Ostankino Dairy Plant

The first attempt to build a large dairy plant at the Butyrsky farm was noted in 1940, when a project was developed for the construction of the “Moscow dairy plant for children and dietary products in Ostankino,” but construction was not carried out due to World War II. In 1950, the construction of the original project was resumed, and by 1955 the plant, which had become the largest Soviet dairy enterprise at that time, was put into operation ^[5] . The initial capacity of the plant was 250 tons of milk processing per day. In the early years, milk and sour-milk products were bottled only in glass containers; in 1961, the company put into operation two lines for packaging milk in classic half-liter tetrahedron bags - one original from Tetra Pak , the other - similar to the Soviet one.

In 1962, all the main Moscow enterprises of the dairy industry, including Ochakov and Tsaritsynsky dairy plants, the Moscow processed cheese plant , were assembled in the Milk production association, the Ostankino plant became the leading enterprise of the association.

In 1964, the plant mastered the production of condensed milk in cans and tubes. In 1965, the enterprise was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor with the wording “for early fulfillment of the seven-year plan tasks, improvement of production equipment and technology, and development of new types of products” . In 1971, a line for packaging in liter paper bags was launched and the plant finally abandoned glass containers. In the same year, a line for the production of glazed cheeses appeared. In the 1980s, a sterilized milk production line was put into operation with a shelf life of up to 10 days.

In 1992, the plant was incorporated . In the early 1990s, following a changing environment, the plant began to produce dessert and drinking yoghurts , curd masses , and chocolate cheeses . Also in the early to mid-1990s, the enterprise mastered the production of fruit juices and nectars (Sokos trademark), and their share in sales was significant. The transition of many dairy plants to the production of juices at that time was caused by the high profitability of their production and a simultaneous drop in the consumption of dairy products (declining from almost 400 kg per year per capita in terms of whole milk in 1989 to 230 kg per year in 1997 ^{[ 6]} ). By 1998, the plant took the second place in Russia in juice production, second only to Wimm-Bill-Dann (the main juice production of which was located at the Lianozovsky Dairy Plant built in the 1980s) ^[7] . After the 1998 crisis, due to a significant increase in the ruble price of imported juice concentrate, coupled with an increase in currency prices due to a low citrus crop in 1999, juice production ceased to be as profitable as in the mid-1990s ^[7] and gradually to the beginning - in the mid-2000s, the production of juices at the Ostankino plant was curtailed. (In the second half of the 2000s, the Sokos trademark was used by Nidan ^[8] .) Since the late 1990s, the plant has been producing sterilized milk with a shelf life of up to 6 months.

In 1999, the Ostankino and Ochakov factories, in order to compete with Wimm-Bill-Dann, created the Milk Alliance company on an equal footing, which was supposed to deal with a single sales and marketing of products ^[9] , but the managers of the enterprises failed to agree on the distribution of functions and powers with a joint subsidiary, and Milk Alliance actually degenerated into one of the usual wholesale trading companies, in the sales volume of which the products of the parent companies amounted to only 20% by 2000 ^[10] .

Since 2001, the factory has been producing Nesquik chocolate milkshakes under a sublicense agreement with the Swiss Nestle , according to which the licensor grants production and marketing rights, supplies ingredients and controls the quality of products; moreover, all production costs in the amount of $ 1 million for the construction of a new workshop, the purchase and launch of the Tetra Pak packaging line were taken over by the plant ^[11] .

Since the fall of 2007, negotiations were held on the sale of the enterprise with three major participants in the dairy market - Wimm-Bill-Dann , Unimilkom and Milkiland , a possible deal with Wimm-Bill-Dann was blocked by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (since it already included three large Moscow dairy plants - Lianozovsky, Tsaritsinsky and Ochakovsky), Unimilk was not satisfied with the price ^[12] , and on January 16, 2008 it announced the acquisition of a 75% stake in the company by the Ukrainian company Milkiland ^[13] . The amount of the transaction was not disclosed, according to experts, it could be $ 40-45 million ^[13] .

Since the acquisition of the controlling interest, Milkland has been gradually increasing its stake in the enterprise, and in July 2013 it gained 100% control over the plant, having bought the remaining 4.15% stake from minority shareholders for € 1.415 million, thereby evaluating the cost of the plant in the amount of about € 27 5 million

In April 2017, the Moscow Arbitration Court, at the request of Vozrozhdenie Bank, declared the company bankrupt and transferred it to the bankruptcy administration ^[14] ; in the autumn of the same year, the bankruptcy procedure was extended due to the fact that the property of the plant mortgaged in the banks of St. Petersburg and Vozrozhdenie was not properly assessed ^[1] . Since the summer of 2018, the property of the plant, including land, industrial premises, equipment, a trademark, as well as debt obligations of Milkiland, was prepared for sale at auction with a planned revenue of about 654 million rubles. ^[15] ; however, the bidding held in the fall of 2018 was declared void ^[16] . In 2019, for 540 million rubles. Plum bought the main assets - a 5.4 hectare site and a building with a total area of ​​more than 25 thousand m², it is believed that the buyer acted in the interests of the owner of the PIK construction company Sergey Gordeev . The operational activities of the plant were transferred to a separate legal entity (OMK LLC), which rented a production site from the new owners ^[17] . In August 2019, permission was issued for the construction of a residential quarter on the territory of the plant and the adjacent section of the Ostankino beverage plant ^[18] .

In 1962, Nikolai Antonov was appointed the general director of the created Milk association and at the same time the general director of the Ostankino plant as the head enterprise of the association.

In the 1990s and until the mid-2000s, Alexander Shevchenko was the general director of the enterprise; in 1997, for his “ contribution to strengthening the economy of Moscow, ” he was awarded the medal of the Order for Merit to the Fatherland, II degree, as a director of the plant ^[19] ; at the time of 1998, it owned about 4% of the plant’s shares ^[20] .

In 2004, Teymuraz Kutaladze , who previously worked at the plant as a procurement director, was appointed general director ^[21] . Since 2009, the director general of the plant is Igor Mandziy , in March 2015 his powers were extended for 5 years ^[22] .

Formed in March 2017, OMK LLC, which is 100% owned by Milkiland and conducts operational activities instead of the bankrupt joint-stock company that owned the main assets, is headed by Sergey Smurov .

The company's revenue for 1998 amounted to more than 900 million rubles. The capitalization of the joint-stock company was estimated at $ 17 million (the 154th indicator in Russia in 1998) ^[23] .

In 2006, the company's revenue amounted to $ 70 million, net profit - $ 4.2 million; The plant ended 2007 with revenue of $ 110 million and a slight loss ^[24] .

According to the results of 2013, the plant’s revenue amounted to about 6.4 billion rubles. ^[25] , compared with 2012, revenue grew by almost 30%; net profit in 2013 decreased by 17% compared to the previous period, amounting to 55 million rubles.

Trademarks of the 1990s are Alice (yoghurts, curd products, sour cream), Mikusha (lactic and curd products), Sokos (fruit juices and nectars) ^[23] .

In the mid-2000s, the most popular brand of the company's products was Ostankino, the fourth in terms of fame in the Moscow dairy market ^[26] ; It is also noted as the famous brand of the second half of the 2000s, “36 kopecks” ^[13] . By the end of the 2000s, products were produced under a significant number of various names, after the company came under the control of Milkiland the number of brands was significantly reduced, the most popular brands - “36 kopecks” and “Ostankinskaya” - were retained.

In the late 1960s, the enterprise created an automated control system for the Milk association; as part of its implementation, the CEMI employees studied the processes of production, distribution and marketing, studied statistical and sociological data on demand and consumption, found some non-trivial patterns (for example, it was found that dairy products consumption is noticeably reduced during the mass delivery of fruit to Moscow) ^{[27 ]} . Based on the research results, economic and mathematical models were developed that were the basis for production planning algorithms and optimization of sales logistics. The technology center of the computer center at the Ostankino plant included six computers; 75 thousand punch cards were processed daily. Director of CEMI Academician Fedorenko announced the economic effect of automation at 1 million rubles. per year (based on a net profit of 29 rubles per ton of milk) and the payback period of the project for 3 years ^[27] .

In 2003-2004, the Axapta ERP system was introduced at the plant, the functional blocks of production management, sales logistics, procurement management, financial management, MRP planning were implemented ^[28] ; the project was noted among the largest ERP implementations in Russia as of 2005 ^[29] . In 2008-2009, with the transfer of the enterprise under control of Milkiland, the ERP-system “Oblik ERP” of the Ukrainian developer Bankomsvyaz was introduced at the plant ^[30] .

In 2000, the plant obtained in court the deregistration of the 33 Cows trademark ^[31] and began production under this brand . Moreover, the Ochakov Dairy Factory has been using the 33 Cows brand since 1997, and by 2000 up to 80% of its dairy products were sold under this name ^[32] . By 2007, the output under the brand name “33 Cows” was retained only by the Ochakovsky Combine, moreover, the popularity of Muscovites of this brand was rated higher than that of Ostankino brands ^[26] .

In 2008, the company sued Wimm-Bill-Dann for using the image of three spikelets on products under the Shepherd’s brand, which has been produced since 2002 at the Ochakov Dairy Plant ^[33] . The Ostankino Combine registered the trademark with a graphic image of spikelets similar to that used by dairy plants in Soviet times in 2007.

In 2011, the plant won a lawsuit against the entertainment magazine Maxim , which published a year earlier in a humorous section an image of a man with a package of milk “36 kopecks” with the caption “Dad don't drink! The number of idiotic children is growing every year in Russia , ” according to a court decision, the magazine was supposed to pay the company 500 thousand rubles. and publish a refutation of the connection of childish idiocy with the use of 36 copecks milk ^[34] . However, a year later, the appellate courts finally reversed the decision, not considering the caricature of the plant’s business reputation as being harmful ^[35] .

In the 1990s, the advertising rhetoric of the plant with speculations on the subject of health was criticized, in particular, on the packaging of Sokos pineapple juice it was reported that the product contains bromelin, supposedly rare and contributing to “weight loss” and “rejuvenation of the body” ^[36] .

At the end of 2013, several sections of the plant were closed for a month for unsanitary conditions ; shortly afterwards, during a sudden inspection, two products were found to be inconsistent with sanitary and hygienic standards and another product was subject to technical regulations , as a result, the activities of the entire enterprise were suspended as prescribed by the Moscow authorities, and a fine of 2.2 million rubles was imposed on the plant. ^[37]

• Мартынов А. В. Животноводческий подкомплекс и перерабатывающая промышленность России 1990—1998 гг. // Молочная промышленность. — 1999. — № 7 . — С. 5—7 .

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