The apparent market confusion around who is Tru-Trust Dairy Solutions will be solved by going back to the future for Dairy Technology Services (DTS).
The confusion started when DTS was bought out by Tru-Test Group back in 2013 and was then branded Tru-Test Dairy Solutions even though its legal trading name remained Dairy Technology Services.
The Tru-Test Group then split the business in 2018 into two separate operating divisions, Retail Solutions and Dairy Solutions, so the former could be sold to the Swiss firm Datamars along with the Tru-Test brand.
This left Tru-Test Dairy Solutions out by itself as a provider of farm holding tanks (FHTs), milk cooling and refrigeration, and dairy automation solutions – and with a timeframe to stop using the Tru-Test brand name by September 2020.
Sound confusing? Not for much longer says Dairy Technology Services CEO, Gavin Thwaites.
“The re-branding back to Dairy Technology Services was logical as many of our customers still refer to us as DTS,” says Thwaites.
“In fact, our Normanby plant in Taranaki which manufactures 95 percent of farm holding tanks in New Zealand has always been known as Dairy Technology Services.
“While the brand needs to be clarified, continuing to supply and service our core product range through our nationwide network of sales and service teams remains our focus.”
DTS has a contract to supply FHTs to Fonterra co-op farmers around New Zealand and is also commissioned to supply FHTs to other dairy co-ops such as Synlait, Open Country, Westland and Tatua.
DTS is also a leader in remote on-farm monitoring – measuring and reporting milk temperature as it first enters the FHT and then as it is refrigerated via smart devices, complete with automated alerts.
In its dairy automation services range, DTS continues to develop a range of on-farm services including manual and autodrafting, in-race IDs and walk-over weighing, feed control, in-bail identification and inline sensors – all run off smart devices.
“We are currently engaging staff and key stakeholders in the re-branding exercise with the timeline of launching the new brand and its livery in time for spring,” says Thwaites.
