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It 1905, Valentin Reinhard, from Styrian Gross St. Florian near Deutschlandsberg, opened a poultry station in Ptuj. Seven years later, his wife, Josephine, took over the running of the company and moved its head office to Puntigam near Graz. Thereafter the company slowly developed into a wholesale trader dealing in poultry, eggs and game throughout the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 1931, the company put its first employee, Martin Jambrovic, through a poultry classification course in Holland. The next year, the company bought its first truck, and 2 years later they built their first cold storage room. By then, the railway system had introduced special carriages for transporting poultry, and the company began to export its goods to England. The Reinhard era came to an end in 1945 when the company's assets were nationalised and became the property of the newly-established Yugoslav republic. The government of the Republic of Slovenia then relaunched the company in 1947 as Perutnina Ptuj. While the Reinhard's will always be linked to the company's beginnings, Dr Roman Glaser will always be linked to the modernization of Perutnina Ptuj. Dr Roman Glaser, chairman of the board of directors of Perutnina Ptuj, joined the company in 1988. He was born on 11th July 1947 and graduated from the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Ljubljana in 1972. Ten years later, he attained his master's degree and, in 1987, he became a Doctor of Veterinary Science. In 1992 he was appointed as the president of the public enterprise and in September 1997, at the company's annual general meeting, the shareholders elected him as the chairman of the board of directors. Perutnina Ptuj has responded to the challenges of Europeanization and globalization by more than doubling the value of its operations over the last three years. Simultaneously, it has evolved into an international concern with branches in five countries and has made inroads into markets in 18 countries. "With our vertical organization, traceability and quality, we are embarking on a new period of growth. If we rely on the average, we will no longer be able to count on development. However, just as we have demonstrated over the past three years at Perutnina Ptuj that we are capable of evolving and opening new books - books of the future, so too will new tastes and their popularity evolve," Dr Glaser said at the company's 100th anniversary celebrations. "At Perutnina Ptuj we, along with the entire food processing industry in this country, want to take another step forward. Openly and boldly, we want to tell consumers that all nationally produced food with the 'Made in Slovenia' label is among the comparative advantages of our country whereby, domestically, we can establish greater trust and a sense of belonging among local consumers, while attaining wider international recognizability, and, of course, economic improvements, because quality is increasingly becoming a differentiating element that enables individual companies, as well the national economy as a whole, to be more efficient. There are a number of collateral effects that highlight the effort invested, the rewards for investing in our technological capabilities, things such as quality certificates and above-average business productivity, and, of course, environmental balance. The latter is what ensures that Slovenia stays the green jewel of the planet," added Dr Glaser. It is no coincidence that in recent years Perutnina Ptuj has invested tens of millions of euros in upgrading its technological capability, know-how and organizational structure. It is thanks to Perutnina Ptuj that traceability has become a standard for the entire food processing industry in Slovenia. "Even though we at Perutnina Ptuj use leading-edge technology, this, of course, is not sufficient. The project aimed at comprehensively exploiting the national advantages in providing healthy, safe and traceable food can only be spearheaded by the joint efforts of the major producers and processing companies, working in close partnership with the state-run infrastructure," said Dr Glaser. Perutnina Ptuj is not just thinking of future; it is making one. A few months ago the first generation of Wellness poultry and chicken meat products were released in a few select European markets. The Wellness family includes seven new food products aimed at people living contemporary lifestyles. Wellness products are low in fat and energy values and have less saturated fats and additives; they are also high in albumins and have a high dietary fibre content to aid digestion. Dr Roman Glaser: "A century has come to an end; tomorrow we will be starting all over again! History repeats itself, and tastes remain, even though they themselves are changing."