IDM ¦ Interview
Full-scale engineering
capabilities
Tetra Pak’s cheese production centre in Poland
With a €25m investment Tetra Pak has
opened a what they call world-class cheese
production centre in Poland. IDM asked
Fred Griemsmann, Vice President, Business
Unit Cheese & Powder Systems Tetra Pak,
about reasons and the implications.
IDM: Why did Tetra Pak choose Poland for the location for
the new centre – is it because of cheaper labour costs?
Griemsmann: The reason for choosing Olsztyn as the new
site location is that it sits in a region with a great history in
dairy production and is home to many of our Polish customers.
The reason for choosing the site was not down to the
cost of labour, but rather the dairy expertise held by those
working and studying in the region – which includes topclass
welders and highly qualified engineers. At the same
time, the location close to educational institutions such as
the University of Warmia and Mazury, and we are enthusiastic
to investigate how we can work with these institutions to
increase our industry knowledge and the service we can offer
customers in Poland and wider Europe.
The new site is not just a production plant. Here we have
all competencies needed for our cheese business. It enables
us to create and deliver full cheeses solutions for our customers.
It’s an addition to the sites we have in the NL, the UK
and the US so now we are even better positioned to provide
complete semi-hard cheese, fresh cheese, cheddar, mozzarella
and other processed cheese solutions.
IDM: What are the targets and tasks of the centre?
Griemsmann: We aim to help our customers grow their
cheese business with faster and improved production.
With the location of the centre strategically chosen, it’s
well placed to help improve the efficiency of fulfilling the
orders for our customers across Europe.
Building on Tetra Pak’s global expertise in semi-hard and
fresh cheese, the site will offer full-scale cheese equipment
engineering, from cheese-making process design, mechanical
20 · June/July 2020 ¦ international-dairy.com
Tetra Pak’s new cheese production centre in Olsztyn, Poland
(photo: Tetra Pak)
engineering, automation, and electrical engineering to
production engineering.
All our machines and lines are equipped with advanced
and efficient control systems allowing customers to optimise
the cheese-making process, collect and analyse production
data. We are using the latest software and hardware to enable
easy integration of our automation systems into factory
controls.
IDM: Will other production sites be closed in the wake of
the newly built centre; will Tetra Pak workers be relocated to
Poland from other countries?
Griesmann: There are no plans to close our other production
sites. The ambition is to grow the business and expand
the offering to our customers. As a customer centric company,
we are constantly evaluating the global market demand
in relation to our capabilities and adjusting at our production
/international-dairy.com
