By exiting the fluid milk and cultured business to concentrate on cheese, Swiss Valley Farms CEO Don Boelens has turned the Iowa-based dairy cooperative into a nimble processor that can react quickly to customers’ requests.
Swiss Valley Farms chief executive officer Donald A. Boelens was dealing with volatile milk prices and a collapsing export market in 2008-2009. Looking back, he says he knew there had to be a better management structure, one that could allow the company to take advantage of opportunities caused by price fluctuations and at the same time deal with the hardships.
I accompanied a delegation from the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy to the White House this week. POTUS was not in the house. Though we did not meet the President Of The United States, the trip was still memorable.
Welcome to Jim Carper's Dairy Case, a look at the people, processors and products in the news. In this issue: Attitude Drinks, Milk PEP, FDA, Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, National Ice Cream Mix Association and more.
This week in Jim Carper's Dairy Case: Dippin' Dots, Dean Foods, Saputo, Karoun, Wallaby, Philadelphia Indulgence cream cheese spreads.Tater Toppers and more.
From a consumer’s perspective, ice cream is about fun and good times. The ice cream division of Mars Chocolate North America shares that point of view. Evidence of the company’s sense of humor is a banner welcoming visitors to Mars’ little “corner ice cream shop.” In fact, the processing facility is larger than an airplane hangar. The building consists of four production lines, wet and dry ingredient storage areas, packaging supplies and a warehouse.
A cutting in an ice cream plant is rather like reading the reviews after the opening-night performance of a concert. The quality control team (the critics) looks at the finished product and packaging created by the production team (the orchestra). QC reviews whether the process went according to plan.