The Knuts sisters: a dream team for dairy cream
You might well do a double take if you drop by the spray-can expertise centre in Lummen (Belgium), the heart of FrieslandCampina’s whipped cream product range. That is because identical twins Heidi and Karen Knuts work here. FrieslandCampina in Lummen is the production location for whipped cream in spray cans.
Heidi and Karen form a dream team. Heidi and her team think up new spray-can technologies while Karen and her team keep a keen eye on quality. Together with their colleagues, they have put Lummen on the map: the whipped cream and whipped cream spray-can technologies produced in Lummen travel all over the world!
Heidi and Karen Knuts are not only identical twins but also colleagues. They share their looks, and they share a passion for good food. So it is hardly surprising they both came to work at FrieslandCampina. “We grew up together and we both played volleyball. Later, we both graduated from the same chemical engineering programme, and we now both work at FrieslandCampina in Lummen. But apart from that, we lead separate lives, you know!”
Complex
Heidi has now been working at FrieslandCampina for 23 years. As a manager, she leads a development team that, among other things, focuses on innovating whipped cream spray cans. “The technology of spray cans is complex, and that is why I like the field so much: my work brings many challenges.”
A few years later, Karen applied for a job as well. “I started with a few years in quality management and have been QA/QC manager for the past six years. I make sure that all products meet the quality requirements and ensure food safety. Besides producing for FrieslandCampina brands, we also supply many major customers such as McDonald’s and Starbucks.”
Sustainable spray cans
There is a lot involved in producing and innovating whipped cream spray cans. “We need to consider ease of use and think up new trendy flavours. Moreover, each customer has their own wishes regarding feel, taste, look, format, design and price! What is more, we are also investing a lot in sustainability solutions and in radically improving the dab of cream from a dispenser of the same type. There are plenty of challenges to make our work exciting!”
We are seeing a global increase in demand for our whipped cream and spray cans
Innovating
The twin sisters like to tackle these challenges, and they have had great success in doing so. “Since we are always innovating, and thanks to our high quality standards, we’ve been market leaders in the whipped cream sector for years: Lummen has a major market share in Europe. We are seeing a global increase in demand for our whipped cream and spray cans. Recently, we made our production completely halal. This means we can now export whipped cream to many other Asian countries, for instance under the Debic brand.”
Winner’s mentality
Karen and Heidi being twin sisters also brings advantages at work. “We complement each other well and can quickly adapt to further the customer’s interests. Thanks to years of team sport, we’ve had a winner’s mentality ever since we were kids. Last year, for example, when it turned out that a chocolate whipped cream spray can did not work optimally, we searched for a solution day and night. We took our teams to look at the drawing board, the factory and the clean room to see for ourselves where things were going wrong. It is a challenge, but we feel sure that, along with our great teams, we can find the solution together.”