“The A-INSIGHTS platform gives us the information we need to look at our business from a different perspective and to benchmark our competitors.”
The customer base of A-INSIGHTS covers the entire Agri-Food industry. From vegetable seed breeders to meat products producers: with the help of the A-INSIGHTS platform they gain insight into the market in which they operate and can determine the strategy for the future on that basis. This includes Sachsenmilch, a specialist in the field of milk processing.
Sachsenmilch Leppersdorf GmbH Dresden, a subsidiary company of the Theo Müller Group, is one of the most modern milk processing companies in Europe with an annual delivery capacity of over 1.9 billion kilograms of raw milk and 3,000 employees at the site. State-of-the-art technology and an optimal material flow in all production areas characterize this plant. A wide range of products is manufactured here, including the regional milk brand Sachsenmilch.
Getting the full picture
Like any other company, Sachsenmilch wants to be aware of the developments in the market, but that is not easy. Weixlgartner: “We have access to some data sources, but it’s not our core business. We make and sell cheese, we do not specialize in data gathering and analysis.”
It is difficult to get the full picture, according to Weixlgartner: “In Germany, we can find most companies’ financial statements - depending on the legal construction of the company - at the Bundes Anzeiger. But it is presented in such a way that you only see figures and nothing else. There is no contextual information, like on investments, that explains the numbers. It is a lot of work and quite difficult to get the full picture. A-INSIGHTS has accumulated a lot of dairy sector knowledge over the years, so they understand the market. That was the point for us to say: let’s work with A-INSIGHTS, as they translate the numbers into insights we can use.
Know where you stand by looking at your competitors
Sachsenmilch uses the A-INSIGHTS platform as a tool to get a clear image of the key figures of their competitors. Weixlgartner: “We benchmark with other cheese companies. The combination of a complete overview and the text analysis helps you get more insights and context. Our focus is to see the development of our main competitors over the years: what is the development of their key figures and their strategy?
Benchmarking gives you an idea of where you stand compared to other players, according to Weixlgartner: “We mainly use the data to see our ranking in the market: which place are we? In our case, we compare ourselves to 7 other cheese producers and look at their production volume, turnover and other key indicators. So we can establish an important question: are we going in the same direction or a different one? This information is very important for us.”
Make better-informed decisions based on objective data
The platform provides Sachsenmilch with the information they need to decide what their next steps are and to make better strategic decisions. Weixlgartner: “It gives us the information that we need to look at our business from a different perspective and it gives us our ranking which we can compare with others. It also helps the strategic decision-making process and questions like: should we close this department or build up that department?
Objective insights on key moments
Like most companies, there are key moments during the year when the added value of objective data really comes into play. Weixlgartner: “We have two strategic meetings per year: one in June and the budget meeting at the end of the year. For the strategic or budget sessions it is important to have facts. To see if the impact on other cheese players is similar and to determine if we should follow the same course or do something else. It helps to objectify the discussion”
With the help of A-INSIGHTS, Sachsenmilch saves a lot of time and energy.
Furthermore, the in-depth analysis enables Sachsenmilch to get a better overview of the development of their competitors in comparison.
