Apirak Kosayodhin’s Vision to Transform LACO into a Data-Driven Business, from an Agricultural Enterprise to a Global Food Company with SAP and NEXUS
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In the modern food industry, growth is no longer driven by production capacity alone. It is driven by an organization’s ability to connect data across the entire supply chain, make faster decisions, and turn innovation into a competitive advantage.
This is the strategic challenge that Apirak Kosayodhin, CEO of Lanna Agro Industry Co., Ltd., or LACO, is driving as he leads the organization’s transformation from a strong agricultural business into a global food company powered by data as a key engine for growth.
LACO has grown from an agro-industrial business for more than 33 years, with its foundation rooted in the promotion of Edamame, or Japanese green soybeans, in collaboration with a network of farmers in Northern Thailand. The company has since expanded its exports to Japan, the United States, Thailand, and more than 20 countries worldwide.
Mr. Apirak described this goal as a structural transformation for LACO:
“Today, LACO’s goal is not only to expand from Frozen Edamame into new products such as Crispy Edamame and Ready-to-Eat Food, but to elevate the organization into a Global Food Company with data at the core of our business management.”
From Data to Decision: When Data Becomes LACO’s Core Strategy, Not Just a Supporting System
For Mr. Apirak, LACO’s transformation began with the recognition that the food industry is undergoing significant change. Modern consumers are placing greater importance on health, convenience, safety, and transparency of product origins, while businesses are facing volatility in raw materials, climate conditions, supply chains, and global market demand.
One of LACO’s key strengths lies in its close connection with farmers and upstream raw materials. However, in an era where global markets increasingly prioritize traceability and ESG, relationships with upstream sources alone are no longer enough. Upstream data must be connected with production, quality, sales, and consumer data.
In this context, “data” is no longer merely a tool for recording business performance. It has become a strategic asset that enables the organization to identify risks, opportunities, and growth directions more quickly. By adopting RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, LACO is able to elevate the Farm-to-Table concept to the next level by transforming data across the entire supply chain into actionable insights for real business decision-making.
This is the core of Data-Driven LACO: turning data from farms, factories, and markets into insights for business planning, innovation development, and risk management.
Why SAP Is the Foundational Digital Core of LACO’s Data-Driven Organization
LACO’s adoption of RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud is therefore more than an ERP system upgrade. It represents the establishment of a new organizational foundation. SAP, a world-class standard solution, is positioned as the Digital Core that connects data across every business function, enabling the organization to operate more cohesively as one integrated system, reduce limitations caused by fragmented data, and empower executives to make faster, more accurate, and real-time data-driven decisions.
For LACO, this is the foundation of becoming a Data-Driven Business that can compete in the global market. A modern food organization must be able to manage the entire value chain, from upstream to midstream and downstream operations, covering farmers, raw materials, factories, product quality, sales, exports, and consumers.
When all of this data is connected, the business can systematically build upon it to advance traceability, ESG, AI, and new product development.
NEXUS as a Strategic Implementation Partner
However, world-class technology can only deliver real business outcomes when it is designed to align with actual business context. This is why NEXUS plays a key role as LACO’s Strategic Implementation Partner.
LACO trusts NEXUS for its proven experience in ERP and SAP S/4HANA consulting and implementation across diverse industries and organizations of different sizes. NEXUS will work closely with LACO’s executives and employees to implement a system that supports the company’s business operations both today and in the future.
Strategically, NEXUS’s role is therefore not limited to system implementation. It is about helping translate LACO’s vision into an operating model that connects data, processes, and the organization’s real day-to-day operations.
