For several weeks now a pathogen has been overshadowing our lives and our workplaces:
The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is changing day-to-day life for almost everyone. The restrictions on personal freedom are intended to slow the spread of the virus in order to prevent our health system from being overburdened. To prevent too many people from being infected at the same time, children are no longer allowed to go to school, day-care centres or playgrounds, and homes are being turned into offices. The borders are sealed and football matches, pop concerts, trade fairs and other mass gatherings have been cancelled. Everyone must keep their distance from others.
As the DMK Group we have prepared our employees, farmers and processing plants as best we could for all conceivable scenarios. A working group set up to do just that has been busy since the earliest stages of the crisis with coordinating all the necessary measures. It is now up to each and every one of us to ensure, by acting prudently, that we work together to limit this danger and navigate through the crisis – all the while keeping our sense of proportion.
In truth, this is the hour of the cooperative spirit: "What one man cannot do alone, many can." In other words, it’s up to US.
At the moment, nobody knows how the situation will develop and what the world will look like in a few weeks. We see nonetheless that if we maintain the common bond – even if it is a virtual bond via telephone, e-mail or videoconferencing – we as a company will weather these times well.
It makes us proud to see how we are coping with this stress test so far. We have restructured our company. Days like these show what we as DMK can achieve and what WE means!
As DMK we want to supply the population with food – that is our clear mission. We are fulfilling this mission in a special way these days, whether that’s our farmers on the farms or the employees in the dairies and administration office.
"The food sector matters to the whole system", the assertion of the German Minister of Agriculture, Klöckner, is both a challenge and an opportunity for us. The pandemic has reached all of us and the topic of coronavirus occupies almost all our departments. As individuals with families and friends and, for a long time now, professionally. So far we at DMK have been spared major cases of illness or stoppages – but we are also doing something to keep it that way. As a food company we know how hygiene works. And we are building on this with further measures. At this point, we want to give special thanks to all our colleagues in our plants!
The virus is a stress test for production, sales and logistics as well as for human resources, IT, finance, law, communications, and more. Our task force has been keeping an eye on what's going on since the start of the year. A team of management and technical specialists, which we adapt flexibly as needed, examine the situation at least once a day and stay in touch 24/7, and they are also reaching out to institutions such as the Robert Koch Institute and to government circles.
In this way, we are fulfilling our mission of supplying the population with food. That is the task at the moment – asked of all of us. Our task force is steering us well and carefully, preparing us for situations and coming up with steps to take in response. In addition, each and every one of us is contributing by focusing on their job and reacting flexibly to changes.
The high-performance farmers we work with directly are still delivering their high-quality milk. Our special thanks also go out to them – without prudent and cautious action on our farms, the shelves would be bare.
It makes us proud to see how we are coping with this stress test so far. We have restructured our company. Days like these show what we as DMK can achieve and what WE means!
These days our thoughts are also with the teams in all other countries, especially with our colleagues in Italy and Spain. We stand together as the DMK family.
Ingo Müller Heinz Korte
CEO DMK Group Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the DMK Group