Reflections

A history of DeLaval

Preface and Index

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Chapter 1- How the separator brought it all together

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During the 1800s, as towns grew, people moved off the land. This made it more difficult for them to get hold of fresh dairy products. Milk that took up to 24 hours to separate and then spent days in transit was a breeding ground for bacteria. So a number of new methods of separation became popular. But it was Gustaf de Laval’s separator that revolutionised dairy production. How did it happen? The story begins at an ironworks, deep in the Swedish heartlands, over a cup of coffee.

Chapter 2 - From Hamra to Broadway – internationalisation and diversification

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Based in a small but technologically advanced country, Swedish companies have to develop overseas markets. And by 1914, AB Separator was exporting as much as 90 per cent of its output.
But the company’s early internationalisation meant more than selling more separators. By having close contacts with farmers in different countries, we have been able to spot emerging trends early. Plus, with companies in different countries, we have gained from a cross-fertilisation of ideas and technology.

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Chapter 3 - Becoming farmers was the best thing we ever did

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One could say that the company had a secret weapon in the early days, and that we still use it today: Hamra farm. By investing in a dairy farm in 1894, Gustaf de Laval and John Bernström gave us a source from which we could draw inspiration. Their strategic decision ensured that the company could test its separators and milking machines, develop new ways of producing high-quality milk, and create a model farm with the best cows, conditions and equipment. This kept us close to our customers – and guaranteed that we understood their needs on a real, operational level. It also inspired us to develop solutions that would improve everyday life for farm workers, animals and dairy consumers around the world.

Chapter 4 - Liberation from “the white whip”

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When farm labourers in Sweden signed contracts during the 1800s and early 1900s, they often had to agree to a special “wife clause”. This stated that the labourer’s wife would be committed to milking the farmer’s cows, without payment, twice a day, 365 days a year. Today, we tend to romanticise hand milking and the close contact between cow and farmer. But milking by hand was a burden, and one which fell mainly on women. In Swedish it became known as “vitapiskan” or “the white whip”. Ergonomically, it was uncomfortable. And physically, the twice-daily chore was exhausting. The need for mechanising milking was first felt at the end of the 1800s. This was because factories began to draw people away from the land, making it increasingly difficult to find skilled milkers. And as towns grew, and the standard of living rose, the demand for milk and milk products increased.

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Chapter 5 - From jack-of-all-trades to master of one

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In 1969, there were almost 100 000 dairy farms in Sweden. Today, there are just 9 400. The trend to fewer but larger farms has of course been seen throughout the world. It’s a trend that has played a major role in how the company has developed since the end of the Second World War. Many economists believed that when the war ended, the world would be plunged into a new recession. But the opposite happened and, from 1950 to 1970, the West experienced a period of uninterrupted growth. The demand for manufactured products was enormous in post-war Europe, which meant that the demand for factory labour was also huge. This resulted in large increases in wages: between 1946 and 1960 the wage of an industrial worker doubled in Sweden. This in turn attracted an increasing number of people off the land into towns.

Chapter 6 - On information technology and people who like cows

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When it was built, at the end of the 1970s, Al Safi was the largest integrated dairy farm in the world. And it was built by DeLaval. The Al Safi Dairy has over 13 000 Holstein Friesians which, milked three times a day, produce more than 420 000 litres of milk. Per day. And it is situated in the middle of the desert in Saudi Arabia.Before the dairy was built, there was nothing in the area. The turnkey contract included everything from wells, irrigation and cow-sheds, to a dairy, roads and buildings.

Conclusion

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