Hanwa. Within 4 months, rod maker, stick combiner and packer were finished and delivered to customer’s factory. Hanwa sent a technical team and coached customer’s production team for about one month when machines were installed and commissioned. At the same time, Customer A produced recon bobbins. And Hanwa handed over supplier resources for filters, papers and devices to customer. In the nineth month, the first batch of four HTP flavors and heating devices were launched and distributed to the local market with very good feedback. Since the launch, Customer A has been purchasing recon bobbins and flavors from Hanwa. New flavors were developed and launched at a speed of about one flavor every few months.
Case Study II:
Background:
Customer X is a cigarette distributor with a long history of presence in Central Asia. A lot of its retail chain customers were asking for Heated Tobacco products. Customer X wanted to step into the HTP market but didn’t have any products to sell.
Solution with Hanwa:
Hanwa Group offered a finished product quotation to Customer X. The starting MoQ was lowered in order to enable customer try the market. Nevertheless, Hanwa fine tuned the flavors according to the market study from the customer. As Customer X does not have packaging design team, Hanwa’s team designed the logo and packaging for free. Within two months, an initial order for finished goods was placed to Hanwa. Two flavors were launched in the target market in the 4th month from project beginning.
Case Study III
Background:
Customer Y is a world leading cigarette manufacturer with its own HTP products successfully launched. However, due to the earlier years’ of promotion of non-tobacco products, Customer Y had interests of developing non-tobacco HTP sticks in several markets. Within these markets the governments do not charge tobacco exercise tax for non-tobacco HTP sticks containing nicotine. Customer Y didn’t have any experience of making non-tobacco recons.
Solution with Hanwa:
Hanwa had a long time study and manufacturing of non-tobacco HTP sticks. Hanwa started supplying non-tobacco HTP sticks to Japan from 2019. Therefore Hanwa started co-development with Customer Y on non-tobacco recon. The unique primary processes turned out to be a wonderful result with nicotine for Customer Y. The taste, aerosol and nicotine hit were beyond the expectations. Customer Y immediately started a contract. Since Hanwa has a large base of recon manufacturing in Southeast Asia, the production of this new recon started successfully in the sixth month from the project beginning.