IDM ¦ Interview
Is the Food Industry Resistant BENEO’s insights into how COVID-19 has challenged the industry
"The food industry is crisis-proof" as "people always
eat" is a common perception. And while it’s true
that there are many business sectors much more
severely affected by restrictions resulting from the
COVID-19 pandemic, companies in the food and
beverage industry also face challenges: It's about raw material security
in times of closed borders, it's about the health of employees. What
about ingredient manufacturers? IDM asked Claudia Meissner, Head
of Corporate Communication at BENEO, one of the leading companies
in the field of functional ingredients, for her thoughts.
IDM: Claudia Meissner, how many video meetings have you had
today?
Meissner: Well, you’re number 5 today! But honestly, I am used to
it now, after more than two months down the line – just like about
60 other employees at our site in Mannheim and many more at all
our sites in the world. We started home-office very early on. This
was mainly to reduce the risk of infection, but also to enable our
colleagues to balance childcare including home schooling and work
schedules in times of schools and kindergartens closing. But of course,
this is primarily a solution for employees in administrative roles.
IDM: What is the situation with employees working in production?
Meissner: Here, the triad of social distancing, increased hygiene
and protection applies. At a very early stage of the pandemic,
increased hygiene measures were introduced. We ensured
that protective materials, such as masks and gloves, were
available and used correctly. To ensure social distancing, we
have, amongst other things, changed shifts and rotations, and
re-arranged work areas in the factories using Plexiglas separations,
coloured stickers on the floor, etc.
IDM: And the biggest challenges?
Meissner: Not so easy to pin-point ‘the biggest’ challenges – you
will get different answers from the different functions and locations.
To keep our colleagues healthy and safe was the ever-present
goal in all challenges we experienced so far and since this needs
to be done in a locally relevant way, there is no ‘one size fits all’
solution. The sentence ‘think global and act local’ has never been
more valid. From an overall perspective there are a couple of main
areas of challenge worth mentioning though: Keeping production
running with a much higher work intensity regarding shift systems,
on-site organisation of protection and safety gear but also signage
etc. Sometimes even the need to do the same work with less people
and at the same time managing a higher demand. Then there
is the global aspect of logistics; containers being hold back in Asia
and not arriving e.g. in Chile in time or in sufficient number, at the
same time road blocks so trucks need to calculate much more time
for their distances or sometimes cannot calculate at all.
IDM: Agriculture in particular had to deal with the loss of harvest
workers. Closed borders prevented access to markets, raw
materials and workers. What is the situation with BENEO?
Meissner: Luckily, we have not yet experienced any shortage of
raw materials. However, like many other industries, we are dealing
with some logistical challenges, such as fewer containers and
reduced shift work at harbours. We have also needed a strong,
combined team effort to coordinate harvesting in Chile. There,
our harvest season began at virtually the same time the country
went into lockdown as a result of the pandemic. However, despite
this, we are happy to say that things are currently running
to plan thanks to the incredible efforts of our teams on-site.
IDM: Many companies see this crisis as an opportunity – what
are you taking as learnings from this period?
Meissner: A key learning for us is that swift alignment between
stakeholders is essential to implement the necessary measures
quickly and effectively. The impact of the pandemic has been
mitigated for our business by the quick agreement of various
stakeholders on the best way to proceed, helping us to define,
decide and take action promptly. For us as a globally operating
company, it is important to monitor the different national rules
Claudia Meissner,
Head of Corporate
Communication at BENEO:
After the crisis, things will
have to be re-evaluated:
How do we secure supply
when borders are closed,
how do we find a balance
between global and
regional sourcing and
with production sites
in different parts of the
world
26 · September/October 2020 ¦ international-dairy.com
/international-dairy.com
