疫情期间，这家公司如何保证牛奶销路
在奶牛处于产奶高峰期的“春潮”期遭遇新冠疫情，让美国乳品行业苦不堪言。
就在奶牛产奶量最高的时候，学校和餐馆纷纷关了门。乳制品主要出口一夜之间完全关闭，全国各地奶农不得不将牛奶倒掉。
但在规模达140亿美元的农民合作社蓝多湖公司，其成员要幸运得多。“我们非常感激，因为无论从情感上还是经济上来说，被迫倒掉牛奶都是巨大的打击，”美国乳制品公司蓝多湖高级副总裁希瑟•安芳本周在《重塑》节目中表示，该播客主要讲述疫情颠覆的世界中努力奋斗的故事。
本集播客深入探究了为何今春消费者看到似乎矛盾的现象。一方面由于购物者囤积商品，商店货架上空空如也。另一方面，农民却在销毁没有销路的产品。
与此同时，蓝多湖为1700多个会员的牛奶找到了出路。疫情之前，约40%的业务均流向食品服务业，比如大袋碎奶酪或奶酪酱。疫情来袭时，这块业务消失了。
安芳说：“我们不得不重新审视，牛奶在哪，流向哪里，现在最相关的产品是什么，都是难题。”
为了解决难题，蓝多湖决定回归基础生产。合作社缩减了商品数量，以扩大产量。将重心调整至核心产品后，生产线可以用来长时间制作大件产品，而不必停下来制作小产品。“简单调整后工厂就能提升黄油产量，进而消化掉更多的牛奶，”安芳说。
蓝多湖还将平时供应给餐饮业的产品转向杂货店销售。例如，零售商通常会将一磅黄油分成四块出售。而超市为了满足消费者的需求，也非常乐意出售餐馆用的一磅重黄油。
安芳说，今年蓝多湖将出售“大量黄油，远远超出预期”，但“波动很剧烈，”她补充道。“如果黄油卖给零售店，就知道这个团队销量相当红火。如果要向学校出售50磅一袋的芝士通心粉，现在的销量并不多。”（财富中文网）
译者：梁宇
审校：夏林
在奶牛处于产奶高峰期的“春潮”期遭遇新冠疫情，让美国乳品行业苦不堪言。
就在奶牛产奶量最高的时候，学校和餐馆纷纷关了门。乳制品主要出口一夜之间完全关闭，全国各地奶农不得不将牛奶倒掉。
但在规模达140亿美元的农民合作社蓝多湖公司，其成员要幸运得多。“我们非常感激，因为无论从情感上还是经济上来说，被迫倒掉牛奶都是巨大的打击，”美国乳制品公司蓝多湖高级副总裁希瑟•安芳本周在《重塑》节目中表示，该播客主要讲述疫情颠覆的世界中努力奋斗的故事。
本集播客深入探究了为何今春消费者看到似乎矛盾的现象。一方面由于购物者囤积商品，商店货架上空空如也。另一方面，农民却在销毁没有销路的产品。
与此同时，蓝多湖为1700多个会员的牛奶找到了出路。疫情之前，约40%的业务均流向食品服务业，比如大袋碎奶酪或奶酪酱。疫情来袭时，这块业务消失了。
安芳说：“我们不得不重新审视，牛奶在哪，流向哪里，现在最相关的产品是什么，都是难题。”
为了解决难题，蓝多湖决定回归基础生产。合作社缩减了商品数量，以扩大产量。将重心调整至核心产品后，生产线可以用来长时间制作大件产品，而不必停下来制作小产品。“简单调整后工厂就能提升黄油产量，进而消化掉更多的牛奶，”安芳说。
蓝多湖还将平时供应给餐饮业的产品转向杂货店销售。例如，零售商通常会将一磅黄油分成四块出售。而超市为了满足消费者的需求，也非常乐意出售餐馆用的一磅重黄油。
安芳说，今年蓝多湖将出售“大量黄油，远远超出预期”，但“波动很剧烈，”她补充道。“如果黄油卖给零售店，就知道这个团队销量相当红火。如果要向学校出售50磅一袋的芝士通心粉，现在的销量并不多。”（财富中文网）
译者：梁宇
审校：夏林
COVID-19 hit at the worst possible time for the dairy industry—during what’s known in the sector as “spring flush,” when cows are at the height of their milk production.
Just as the cows reached their most productive time, schools and restaurants shut down. A major outlet for dairy products evaporated overnight, forcing farmers around the country to dump their milk.
But at Land O’Lakes, a $14 billion farmer-owned cooperative, its members were spared. “We’re grateful and thankful for that, because it’s emotionally and financially devastating to have to dump milk,” says Heather Anfang, senior vice president of U.S. dairy foods at Land O’Lakes, on this week’s episode of Reinvent, a podcast about fighting to thrive in a world turned upside down by COVID-19.
The episode digs into a supply chain that left consumers with seemingly contradictory images this spring: On the one hand, there were empty store shelves as shoppers stockpiled goods. And on the other, farmers were destroying products they were unable to sell.
Land O’Lakes, meanwhile, was able to find a home for its more than 1,700 members’ milk—despite the fact that pre-coronavirus, about 40% of Land O’Lakes business came from items that it sold to the food service industry like enormous bags of shredded cheese or cheese sauce. When the pandemic hit, that business disappeared.
“We had to really step back and look,” says Anfang. “It’s a bit of a puzzle—where’s the milk, where’s it going, and what are the products that are now most relevant.”
To solve that puzzle, Land O’Lakes went back to basics. It scaled back on the number of items it produced so the co-op could pump out more volume. By just focusing on its core goods, it could run bigger items for longer on its production lines because it wasn’t stopping and starting for smaller items. “That simple thing allows you to get more butter out, to get more milk through the plant,” Anfang says.
Land O’Lakes also took items that it normally supplies to food service and instead sold them to grocers. For example, retailers typically sell one-pound blocks of butter separated into four sticks. But supermarkets were so desperate to keep up with consumer demand that they were willing to sell the one-pound block of butter used by restaurants.
Anfang says that Land O’Lakes will sell “significant butter this year, much more than we would have anticipated.” But the “swings have been very dramatic,” she adds. “If you’re selling butter to retail, you know that team is on fire. If you’re selling 50-pound bags of mac and cheese to school, there’s not a lot of sales happening right now.”
