Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods has installed new production lines at two of its dairy plants located in the Central Region of Russia, as part of a continuing modernisation project aimed at further improving operating efficiencies and maintaining the highest quality of its products across its dairy business.
The total planned investment in the two plants is over US$9.7 million (€8.8m).
The company's flagship Lianozovo Dairy Plant, part of Wimm-Bill-Dann since 1994, and one of the largest dairy factories in Europe, has been equipped with a fresh cheese dessert machine by Hassia (Germany) with a capacity of 21,800 cups of regular or whipped desserts per hour. The machine is capable of working with two types of packaging - 200 and 125 ml containers. The upgrade will allow Lianozovo Dairy Plant to significantly increase its dessert-making capacity.
The company intends to use the new equipment to manufacture new products under the Bio-Max, Chudo, Vesely Molochnik and Domik v Derevne brands, as well as relaunch existing products in new packaging. The total investment in this project is US$6.4 million.
The modernisation of Anninskoe Moloko OOO, acquired in September 2001, included the installation of two UHT milk lines, one new and one moved from Lianozovo Dairy Plant, as well as a warehouse upgrade. The company claims that the two lines are now capable of producing up to 150 tons of drinking milk per day under the Domik v Derevne brand. The total investment in this project is US$3.3 million.
This investment reflects the company's strategy of moving production of UHT drinking milk to its regional factories, with the Moscow-based Lianozovo and Tsaritsino Dairy Plants focusing on manufacturing high value-added products.
According to the company the combined investments represent the latest step in an ongoing modernisation programme encompassing both its existing and recently acquired facilities, in order to meet growing consumer demand and to achieve greater levels of operating efficiency. The programme is aimed at ensuring Wimm-Bill-Dann's dairy products' future expansion as well as ensuring standards of quality.