The FlourWorld Museum in Wittenburg, Germany has inducted Zhiguo Dan, president of China’s Wudeli Flour Group, into the Milling Hall of Fame. Recognized for his business vision and responsibility, Zhiguo Dan now joins the ranks of personalities whose life’s work has been formative for the milling industry. The award ceremony was held at the World Flour Industry Development Exchange Conference in Handan, Hebei Province, China – an international industry congress that the Wudeli Group itself organized

Zhiguo Dan was born in 1972. Together with his father and brother, in 1989 he founded a mill with 15 tonnes daily capacity. Today it has grown to become the largest wheat milling company in the world. The Wudeli Group process over 80,000 tonnes of flour per day, enough to meet a third of China’s wheat flour demand. It is one of the country’s 500 largest companies.

Its size alone does not make Wudeli an exceptional business. What does is the philosophy with which Zhiguo Dan built up this family company. His goal was never growth alone, but a balance between all involved. “A company that wants sustained growth needs to ben-efit everyone – its customers, the farmers, its employees, the country and itself,” says Dan. This attitude marks the company to this day. Wudeli pays fair prices, invests in education, promotes an en-trepreneurial culture and is committed to tax transparency. This five-pillar logic is the basis of a stable “virtuous circle” as Dan calls it, a balance between responsibility and trust.

With over 140 flour varieties for all sorts of applications, from steam buns to pulled noodles to baked goods, Wudeli provides the Chinese population with high-quality staple foods, using both domestic and imported wheat. There is a core rule in all locations: “Unqualified wheat doesn’t come in, and low quality flour doesn’t go out.” This attitude towards quality control is not just lip service. Over 130 specialists and technical consultants ensure that the highest stand-ards are met, often in collaboration with universities like Henan Technical University.

Torsten Wywiol, CEO of the Stern-Wywiol Gruppe, and Roger D. Gilbert, publisher of the trade journal Milling & Grain, presented the honorary sculpture. In his laudatio Wywiol said, “Zhiguo Dan shows us that industrial scale and social responsibility are not mutually exclusive. With strategic foresight, philosophical depth and tireless innovation, he has transformed Wudeli from a small family business into the largest milling group in the world. What makes him truly exceptional is not just his entrepreneurial success, but his unwaver-ing commitment to progress with purpose. His achievements embody the very values we honour in the Milling Hall of Fame: vision, passion, perseverance and impact. Zhiguo Dan is a role model for our industry and far beyond.”

Dan accepted the award with thanks: “This honour belongs to our entire team. We see it as our job to provide safe, healthy food for today and tomorrow. That is our responsibility to society.”

With his induction, Zhighuo Dan joins a select group of international personalities, incuding John G. Coumantaros, Jamal Al-Hazaa and Museum founder Volkmar Wywiol, all of whom have been honoured for their contributions to the global development of milling.