Four Business Units Turn the Wheel of Cheese

The largest product category, the DMK Group produced 426,000 tons of cheese last year alone. The process involves four business units: BU Industry is responsible for production and product development, while BU Private Label handles the assembly. BU Brand manages most of sales, with more than 35 percent. And BU International completes the cycle at DMK.

MILRAM Northern Light provides a perfect example of what such teamwork can achieve. The product was launched on the market in October, after the idea arose in an exchange between the units. The cheese experts from research and development used a special culture to create a Gouda-based cheese with a sweet, full-bodied taste. Brand managers from BU Brand realized the product’s great potential during a marketing presentation. They developed a coherent product concept and then commissioned it for development.

The production of the new cheese was optimally integrated into production planning and plant capacity utilization in Edewecht. Ever since, MILRAM Northern Light has been produced at the BU Industry cheese plant in 15-kilo blocks. BU Private Label handles the packaging of all DMK cheese products. BU Brand, which is involved in all stages of the process, takes care of the positioning and marketing of the product, along with distribution. The journey from the very first idea to distribution makes up a unique, internal value-added cycle at DMK. And it is a lucrative one, too: with 150 tons sold in just three months, sales in 2020 exceeded all expectations right from the outset.

“In 2021, there will also be a lot going on in terms of cheese,” says Dr. Annika Schrader, Director of Marketing at BU Industry. She has set her sights on trend products, as today’s trends will become the volume products of the future and need to be developed accordingly. “Developing the cheese portfolio is relevant for the whole of DMK,” says Schrader.