To better implement the national strategy of supply-side structural reform, Yili Group always sticks to its belief in “Yili represents highest quality” by continually strengthening supervision and control to provide safe products for customers and become a model in the dairy industry. 

Industry chain of high quality

Yili Group has been committed to establishing a complete industry chain of high quality covering the links from milk source to circulation, fully practicing the belief "Yili represents the highest quality".

In the early 1990s, Yili started to establish high-quality milk source bases and kept improving them as part of a drive to promote a whole industry chain. By the end of 2017, the group had more than 2,400 pastures, half of which were of important influence, large scale and high standard. Among the overall supply sources of raw milk, large, concentrated-breeding pastures contributed 100 percent of the all milk, ranking first in the Chinese dairy industry. To meet customers' increasing demands, Yili also made efforts to integrate milk sources in Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Americas.

Yili employed advanced technologies, such as the internet of things (IoT), big data and mobile terminals, to the management of milk source bases. Intelligent systems were established to manage the process of dairy farming and production, and to ensure the stable supply of high-quality milk sources. In 2010, the group set up a Dairy Cow Science Academy to develop and promote advanced breeding technologies.   

To ensure the raw milk would be safely transported, the group installed video surveillance and positioning systems in all milk transportation vehicles to monitor and manage the transportation process around the clock.

By employing advanced equipment, Yili's factories adopted intelligent manufacturing. The information-based system could collect and analyze data in terms of research and development, cost control, quality guarantee and product circulation, minimizing safety risks in the production links.

The group also established a network covering the whole country to monitor product circulation. A "product quality and safety trace system" was released which enabled customers to trace products on their smart phones or through our official website.

Quality supervision system strengthens industry chain control

Yili has a quality supervision system that lives up to the standards of ISO9001 certification, HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) system, ISO14001 management system and OHSAS18001 professional health safety control system. It also gained certifications from the national food enterprise integrity system and FSSC22000 food safety system.

Learning from the food safety risk control standards of countries and regions with developed dairy industries, such as the European Union, New Zealand and Australia, Yili established a triple protection system covering the levels of nation, enterprise and factory. Its quality management system included more than 80 test units that could monitor, analyze, control and prevent potential safety and quality risks arising from source to terminal.

Representatives of Yili Group and three quality control companies –– SGS, LRQA and Intertek are seen at a ceremony celebrating their partnerships, August 11, 2014. [Photo/Yili Group]

Yili initiated the Leading Quality Strategy in 2014 to extend its food safety management to the whole industry chain and to establish a global quality management system. For better quality and safety, this dairy giant had established strategic partnerships with the world's top three quality certification organizations: SGS, LRQA and Intertek. 

In 2015, Yili upgraded its strategy of quality management to the strategy of Leading Quality 3210, which focused on the highest quality around the world. In 2017, the group proposed establishing a "whole industry chain quality management ecosphere", with the aim of concentrating all efforts along the industry chain to improve and guarantee food safety.

Yili Group also employed Internet Plus technology to assesss and prevent risks. In 2015, Yili signed an agreement with Wageningen UR on an early warning system to create a better guarantee system for food safety. In 2017, Yili became the only dairy enterprise from China to take part in the EU-China-Safe project, to make predictive studies on food safety and risk control with more than 30 other professional organizations.