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Product Magazines: Product Trends |
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POUND for pound, the soy bean contains more protein than beef steak. In northern China, millions of people have drunk the highly nutritious soy milk as a breakfast food, served with fried dough strips called youtiao, since the 13th century.
In the West, concerns surrounding the saturated fats and cholesterol contained in dairy products have encouraged people to look for alternative sources of protein and calcium. Many have chosen soybean products.
Soy milk is laborious to prepare. Dried soy beans must be soaked, ground to a paste, carefully heated and finally strained. This process requires care and attention.
LTL Development Ltd, from Hong Kong, and Both Eagle Man Ltd, with a factory in Shenzhen, China, have formed a joint venture to make and market an automatic soymilk making machine.
The electrically powered machine operates by grinding the beans and heating the water at the same time in a 1.3-litre-capacity transparent jug. Attached to the lid of the jug is an electric heating element, and a mini liquidiser housed in a perforated steel cylinder. The user puts the beans in the cylinder and pours the water into the jug. When the power is connected through the plug socket in the lid, the machine grinds the beans and heats the water.
An overflow sensor attached to the base of the lid alerts the user to any potential spills, and a rubber ring seals the lid to the jug to cut down on evaporation.
After 17 minutes an indicator on the lid lights up and the soy milk is ready. It can be drunk hot or allowed to cool. Alternatively, the milk can be poured into a traditional wooden bucket, available from the company at additional cost, and turned into bean curd with the addition of a thickening agent.
Mike Tang, manager of LTL in Hong Kong, says, "There are other soy milk machines on the market, but ours is one of the few that are designed for home use". He says that the AC220V unit "has sold well in China for the past two years and in Hong Kong for the last 18 months". The joint venture is developing other markets in Malaysia and Indonesia.
The US is a large potential market. Tang says, "We are currently in the process of acquiring the required safety certificates for the US market and we will manufacture a 110V model for them." The 110V model will also be available to retailers in Taiwan.
Manufacture takes place in a 600-square-metre factory,which employs 30 workers. Minimum order is 100 pieces and delivery takes 14 days. Prices are available on request.
Written by Roger Cave
MORE and more of the information that we use in business and domestic life is stored on compact discs. Available are audio CDs, CD ROMs and VCDs, with more disc developments on the horizon.
Discs are usually stored in the plastic containers in which they are purchased. They can easily be lost, mismatched with their boxes, scratched or covered in dust. A cabinet that can store 100 CDs in an ordered and dust free environment can therefore be of great benefit.
Well Mark Int'l Ltd has developed just such a cabinet, a neatly designed container that allows users to view the contents before extracting the disc that they want.
The cabinet holds 100 discs vertically on a revolving track controlled by an electric motor. Discs are held in pairs, back to back, so that the labels can be easily read. As the discs move towards the front of the cabinet, they fan out and are illuminated by a viewing light, so selection is easy.
When not in use, the interior of the cabinet is kept clean and dust-free by a roll-top cabinet decorated with an "Italian bund" design imported from Germany.
Other materials used in the manufacture of the cabinet include the tiny two-centimetre Mabuchi motor, which is imported from Japan; ABS plastic from the US and Japan; and the metal drive chain, which comes from China.
The product can be powered by batteries (2xAA batteries, included) or through a jack facility at the base and rear of the cabinet. As the motor runs on 3V, the current must be reduced to the right level. "The adaptors will be optionally available and will conform to safety regulations in Japan, Europe and the US," says Preston Ma, Well Mark's managing director.
Since a recent advertising campaign, Ma says, "We have had many inquiries, some from Europe, Singapore, Japan, the Middle East and locally in Hong Kong. We are currently preparing an instruction manual in eight different languages."
Looking to the future, Ma says that the cabinet will be available in different colours to appeal to a wide variety of consumers.
The FOB Hong Kong price ranges between US$25 and US$28 according to quantity. Application for patents is underway, and the company's Revom trademark has been registered.
Delivery takes 4-8 weeks for the minimum order of 100 units.
Written by Roger Cave
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