The Dutch Lady story

BY YEOW POOI LING

1954 – Dutch company Royal Friesland Foods forms Friesland (Malaya) Pte Ltd in Singapore to market sweetened condensed milk imported from the Netherlands in Malaya and Singapore. 

1963 – Pacific Milk Industries (Malaya) Sdn Bhd was set up with the commissioning of a sweetened condensed milk factory in Petaling Jaya. The present site is the parent company's first overseas production facility.  

1965 – The factory was operational and started to manufacture sweetened condensed milk. 

1968 - Pacific Milk Industries (Malaya) was converted into a public company and became the first milk company to be listed on the Stock Exchanges of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore 

1975 – The company’s name was changed to Dutch Baby Milk Industries (Malaya) Bhd to better reflect its main product, Dutch Baby Sweetened Condensed Milk. In the same year, it commissioned and built an ultra heat treated (UHT) milk plant, as well as introduced the locally packed Dutch Baby modified baby food. 

1979 – Fruit juice drink under the JOY brand was introduced. 

1983 – Manufacture of sterilised milk in plastic bottles commenced. 

1984 – The brand was changed from Dutch Baby to Dutch Lady for product positioning purposes. 

1985 – A three-storey building was built to house the powder packing plant, as the business grew.  

1987-1988 – Dutch Lady pasteurised milk, yoghurt and growing-up milk were launched. 

1989 – In compliance with the Government's national policy to promote the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, the company delisted its shares from the Stock Exchange of Singapore. 

1994 – A new warehouse was built to accommodate the company’s growing business. The human capital started to expand in line with organisational needs. 

1995 – The company obtained certification under the ISO 9001 standards. 

2004 – Dutch Lady revamped its brand image and packaging with the new corporate tagline “Get Ready For Life!” to profile vitality through healthy lifestyles and activities. It was also the winner of the 2004 Productivity Award given by the National Productivity Corp, in the category of companies with a turnover of RM100mil and above. 

 DLADY :  [Stock Watch]  [News] 

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