Around the world in 13 herbs

Swiss by name, Swiss by nature: Ricola grows the herbs for its cough drops in Switzerland and processes them right away on site. The plants are dried, cleaned, cut, stored, and mixed in the herb center in Laufen. From the herbs to the finished product, all stages of production take place in Switzerland. The family company dates back to the year 1930. Today, Ricola is one of the most state-of-the-art and innovative confectionery manufacturers in the world and a global brand that stands for Swissness.

Today, Raphael Richterich represents the fourth generation of the company. Ricola employs around 500 people all around the world, 430 of whom are based in Laufen. The company generated CHF 339.3 million in group revenue in 2018. Ricola exports the vast majority of its products—around 90 percent of its hard and liquid center cough drops as well as herb drops and instant teas—to over 50 countries all around the globe, primarily the United States, Germany, France, and Italy. And also to Asia: Ricola is the market leader for herb drops in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Local contacts

All roads start in Laufen: the family company has been working with DACHSER Air & Sea Logistics Switzerland to distribute its products around the world since 2008. “At the time, we were looking for an experienced and reliable partner who could help us access markets where, ideally, it already had a presence itself, and who would give us maximum control over the various processes based on its network and IT capabilities,” explains Jochen Layer, Vice President Corporate Fulfillment at Ricola AG. “We felt like we were in good hands from the word go with DACHSER, and that our needs were fully understood. That goes not only for our direct contacts in Switzerland but also for our contacts in the DACHSER branches in the Americas and the Far East, where a large proportion of our exports are delivered.” In the ten years that have passed since initiating the partnership, the ever expanding collaboration with the logistics provider has gone from strength to strength.

Layer stresses just how important process reliability is to Ricola: “We need to know that quality standards are maintained in compliance with the relevant standards along the entire supply chain,” explains Layer. It’s in the nature of the product. Layer explains how the cough drops—which Swissmedic, the Swiss authorization and supervisory authority for drugs and medical products, classifies as a simple medicine available without prescription due to their ingredients—need to be handled with special care when making their way from production into the markets. He describes how every step of the supply chain had to meet the International Food Standard (IFS) and also the strict standards imposed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for food and OTC (over-the-counter) products in the US and Canada. “Hence our need for a logistics partner who is competent, reliable, and at the top of its game,” Layer says.

The industrial engineer certainly has high expectations of the logistics services provided to the long-established Swiss company: “We’re always looking at the bigger picture, at optimizing all our processes and continuing to develop the supply chain. Our aim is to have robust and absolutely reliable supply chains that enable maximum transparency along the entire flow of goods. We’re not looking for a revolution here, but an evolution geared to the respective market conditions.”

Taking a holistic view of joint efforts and not merely focusing on quick success fits well with the Ricola culture, which has always combined high quality with a down-to-earth nature and an appreciation of values.  “The basis of all company decisions is the uncompromising standard of quality that Ricola applies across all areas of the company.” Business success is not an end in itself, but should instead serve to take responsibility for the employees, the company, and the environment.
 “There was clearly a special cultural fit between Ricola and DACHSER from day one,” Layer and his counterpart Samuel Haller, Country Manager for the Air & Sea Logistics business field at DACHSER Switzerland, are agreed. “Mutual trust, honesty, and a passion for innovation form the foundations of a long-term and sustainable collaboration; one that may well lead to us discovering new ways and means together further down the line,” Layer emphasizes. Listening to each other and being able to understand the different situations that might arise in order to then develop creative solutions time and again is a real asset to both companies. “Success requires empathy; it can come about only through understanding collaboration.”

The collaboration between Ricola and DACHSER, which has now been going strong for over ten years, is proof of this theory. It is spurred on by the general willingness on both sides to engage in an open and creative exchange. “We can always be straight when it comes to our expectations of one another,” Layer says. This has led to DACHSER and Ricola becoming increasingly in sync as they expand and continuously strengthen their transparent process and supply chain. In 2012, DACHSER took on the responsibility for supply chain risk management on behalf of Ricola. “This is a massive vote of confidence—and it also places us under a huge obligation,” says Bruno Zwiker, Sea Freight Manager at DACHSER Air & Sea Logistics Switzerland. “Production might be running smoothly at our end, but if the containers carrying our goods get stuck somewhere down the line, production can come to a complete standstill in the target market,” Layer confirms. “It’s then that we need dependable partners who are clued up and can act immediately. This ability to act fast and come up with a solution is what we have found in DACHSER.”