Bel Brand
CASE STUDY: BEL GROUP
Leading the Herd
Bel Group Centralizes Its Supply Chain Processes and Brings Its Innovative Cheese Brands to a Global Audience
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el Group was established in 1865 in a mountainous region of France called Jura. Cheese maker Léon Bel discovered that, by melting whole cheese with butter, he could create processed cheese with a much longer shelf life. He decided to call his new product La Vache Qui Rit, or The Laughing Cow — and a global brand was launched. Over the years, Bel Group gained great popularity in the European market with its original product. “The Laughing Cow is a wedged cheese that is very easy to carry along with you. This is especially convenient for families with young children. It was very innovative at the time, and the brand quickly became very famous,” said Florent Champagnat, replenishment process manager at Bel Group. The company followed this success with other brands that have become household names across Europe, including Babybel, Mini Babybel, Kiri and Leerdammer. “Many Europeans grew up knowing about and eating our products. Our brands are very well known and that gives us an advantage over our competitors,” noted Champagnat.
Global Expansion Brings Challenges
The European region still accounts for 55 percent of Bel Group’s sales and 51 percent of its production volume. But today the company has become increasingly international and diverse, selling more than 30,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) to 120 countries, with production sites and subcontractors around the world. This has created some logistics challenges for the business, as it must ship highly perishable products over longer distances. Transportation times range from a single day to three months, utilizing land, sea and air routes. Safety stocks, promotional events and other variables must be carefully managed in order to ensure both availability and freshness of Bel Group’s products. “We have different supply chain challenges to address,” said
Leading the Herd
Bel Group Centralizes Its Supply Chain Processes and Brings Its Innovative Cheese Brands to a Global Audience
B
el Group was established in 1865 in a mountainous region of France called Jura. Cheese maker Léon Bel discovered that, by melting whole cheese with butter, he could create processed cheese with a much longer shelf life. He decided to call his new product La Vache Qui Rit, or The Laughing Cow — and a global brand was launched. Over the years, Bel Group gained great popularity in the European market with its original product. “The Laughing Cow is a wedged cheese that is very easy to carry along with you. This is especially convenient for families with young children. It was very innovative at the time, and the brand quickly became very famous,” said Florent Champagnat, replenishment process manager at Bel Group. The company followed this success with other brands that have become household names across Europe, including Babybel, Mini Babybel, Kiri and Leerdammer. “Many Europeans grew up knowing about and eating our products. Our brands are very well known and that gives us an advantage over our competitors,” noted Champagnat.
Global Expansion Brings Challenges
The European region still accounts for 55 percent of Bel Group’s sales and 51 percent of its production volume. But today the company has become increasingly international and diverse, selling more than 30,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) to 120 countries, with production sites and subcontractors around the world. This has created some logistics challenges for the business, as it must ship highly perishable products over longer distances. Transportation times range from a single day to three months, utilizing land, sea and air routes. Safety stocks, promotional events and other variables must be carefully managed in order to ensure both availability and freshness of Bel Group’s products. “We have different supply chain challenges to address,” said