Climate-conscious and respectful of tradition

The Neff dairy in the Zurich Oberland is a traditional family business. Having taken over the company last year, Operations Manager Thomas Neff is sticking to tried and tested methods, but also creates ample scope for innovation, climate protection and greater energy efficiency. Switching to a more environmentally friendly refrigerant in his refrigeration unit is one aspect of this.

Thomas Neff welcomes us to his dairy with all the warmth of the glorious weather on this sunny day in the village of Wald, Zurich. The family business has been trading for 40 years, and the young entrepreneur took it over from his parents in 2024. Basically, Thomas Neff still does exactly the same thing in the dairy as his parents did: he processes milk into various end products. On closer inspection, though, we see that almost nothing is the same as it used to be. The shop, which once also housed the production facility, is no longer there. The production facility has been relocated to a neighbouring piece of land and is now many times larger. The Neff dairy mainly supplies large industrial and retail customers. “The days when people came by with a milk churn to collect their few litres of milk are definitely over,” says Thomas Neff with a chuckle. These days, milk bottles and yoghurt pots roll off the production line every second. As many as 3,500 litres of milk are continuously heated and cooled each hour, with production starting early in the morning at half past five.

A trained dairy technologist and master dairyman, Neff lends a hand wherever he can. After his apprenticeship, he completed a postgraduate degree in economics and does all the office work himself – with a little help in dealing with the accounts. Alongside tradition, the company also has plenty of scope for innovation and pioneering spirit.

Thomas Neff is a resourceful entrepreneur. Whenever possible, he implements climate protection and energy efficiency measures in his operations.

Funding enabled further investments

Thomas Neff enjoys tinkering with new products, such as those made from regional oat milk. He is very keen to implement measures for greater climate protection and efficiency wherever possible – be it in production or in terms of energy efficiency. That’s why he didn’t hesitate when the service technician servicing his refrigeration unit last year recommended a change of refrigerant and the subsidy available for it. “We installed the plant in 2009. As a small business, we couldn’t afford a complete replacement because that would have involved a lot of additional renovation work, but the financial support from the KliK Foundation has given us the necessary room for manoeuvre to invest in further efficiency measures,” says Thomas Neff.

This enabled the dairy to purchase an additional heat pump, which uses the waste heat from the refrigeration unit to heat the buildings. Neff leads us to a room in the basement next to the refrigeration unit. He points to a large display and explains: “This is the electronic control panel for our entire energy supply. The funding enabled us to install it from scratch.” The control panel allows Neff to control exactly how much energy flows where.

The investments in the additional plants have paid off: the waste heat from the refrig- eration plant is not only used to heat the dairy’s buildings, but also supplies all the hot water for the business and heats the water in the neighbouring outdoor pool.