Excellence in private label products Mispol

EXCELLENCE IN

PRIVATE LABEL PRODUCTS

Mispol, set up in 1997 in Poland, today leads the Mispol Capital Group and specialises in the production of patés, canned foods, spreads, ready-made meals and sauces, mayonnaise and mustards, processed fruit and vegetable products, as well as pet food, both wet and dry. Having undergone major restructuring, a process which began in 2012, Mispol now focuses on providing the best service for its customers in private label manufacturing. Piotr Sadowski reports.

The overall strategic aim of Mispol Capital Group, overseen by the mother company Mispol SA with headquarters in Białystok, is to become, in the near future, the leading private label manufacturer for major retail networks. It is also looking to engage in effective business relationships with product distributors in Poland and neighbouring markets. “These are very important goals which we are effectively pursuing as a result of our restructuring process,” explains Bartłomiej Kowalczyk, member of the board at Mispol.

“At the very beginning of 2013 we separated and sold off the own-brand company from the capital group. This was an important move in our strategy to strengthen our position as the leading private label manufacturer in FMCG goods and a partner of choice for the largest retail chains operating here in Poland and across export markets. We thus continue expanding our operations with leading FMCG retailers in the region, including the Baltic States, such as Maxima, Jeronimo Martins, Eurocash – one of the largest cash and carry operators – Carrefour and Tesco, as well as a wide range of other smaller retail networks.”

Reflecting on the implementation of the new strategic direction for Mispol, it is important to share some key figures relating to the capital group’s operations. Thus: 40 per cent of the overall sales are made up of the distribution of patés and canned foods; another 40 per cent is pet food; 8 per cent of sales is generated from ready-made meals and sauces; 10 per cent are mayonnaise, mustards, processed fruit and vegetable products; and 2 per cent is made up of other products.

“In terms of our output capacity, in patés and canned foods we are producing between 2000 and 2400 tonnes of goods per month,” says Mr Kowalczyk. “Wet pet food is anywhere between 1300 and 2000 tonnes per month, dry 1700 and 2200 tonnes per month, while in mayonnaise,mustards, processed fruit and vegetables we manufacture 700 tonnes of goods per month, in addition to 600 tonnes of ready-made meals and sauces.”

Optimising the manufacturing processes

As Mr Kowalczyk explains, one of the most important elements of the current development strategy is to move away from thinking about Mispol being a brand manufacturer and concentrate fully on being the most effective private label business partner for leading clients in Poland and abroad.

“While 90 per cent of our production is distributed on the home market, we are nevertheless very much focusing on

expanding our exports,” says the board member. “We are already operating in the Baltic States, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Macedonia, Hungary, Bulgaria, as well as Romania, the UK and more far-flung markets such as, for example, the USA and Kazakhstan. One of the markets that we would certainly like to expand further is in Germany, where our offer of canned foods and ready-made meals is prepared using recipes especially tailored to the expectations and tastes of German consumers.”

Mispol is certainly open to new business partnerships, aiming to work with leading retail distributors. As such, it is not taking any narrow-minded views on the different markets it can potentially serve and is thus engaging in business talks and making deliveries in new export destinations. For example, in Belarus, Mispol is supplying its customers with private-label pet foods.

“In all aspects of implementing our new strategy, it has been very important to move away from the mentality of being a producer of our own brands towards becoming the best customer-serving private label manufacturer,” says Mr Kowalczyk. “As part of this process it has been crucial to optimise our production processes, streamlining and taking advantage of the manufacturing potential in the different factories belonging to Mispol.”

As a result, production today looks different from a few years ago, in that wellthought-out changes to the overall manufacturing process have been implemented,

Aluflexpack Polska

The Aluflexpack Polska Co is since 2010 supplier of aluminium packaging for Mispol Group,especially supplier of aluminium cans and lids for meat products for human and pet-food, both printed and neutral. Due to local production in our plant in Tychy, Aluflexpack is fast and flexible supplier of the packaging reacting quick on the demands of the customers. Thanks our good and modern equipped laboratories,we are in the position to check properly the quality of semi-product and ready made goods,before realising the sale. Additionally good experienced staff in production area secured the high quality of final goods. Since November 2012 Aluflexpack is member of Montana Tech Components AG Group. This strong industrial Swiss-Austrian Group will give the chance of whole AFP Group to develop new products in frame of existing production facilities and create new range of production to fulfill new increasing demands of our customers.

Aluflexpack is very much appreciating possibility of being one of the packagong supplier to Mispol Group.

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APC

“APC Inc is world’s largest producer of functional animal proteins. APC Poland is proud that Mispol relies on our expertise in supplying top quality spray dried animal blood plasma (SDAP) and spray dried hemoglobine (SDH) – functional ingredients used for wet pet food. SDAP is a superior binder in wet pet food which is recognised and used by all the leaders in the wet pet food market. Manufacturers can rely on higher gelling, water retention and emulsion capacities compared to other binders. Wet pet food manufacturers are also increasingly recognising that plasma improves the quality of the final product by efficiently eliminating quality differences between raw materials such as batches of meat by-products.

In a study by Polo et al. (Pet Food Industry, October 2013) the comparison of control portions of meat chunks with portions of meat chunks containing wheat gluten (WG) or SDAP, the quality of individual pieces of meat chunk and entire pouches were improved when SDAP was used. The hardness of the WG product compared to the control was improved by 2–2.5. SDAP improved the absosorbtion of gravy by 168% compared to the control and 115%– 140% compared to WG. The presence of pellets and crumbs in the gravy was reduced by one third in the recipes containing SDAP, and the turbidity of the gravy was also improved.

In terms of customer perception, the quality:price ratio of the wet pet food manufactured by Mispol is easy to see and we hope to assist the company in its future achievements”.

with certain areas of production moved across the factories. Thus, the two units in Poland (Białystok and Suwałki) now lead the production of wet pet food, whereas the two factories in the Czech Republic concentrate on dry pet food. Furthermore, another factory in Suwałki manufactures canned and aluminium-packaged goods, while yet another production centre, in Białystok, creates jams, marmalades, sauces, mayonnaises and ready-made meals.

“Following the shifts of manufacturing certain goods between the different factories, we now are clearly seeing the beneficial effects of production optimisation at all of our six production units,” adds Mr Kowalczyk. “The optimisation has also been strengthened by carrying out supporting investments in specific production lines. For example, we are now achieving doubled efficiency in the production of mayonnaises, as well as in other products.”

Working with outstanding suppliers

Owing to the fact that Mispol focuses on being a producer of high quality private label FMCG goods, its supply chain therefore only includes those partners who are able to provide such high quality standards. Accredited with HACCP standards or even IFS and BRC. Mispol also ensures that wherever it uses meat, it is fully traceable; it also supervises randomised genetic testing on meat supplied, to ensure that it is has no unexpected additives.

“Looking at raw ingredients such as different types of wheat, these are sourced from southern Poland and the Czech Republic. Oil is supplied by mainly one partner – a Polish producer with whom we have worked for many years, as the high and stable quality of oil is extremely important in our manufacturing processes,” says Mr Kowalczyk.

“Packaging is obviously another key area of our supply chain. Here we work with the largest packaging manufacturers in the region, in Poland and the Czech Republic, ensuring that transportation costs are kept at an optimum level.”

Thus, having embarked on the major restructuring of the capital group and the ongoing improvement of all areas of operations, Mispol is now looking forward to continued organic growth, as well as possible takeovers. As Mr Kowalczyk explains, it will be important to continue improving the efficiency in existing product groups, while also adding new categories of goods. In addition, an ongoing expansion of the distribution markets will continue to be a major priority, including Germany, but also further destinations such as France, Sweden and Norway. n