ARTHUR CHULA DE ALWIS
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Jakarta
Summary
Tea innovation professional leading Tea Polyphenol trials with speciality Tea manufacturing & Laboratory teasting, 20+ product concepts per year and 4+ cross-functional projects at once, sensory profiling, and 40+ market benchmark reviews per quarter for international tea and beverage markets. Translates leaf selection, formulation, and quality testing into scalable products that meet consumer, hospitality, and export requirements. Ready to step into Director of Research and Development work across tea, manufacturing, and cross-functional innovation teams.
Overview
3
3
Languages
42
42
years of professional experience
Work History
Head of Tea Development & Education
PT SINAR SOSRO GUNUNG SLAMAT
Jakarta
04.2025 - Current
- Senior tea leadership role reporting to the family CEO, spanning tea education, product development, tea quality, plantation and manufacturing advisory, sensory excellence, factory improvement and organization-wide tea capability development.
- Lead tea product development and innovation, including the creation and refinement of international-standard tea blends for consumer, hospitality and market requirements.
- Apply international tea expertise to leaf selection, blend development, sensory profiling, competitive benchmarking and quality optimization.
- Established and lead the Sosro Tea Institute as a structured professional tea education and capability-building platform; certified 534 Tea Ambassadors and trained 600+ employees and plantation executives.
- Provide strategic tea and technical advisory support across seven estates covering approximately 11,200 hectares.
- Advise on best agricultural practices, tea manufacturing, factory modernization, automation, productivity, process improvement, technology adoption and quality optimization.
- Partner with manufacturing, R&D, commercial and marketing teams to strengthen product quality, innovation and market relevance.
- Conduct tea tasting, brewing analysis and competitor benchmarking with marketing and product-development teams to identify quality gaps and recommend corrective actions against local and international standards.
- Develop specialized leaf-to-cup tea education for management, sales, technical and hospitality audiences.
- Travel extensively across Indonesia to train sales, marketing and factory teams in tea knowledge, product quality and consumer education.
- Conduct field and market visits and report findings and strategic recommendations to senior management and the Board.
Managing Director
HIDDEN HILLS ESTATE (PVT) LTD
01.2020 - 01.2025
- Established and managed a specialty premium tea, cinnamon and diversified agricultural enterprise with responsibility for product development, customized machinery sourcing, manufacturing, P&L, exports and strategic growth.
- Developed premium handcrafted tea products and packaging concepts and expanded export and premium customer channels.
- Conducted product and process development work on high-polyphenol specialty teas, including analytical collaboration with the Tea Research Institute of Sri Lanka.
- Selected by Sri Lanka's Ministry of Trade & Commerce to participate in the Kunming trade exhibition in China.
- Served as a resource person on national television on enterprise development for tea smallholders through value addition using natural herbs and spices.
- Hosted practical Artisanal Tea Processing Technology training for NIPM students and smallholder entrepreneurs; NIPM formally recognized the contribution to its degree program.
General Manager
QUALITEA CEYLON (PVT) LTD
01.2020 - 01.2023
- US$9–10M Turnover | 125 Employees | 3 Facilities
- Led overall company operations reporting to the CEO and Board, with responsibility spanning the Tea Division, procurement, shipping, banking, factory operations, R&D, administration and HR.
- Directed multi-site export manufacturing and modernized/refurbished a major 68,000 sq. ft. production facility.
- Strengthened production planning, inventory control, KPI management and continuous improvement while maintaining ISO 22000, HACCP and GMP standards.
- Directed co-packing operations across 12 locations during the post-COVID period to service export requirements exceeding 100 40-foot containers of tea bags for the Chilean market.
Director
Nuwera Eliya Vally Planations Pvt Ltd
05.2018 - 12.2019
- Led strategic initiatives to enhance operational efficiency across plantation management.
- Developed and implemented sustainability practices to improve environmental impact.
- Oversaw budgeting processes, ensuring financial integrity and resource allocation.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams to drive project execution and goal alignment.
Director & Factory Manager
TEA TANG (PVT) LTD TEA TECH SERVICES
01.2006 - 01.2017
- US$15M Export Business | 212 Employees | 3–4M kg Annual Production
- Directed export manufacturing across three production facilities and supplied major international tea and beverage customers including Twinings, Ito En and Kirin.
- Designed and implemented Japanese-standard tea-cleaning capability for high-purity tea used in RTD beverage production and participated in green-tea manufacturing trials with Ito En.
- Commended by Tea Tang management for organizing and upgrading Tea Tang and Tea Tech factory facilities for S. Ishimitsu/Kirin evaluation, including prompt corrective action following audit feedback.
- Developed employees and quality teams, with management communications specifically recognizing leadership in building worker confidence, participation and quality improvement.
- Modernized factories into semi-automated production units operating to ISO, Organic and Halal certification standards.
- Participated in international trade fairs in Japan and Germany with the family Director.
- Visited IMA in Italy for the procurement of IMA C27 tea-bagging equipment and subsequently completed machine-operation training.
- Undertook plantation and tea-industry visits in Japan, Kenya and Rwanda and business travel to Italy, Switzerland, France, Japan and Indonesia for marketing, sales and joint-venture collaboration.
Plantation Executive
Director
Colombo , Colombo
02.1985 - 11.2005
- Built extensive expertise in plantation management, tea manufacturing—including Orthodox, Orthodox/RV, CTC, Green Tea and Specialty Handmade Tea—factory operations, health & safety, ISO systems, workforce leadership, productivity and tea quality.
- Elpitiya Plantations formally recognized estate and factory standards and tea quality achieved under my management, including commendation for achieving a record yield of 1,660 kg.
Education
TQM - Problom Solving in Workplace -
AOTS, Japan
JapanStrategic Human Resource Management - undefined
Administrative Staff College of India
IndiaSGS Professional Development Program - QUALITY CONTROL CERTIFICATION
SGS GLOBLA
Colombo Sri LankaAmerican Field Scholarship - High School
Opotiki High School
New ZealandNIPM - TEA MANUFACTERING & Factory Practices
NIPM
Colombo, Sri LankaHigh School -
Opotiki High School
New Zealand01-1983
Skills
Tea innovation
Tea product development
Tea blending & formulation
Sensory evaluation & tasting
Core product optimization
Global sourcing
Manufacturing scale-up
Quality & food safety
Packaging & value-added manufacturing
Team development
New product commercialization
Research and development strategy
Shelf-life testing
Pilot plant trials
Supplier quality management
Regulatory compliance
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Sri Lanka | Indonesia | Japan | Singapore | Myanmar | China | Hong Kong | Taiwan | South Korea | United Kingdom | Germany | Italy | Switzerland | France | Kenya | Rwanda
PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION & INDUSTRY CONTRIBUTION
- Professional Doctor of Philosophy (RPEL) — Tea Science, Technology & Industry Leadership, The Thames International University, Paris, France — private institutional recognition of prior professional experience, achievements and industry contribution; non-state-accredited.
- Honorary Fellow Membership Nominee — National Institute of Plantation Management (NIPM), Sri Lanka, in recognition of career contributions to the plantation industry.
- Industry Resource Person — Artisanal Tea Processing Technology, NIPM, recognized for providing practical tea-processing education to degree students.
- Formal employer commendations for factory upgrading, international customer readiness, quality improvement, team leadership and plantation performance.
Timeline
Head of Tea Development & Education
PT SINAR SOSRO GUNUNG SLAMAT
04.2025 - Current
Managing Director
HIDDEN HILLS ESTATE (PVT) LTD
01.2020 - 01.2025
General Manager
QUALITEA CEYLON (PVT) LTD
01.2020 - 01.2023
Director
Nuwera Eliya Vally Planations Pvt Ltd
05.2018 - 12.2019
Director & Factory Manager
TEA TANG (PVT) LTD TEA TECH SERVICES
01.2006 - 01.2017
Plantation Executive
Director
02.1985 - 11.2005
Strategic Human Resource Management - undefined
Administrative Staff College of India
TQM - Problom Solving in Workplace -
AOTS, Japan
SGS Professional Development Program - QUALITY CONTROL CERTIFICATION
SGS GLOBLA
American Field Scholarship - High School
Opotiki High School
NIPM - TEA MANUFACTERING & Factory Practices
NIPM
High School -
Opotiki High School