DeLaval celebrates 30 years in Poland

From 50 to 700 employees and the biggest supplier to the DeLaval Group ― the last 30 years have seen major changes for DeLaval in Poland.

DeLaval has two sites in Poland with three manufacturing units in Wrocław (Milking, Cooling and Detergent ) and the Feeding Factory in Dobre Miasto. Here parts for the DeLaval VMS™, vacuum aggregates, cow brushes, cooling tanks, feeding wagons, Opti-Duo and detergents are produced.

“When we are celebrating this 30th year of DeLaval in Poland, we are celebrating the success of our employees,” says Paul Löfgren, President & CEO.

Product Management & Development, Sourcing, Digital Services and European Shared Service Centre also have a strong presence in Poland – all servicing the large parts of the DeLaval Group on a daily basis.

DeLaval in Poland (Alfa Laval Agri at the time) was officially inaugurated in 1991, initially as a joint venture with Agromet Archimedes (a state owned company manufacturing agricultural equipment).

The first advertisement of Alfa Laval Agri in Wroclaw, 1992

In the beginning the company employed less than 50 people in production, administration and sales. The first manufacturing unit in operation was the Milking Factory. The main products were buckets, water bowls and teat cups. In 1997 DeLaval moved the production of vacuum pumps from Cwmbran, UK and Wroclaw became the base for further development of the new generation vacuum aggregates.

The Milking Factory in the 1990’s

During the first 10 years DeLaval opened three more manufacturing units: The Cooling and Detergent factories in Wrocław and the Feeding Factory in Dobre Miasto.

The Polish operations are certified with ISO 9001 and ISO14001, LNE (Management system certifying the coolings tanks as measuring equipment), 3-A certificate for cooling tanks (American Sanitary Standards), EAC (Eurasian Conformity mark) or Intertek certification for cow brushes.

The Cooling Factory

In the early years 2000 new functions were established in Poland. Initially mainly Product Development with a team of 5 engineers (!) working mainly on VMS improvements and cooling tanks.

Today, after 30 years in Poland, DeLaval employs more than 700 people including the Sales company. It is the biggest supplier to the DeLaval Group delivering parts for the DeLaval VMS^TM, vacuum aggregates, cow brushes, cooling tanks, feeding wagons, Opti-Duo and detergents. More than 90% of the total production is exported.

“DeLaval would not be anything without the people. It is worth mentioning that 11 employees have been in DeLaval Poland from the very beginning and are still with the company today. They have been recognized with a special anniversary statue. Many of the current senior management team has a long history in DeLaval’s development. What is very important, though, more than 50% of employees are below 40 and have worked less than 10 years. It means that there is a good balance between experience and the new scarce competences in the company,” says Zofia Szumny, HR Manager Poland.