A dedicated team works hard every day to ensure that everything runs smoothly at Güntensperger, from milk production to dispatch. Over 60 professionals in all areas work with passion to ensure the high quality of convincing traditional cheeses, including innovative cheese products. An insight.
Quality control is just one of the important functions at Güntensperger
Güntensperger has grown over the years and decades. From a small, local, traditional Toggenburg cheese dairy over 100 years ago to a company that supplies cheese and cheese products of the highest quality and in large quantities to Switzerland and the whole world. We maintain the recipes and maturing traditions that have been handed down, but also improve and modernize where we can. We are only able to do all this thanks to cross-team collaboration, each of us a specialist in their own field. Here are a few direct insights into our daily tasks and challenges.
Christian Wiget - Quality management
Quality management at Güntensperger is an exciting job in a broad field. We carry out audits, constantly monitor quality, tackle quality problems and take care of product certifications. Our challenge is to implement country-specific regulations and standards in a practical manner. In a fast-growing company like Güntensperger, we are constantly striving to improve work processes and structures. Company tours, meetings and constant communication by e-mail are part of our daily routine. We currently have Lara Wegmann as a new member of the team and are bringing her know-how and practical knowledge up to the usual high level.
Kuno Mock - International Sales
Still quite new to the team, I was able to do an internal "short apprenticeship" as a cheesemaker in my first two weeks. I am still impressed by how much experience, quality awareness and strenuous manual work goes into every piece of cheese. The high quality standards make the product "cheese" very transparent and honest for the consumer. In sales, we work closely with planning and therefore also with production - after all, we don't want to produce too much or too little cheese. The fact that cheese only has a limited shelf life, has a perfect ripening period and that we only sell the perfect cheese makes sales a real challenge. I am in constant contact with my environment. With customers and partners abroad, with my team colleagues in Italy, Holland and England, with order picking and logistics. The ordered goods have to arrive correctly and satisfactorily. The manageable size of the company and the short communication channels help enormously. As the focus here is on topics such as tradition, craftsmanship and enjoyment, I really enjoy taking these products and thus a "little bit of Toggenburg" out into the world.
Röbi Fischbacher - Milk logistics
In milk logistics, we ensure that the fresh milk from the dairy farmers finds its way to the cheese dairies on time. We are extremely careful to comply with hygiene regulations, as well as to pass them on, and to be on time at the place where the dairy farmers bring their milk to the collection point. I am also in constant contact with the rest of the team, by phone, e-mail and in meetings. This is the only way to ensure the necessary precise planning so that the milk is collected on time and is in the right place at the right time for fresh processing. I enjoy driving my truck through the beautiful Toggenburg countryside, visiting the farms and experiencing nature in its seasons. I try to pass on this satisfaction in my work.
Nina Widmer - Special production and forwarding
We receive new orders every day - from small quantities to very large deliveries. Some of this goes to Switzerland, but a lot is also exported, for example to Germany, Holland and other countries. Due to seasonal factors, fondues are currently the main focus in specialty production. In confectionery, the award-winning Gwitterchäs and the Trüffelperle are particularly popular at the moment. We often work under time pressure. The trick is to keep quality and hygiene at the highest level and ensure that everything arrives at the customer in perfect condition. We work hand in hand with the dispatch and sales departments and it is always impressive to see how well the cooperation and team spirit works at Güntensperger. In an innovative and growing company, you learn something new every day - there is no boring routine here.
Tamara Forster - Retail
Our work involves many tasks, especially in a really large network. We are in constant contact with existing customers and new ones are constantly being added. We pass on the orders to the packaging department and at the same time take care of the invoices and delivery bills. In doing so, we advise which of Güntensperger's many products and cheese varieties might suit the end sellers. When the phone rings every 5 minutes and new orders come in, it can be quite a challenge. After all, we do our best every day to organize the orders as quickly as possible. Customer satisfaction is our top priority. The lively exchange between us, the packaging and the customers only works with the right communication. In doing so, we have to take into account capacity limits in the company as well as customer expectations. I enjoy the contact with our customers. As there are always new products at Güntensperger, we can always offer something new. I find it particularly motivating to sell products that I am convinced of myself.
Pius Länzlinger - Production Manager | Cheese dairy
At the Bütschwil cheese dairy, the freshly delivered milk is processed into our high-quality cheese specialties every day. The next day, the cheeses produced are placed in a salt bath for 36 hours and then in one of Güntensperger's cheese maturing warehouses, where they develop their unique taste for up to 12 months. During production, parameters such as temperatures, times etc. must be monitored and recorded in writing. Working in the cheese dairy is a varied passion that brings with it a number of challenges. Milk planning must coincide with personnel planning, the entire complex system must function perfectly so that there are no interruptions to production, and we are constantly coordinating with the cheese ripening warehouses (which cheese goes where, when and in what quantity). We make very good products every day, which is motivating and fun. The contact with sales, packaging, milk logistics and the ripening warehouses makes our work lively and direct.
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Sincerely,
your team at Güntensperger Käse AG