Elevate our essentials.

Hans Meeuwis is the President of business group Dairy Essentials. This business group plays an important role within FrieslandCampina, as it processes a large part of the milk supplied by our member dairy farmers. At the end of 2018, Hans and his leadership team started with the implementation of the new Dairy Essentials strategy.

“Dairy Essentials is responsible for processing about 65 percent of the milk supplied by our member dairy farmers. We contribute to our purpose by adding maximum value to the milk with our product portfolio in the most sustainable way possible. We want to be the ultimate preferred partner for our customers but also for our internal customers of business groups Consumer Dairy and Ingredients to which we supply cheese and whey (a product that is released when producing cheese). Finally, we want to be leading in our market and do better than comparable dairy companies around us.”

In order to win in the market, we work together to create a more decisive organisation.

“Our plan consists of four strategic priorities. The first priority is to set up an effective production network with flexible milk processing capacity. Here quality, sustainability and cost efficiency are central. Apart from making smart investments in our own network, this also includes more cooperation with other parties. The second priority is accelerated growth and making cheese more profitable. In order to do that, we cooperate with business group Consumer Dairy on several areas in response to market trends. We will focus on strengthen our cheese brand positions, better respond to changing consumer needs and grow in (premium) private labels for cheese. On top of this, we will further be strengthening our position in industrial cheese. Our third priority is related to the fact that Dairy Essentials does not only produce cheese, yet also butter and milk powder. We want to valorise our milk powder by better playing the game and by adding more value through the introduction of a limited number of new recipes. For butter, we want to mainly create value by means of applications such as chocolate and for the bakery segment. Our fourth and final priority is concentrated on the knowledge and skills of our employees. In order to win in the market, we work together to create a more decisive organisation.”

“We have substantially grown with cheese – in case of naturally matured cheese specifically with North Holland Gouda cheese – and we have cut back on less profitable positions in our portfolio. Our network has further improved with respect to the agreed aspects and this leads to better performance. With programmes such as World Class Operation Management we are building a stronger basis for the future. We have considerably increased our milk processing capacity and we have managed to develop a better product portfolio that responds to the market needs. Besides, we have taken major steps in the strongly growing mozzarella market by means of the new partnerships with the DMK Group and Royal A-ware for the production and supply of mozzarella cheese. I am happy to see that butter and milk powder offer a lot of perspective and that our trading operations are beginning to take shape. We have invested in new processes and procedures, also within our supply chain.”

“In 2019, Dairy Essentials achieved various great successes in the area of sustainability, including the introduction of the PlanetProof quality label under the Milner brand and private cheese labels. Other sustainable initiatives have also been implemented in the supply chain such as better isolation of equipment. However, there is always room for improvement. It is important to remain focused, to quickly solve issues, to stop activities that do not lead to the required results and to escalate when things get though. I am sure that together with our fantastic employees we can achieve great results.”