How we are building DMK of the future

Dr. Klaus Hein. Chief Agri Business and Member Affairs

Milk is a raw material with a future. But needs are changing. We can no longer just supply large volumes of milk. Raw material flows will have to be varied and transparent in the future. Customers want sustainability, animal welfare and transparency. That is most likely to make more demands of our farmers. We want to set up data platforms to secure the data flow throughout our value chains and to involve members of the cooperative more closely in all processes. We want to travel the way to 2030 together with them. The condition, of course, is a milk price that is and stays competitive.

Ines Krummacker. Chief Human Resources Officer

The changes also require a rethink in the human resources department. We now have to ask ourselves how best to allocate our employees, how to challenge them, and how we can stay an attractive employer to coming generations. Internally at DMK, we are focusing more and more on our people. That means a more important role for our leaders too. It’s no longer about commands, obedience and control; what matters is valuing people and developing them, communicating as equals and transparent leadership. At HR, we support managers and are offering qualifications. The skills shortage, especially in rural areas, is assuming existential proportions. The competition for talent is increasing. So we have to establish working models for future generations, for example involving job rotations or flexible working and shift models. Our goal is for all of our employees to fulfill their potential and to be able to identify closely with DMK and its products.

Hermann Köster. COO Supply Chain Management

We’re preparing for much greater complexity, particularly in terms of warehousing and distribution logistics. That’s because consumer require new raw material flows such as for organic products or regional food. We plan on expansion and innovation in our distribution logistics with new channels and business models such as online shopping. We’re also preparing for the day when consumers will be able to track all DMK products right through from the cow to the food. We will also develop innovative warehouse logistics solutions with plastic alternatives. We will steer raw material flows centrally within DMK, too – Supply Chain Management will coordinate that across business units.

Thorsten Rodehüser. COO Private Label

We’re growing: In the future, the Private Label business unit won’t be responsible only for the German trademark business but will expand to manage strategic partners across Europe. We are focusing on increasing profitability. That means working together as partners with trade to successively scale back unprofitable products. We also bring a lot of experience in terms of service and expertise which we’re currently building up with Category Management and other measures. We will win over our commercial partners with added value, and no longer solely by the volumes we provide.

Matthias Rensch. COO Brand

We are getting bigger, louder – and more innovative. We are expanding our product range and in the future, we will be looking to see whether and how we can provide plant-based milk alternatives, and offer a portfolio that spans all generations. We want to develop from being one of the smaller, yet profitable business units to become a core revenue generator for DMK. The MILRAM brand is still our core business. We aim to become one of the big players in the food retailing brand business and in Food Service, not just in Germany but in select core markets throughout Europe. That will see us developing and marketing innovative products ourselves, which could be produced internally or externally.

Michael Feller. COO International

The International business unit is on track to grow and that growth is targeted. In the future, we will focus on developing growth outside Europe. We see two areas of business. There are export countries, where we want to achieve a strong market position with certain products. And then there are strategic third countries where we will use local resources, for example in production or sales. We want to generate growth together with our customers in food service and food retailing. After a transition period, we will be transferring our European DMK customers to the Brand, Industry and Private Label business units.

Alexander Godow. COO Industry

Our goal is to position ourselves as a market-oriented solutions provider of whey- and milk-based products for international key customers. To achieve this, we will continue to drive growth for wheybased products and develop targeted innovative protein products, to establish a leading position on the market. We will also increase the proportion of profitable milk-based added-value products in our portfolio, without having to use additional raw materials. To attain these goals, we at the Industry business unit will establish ourselves as a powerful unit with unified, transparent processes. We will manage our product and facilities portfolio geared to profitability criteria.

Stefan Eckert. COO Baby

We play an important growth role in the group. We made a significant investment in this with our new facility in Strückhausen. Our goal is to become the leading baby food provider in select countries and segments. Humana, our traditional brand, will drive much of that growth. We will also integrate Alete and Milasan into a shared brand architecture to better present our products. We will use our partnership with the Industry business unit for our products. To stabilise the supply chain, we will focus on long term partnerships with raw materials suppliers. We can provide individual solutions for consumers on the global markets.

Marcus-Dominic Hauck. COO Ice Cream

We want to be more independent, so we are leaving the purely private label business in the German-language area to focus more on our own and license brands in the future. We are focusing on partners throughout Europe and won’t let partnerships with individual customers become too large in future. We want to be a leading, high quality, highly reliable provider for retail and industry. We have to overcome product shortages and logistics problems. We will market our expertise in product development and production through contract manufacturing in the future.