dsm-firmenich expands operations in Indonesia

INDONESIA – dsm-firmenich has opened a new office in Jakarta and completed an expansion of its Karawang manufacturing facility in Indonesia, bringing new application capabilities and increased production capacity. 

The Jakarta office brings together teams from the company’s three Business Units: Taste, Texture & Health; Perfumery & Beauty; and Health, Nutrition & Care. The facility is certified by the Green Building Council of Indonesia. 

For Taste, Texture & Health, the office includes a baked goods application lab and a pilot plant for dairy ultra-high temperature applications. It is also supported by expertise in local sweet goods, savoury applications and flavour creation. 

Dedicated customer co-creation and innovation spaces are designed to enhance efficiency, strengthen collaboration and accelerate innovation. 

“Indonesia has been an important part of our story for more than 35 years,” said Timothy Elisafan, Vice President Taste, Asia Pacific, dsm-firmenich. “It’s one of Southeast Asia’s biggest markets and our new facilities will help accelerate our growth.” 

dsm-firmenich has also completed the expansion of its Karawang manufacturing facility, which the company said will increase production capacity and strengthen sustainable manufacturing to meet growing customer demand. 

The expanded facility features new drying technology for reaction and top-note products, capable of processing both high-fat and high-protein products. New culinary blending capabilities have also been added to improve efficiency. 

The Karawang site operates on 100% green electricity. Electric heating is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by about 300 metric tons annually, while heat recovery is expected to lower energy consumption by about 16%. 

The investment comes alongside increased flavour production activity in Indonesia. Givaudan opened a CHF50 million facility in Cikarang on July 3, 2026, with 24,000 square metres of production space for savoury, sweet and snack flavour powders. 

Dsm-firmenich partners Bolts PBC 

Meanwhile, dsm-firmenich has partnered with artificial intelligence company Boltz PBC to accelerate the discovery and development of flavour and fragrance molecules. The collaboration will integrate Boltz’s biomolecular foundation models into dsm-firmenich’s ingredient discovery processes. 

The companies said the technology will enable researchers to model interactions between molecular structures and specialised proteins responsible for taste and smell. They will also develop exclusive AI models using dsm-firmenich’s sensory science expertise. 

The tools are designed to predict molecular structures, generate potential compounds and assess interactions with taste and odour receptors. Researchers will have access to Boltz’s platform, including Boltz Lab, its application programming interface and integration with large language model agents. 

The partnership will also involve direct collaboration between Boltz researchers and dsm-firmenich scientists, combining molecular modelling with expertise in taste, odour and sensory science.  

The AI tools will allow scientists to use natural language to direct complex molecular design and prediction workflows during ingredient development. Researchers will use capabilities to explore molecular possibilities within the company’s ingredient innovation processes. 

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