Strong together

Like father, like son. Farmer Henning Pülsch is a farmer like his father and manages a dairy farm together with him. He talked to us about the challenges of farming.

At DMK, we employ several thousand people. Of course, we want them to enjoy working for us and to feel comfortable here. Like Katrin Lücking, who did her apprenticeship at DMK. And still feels good after 15 years with us.

From theory to practice. And back to theory again. Sometimes you don't realise where your passion lies until after your training and in your job. Like dairy technologist Jan-Erik Ploog.

The compatibility of family and career plays an important role for us. Because we want our colleagues to feel good about their work. Product Manager Isabella Katzer appreciates the opportunities offered by flexible working. And she still has a lot of plans at DMK - including condensed milk.

We are Germany's largest dairy cooperative. Who do we have to thank for that? Our employees and farmers. We would like to introduce them to you in more detail. Take André Hausendorf, for example, who has been working for us for an incredible 34 years and has thus played an active role in shaping the dairy industry. We talked to the team coordinator in the filling area about his career and his specific tasks at DMK. He also tells us why he would recommend DMK as an employer at any time.

Diversity is one of the most important criteria when it comes to recruiting new employees. After all, they no longer come only from Germany. Our employee Alaric Pope originally comes from the US state of Tennessee.

Women in management positions are naturally also a big topic at DMK. We talked to Lena Herkenhoff, trainer for the dairy industry, about the challenges and her experiences with this topic.

DMK supplies various markets internationally. Also the French market. Our colleague Dr. Jamila Bouanda, who as Category Head Fresh Dairy is in charge of the butter and FD portfolio, is responsible for this market. We talk to her about her tasks and her challenges as a female manager.

DMK wants to ensure a gender balance at all levels. Also in STEM professions. We talked to Team Leader for Product Development Cheese Romy Päpke about the challenges for female managers and her career at DMK, among other things.

In this employee portrait, Nils Wordtmann, milk technologist, talks about his work at DMK.

"I think the big picture is incredible, like how so many areas work together. Everyone has their job here and everyone is responsible for making it run."

With around 7,500 employees, the DMK Group is Germany's largest dairy cooperative. But what actually happens when families meet here in everyday working life? That was the case with Kim Hilljegerdes. She even completed her apprenticeship with her father.

DMK offers students various opportunities to gain practical experience during their studies. Nike Müller is working as a student trainee in the area of organisational development during her master's degree in business psychology.

After her bachelor's degree and subsequent master's degree in food technology, she took a job as a technologist in the Center of Expertise - Research & Technology in the Process Development department at DMK.

Around 5,200 milk producers work together with DMK. We are proud and grateful that we work with them in such a trusting manner - in some cases for decades. We talked to farmer Ulrich Wentrup about sustainability, the challenges in agriculture and young talent.

I’ve been a member of the dairy cooperative for 40 years, but I’ve never before received such a high milk price.

Like all other farmers, we had been worrying 2022 about the war, price increases, supply bottlenecks and the power supply. It was all very upsetting. But it doesn’t compare to what I and my family felt during the most devastating catastrophe I ever experienced, as a farmer and volunteer fireman, when it struck our neighboring village.

2022 year has been a special one for me and my family in many ways. In March and April we were in lockdown for almost two months. It was the longest period of isolation so far and it was unusual to be at home in our own four walls for all that time.

For me, a door closed 2022 – and another opened. Up until January, I was working together with three apprentices at the Herzgut dairy in Rudolstadt, Thuringia, which has a long history. The farms were still supplying raw milk in December but then, on New Year’s Day, the company filed for insolvency.