A Date with Bloggers 2012: Part1 Julies Factory Visit

I was glad that I was invited by my friend Lim Kang Xiang as the organiser of the A Date with Bloggers event to Melaka to have an interaction with other food bloggers.  Hit the jump to read more on my trip.

The entire trip was actually quite fun and the best thing is it was fully sponsored by the sponsors. The main things which are sponsored are food, accommodation and transportation. Some of the sponsors are Julies, Mahkota Parade, Malacca Hainan Youth, Sayang Sayang Guest House, 11Bistro, Mei Zhong Yuan, Uncle Keong Delicacies, Restoran Anak Nyonya, Jonker Gallery and many more... This event is also supported by the Ministry of Tourism Melaka.

So my girlfriend and I went to Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS) bus station to board a bus together with other bloggers to Melaka at 8.30am. The bus was parked so far away from the bus station as it was not allowed at the station since the bus is not from TBS. We had to carry our luggage for quite a distance and finally at 10am the bus starts to depart for Melaka.
The journey to Melaka was actually quite short and we managed to arrive at around 12pm. So our very first visiting location was Julie's Factory. It was my 1st time visiting a factory producing food. I've only been to factories designing electronic chips as those were thought and organised by my university course. 

This is me outside the factory.

Then we went in the factory for a short briefing about Julie's before really seeing how is their biscuits being made.

Everyone in the briefing room

The free biscuits that were offered to us. Its really kind of Julie's to give us so much biscuits.

My girlfriend aka Swan enjoying her Julie's biscuits.

We were briefed by the General Manager of the factory and a few co-workers of his.

Of cause in every factory visit, everyone will be briefed on the safety and hygiene measures first before being allowed into the factory and Julie's was no exception. They care about the safety of their visitors which is a good point. Since this is a food processing factory, hygiene is an important factor. We wont want to consume food which is not hygienic right? So Julie's also actually have some hygiene features which to be obeyed in the factory which I will briefly mention later.

Next we were briefed on the history of Julie's factory. It was first established in MALAYSIA in the year 1980. Yes you saw it correctly. It was founded in MALAYSIA. Its a MALAYSIA brand. Proud to have Julie's as a Malaysia brand leh as it is recognised world wide. Now Julie's is expanding their factory and will be having their 3rd factory real soon. So some of the certification received by Julie's are 2001: ISO 9001- 2000, 2007 GMP and many more. They also received many awards in different categories which I kind of forgotten.

So do you know what are Julie's top selling biscuits? 1 of it is their crackers, next is their sandwich biscuits and finally their wafer rolls which is their Love Letter. They have other biscuits for sale too such as their assorted biscuits and their new oat cookies. Their biscuits are exported world wide ne. Amazing right?

Their process flow are also briefly explained to us. There's the production, packing and quality assurance process. In the production process there are a few steps taken such as ingredient weighing, mixing, fermentation, forming, baking and cooling. As for packing: metal detection, sandwiching, wrapping, weight checking, cartoning and storage. For the last process it includes: raw material store, packaging material store, flour tanker, magnetic separator, olein filter, carbon filter, cloth filter, chlorine test, water activity meter, moisture analyser and air quality monitoring. See they take so many measures to keep their food safe for consumption leh.

Julie's also have a tag line now which is Share The Love. It is actually a way for them to give back to society. They had done many projects which amazed me. I think there's enough of words and time for pictures right?

We had to sign a health declaration form before entering the factory.

Me in their 'clean suit' before entering the factory

The other happy visitors. :)

Group photo before entering the factory

Too bad no camera was allowed in the factory. So I was not able to take any pictures of the real processing flow. After seeing everything in the factory, only 1 word can describe my experience: AWESOME... The way they manage their biscuits is very orderly as they hire foreigners to work, they implement visual instructions which are easily understood by everyone. They also take very good care of their employees leh. How I wish I could work in that factory too.
After the factory visit, Julie's treated us to lunch the their very own Julie's cafe.

The food served was nice... See how many people lining up for the food...

This is my portion for my lunch... Dare not eat too much because I know there will be a second round later...

Dessert during lunch

Cheese sandwich and peanut butter sandwich biscuits... Julie's top selling biscuits...

The butter crackers and oat 25 which is made up of 10 types of grains...

The love letter which I like...

Meal enjoyment...

Milo enjoyment...

The last group photo before we left the factory...

Swan hugging her souvenir given to all the bloggers after the factory visit...

Overall I do really enjoy the whole factory visit not because I got lots of souvenir but because I manage to see how biscuits are made freshly and maybe know a bit or 2 about Julie's biscuits which is 1 of my favourite brand. Do stay tuned for part2 of my A Date with Bloggers in Melaka trip. ;) Fun fact: Actually we were told that each biscuit factory will be the best in certain biscuits and not all. Julie's is gonna launch a new raisin biscuit called Sultana. Hope I get to taste it 1st before it is sold in the market.