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A major German dairy company has opened a new production facility for plant-based milk and yogurt.
Bauer Group inaugurated the facility in July, and regular production is expected to begin in August. The company first rolled out its plant-based dairy range in 2021.
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Bauer Group, which is one of Germany’s largest dairy companies, previously sourced ingredients for its plant-based milk and yogurt externally. The decision to internalize production comes in response to increasing demand for plant-based alternatives.
The company has emphasized that the new production facility will complement, not replace its existing dairy interests. Bauer Group also aims to source ingredients from local farms in order to shorten its supply chain, and has reportedly encouraged its existing suppliers to integrate soy production into their businesses.
As reported by Rundschau, Heiko Modell, CEO of the Bauer Group, said, “From a sustainable but also entrepreneurial perspective, I am convinced that the opening of our production and innovation center is an important step in moving forward.”
He added, “We strongly believe that regional production in the field of plant-based milk alternatives is the future.”
Bauer Group’s new facility is located in Wasserburg am Inn, a town in the Rosenheim district of Upper Bavaria. Michaela Kaniber, the Bavarian Minister of Agriculture, attended the inauguration event on July 16, 2026.
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‘Projects like this demonstrate why we view plant-based as a strategic growth area’
Engineering group GEA spent the last year and a half supplying and implementing technology to turn raw materials into plant-based concentrate at the Baur Group facility. The full process involves mixing and grinding soy beans, separating the solids, thermal inactivation, and finally, storage.
Michael Klamt, GEA Project Manager, said, “Projects like this demonstrate why we view plant-based as a strategic growth area for GEA. The fact that we were able to support Bauer as a single-source partner from the initial feasibility study all the way to a fully operational plant was essential to reliably meeting such an ambitious timeline. And it proves that our investments in the test centers in Ahaus and Oelde pay off.”
Earlier this year, GEA relocated its German Application and Technology Center to Sarstedt in Lower Saxony with an additional USD $4.6 million investment. The center, and its sister site in Janesville, Wisconsin, US, develop and test alternative proteins.
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