Companies Innovate to Maintain Supply Chains

Companies within the bakery industry are sending a massive outpouring of support messages encouraging the efforts made to stop the spreading of coronavirus, but also to ensure they are doing their best in order to supply the food chain or technical assistance for the manufacturers. 

Puratos and Bakeronline Support Bakeries 

Puratos and Bakeronline, a promising Belgian start-up, have joined forces to help businesses increase service to customers while facing the novel coronavirus outbreak. As more customers face social distancing, solutions that allow them to respect government lockdowns and social distancing are becoming more popular and more strained. Starting this week, Puratos and Bakeronline are allowing businesses to launch their online webshop platform for free. This supports governments’ efforts to fight the spread of the virus outbreak while helping customers in confinement to continue accessing nutritious and wholesome food. 

In order to comply with officials’ recommendations, consumers are looking for new ways to order and pay online and spend less time in store. To address this, Puratos and Bakeronline are offering their support to bakeries interested in setting-up a webshop, which can often be a complicated and time-consuming process.

Puratos and Bakeronline are committed to helping businesses in these difficult times. Bakeronline is a tool that allows bakeries to create personalized webshops (for free) where customers can easily place orders. Through Bakeronline, customers receive an overview of the available produce, clear product descriptions, as well as allergen information. Once they’ve confirmed their selection, customers can then pay online and choose when to pick-up their order. In addition to customers being able to order 24/7, online ordering will make it easier for bakeries to manage their orders and react to the demand.

Online stores, such as this one, can be created within 48 hours. Bakeronline is currently available in Belgium, France, Spain, The Netherlands, and Germany, but Puratos and Bakeronline are extending their help to bakeries across the globe. They urge bakeries in other countries to contact them to find a way forward.

Nestlé Steps up Global Response to COVID-19 Pandemic 

Nestlé has announced it joins forces with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in response to its emergency appeal. The IFRC is a strong and trusted global partner of Nestlé, with unmatched presence and expertise in providing first aid, emergency response and epidemic control. The Red Cross and Nestlé were both established over a century ago. Initially, both companies will work together in several ways to provide urgent help for emergency services and caregivers and strengthen healthcare systems.

• They will donate food, medical nutrition products, and bottled water to bring relief to those most affected by the pandemic. 
• They will deploy available logistics capacities from our out-of-home business to support the needs of the IFRC in various countries.
• They will donate CHF10m for immediate deployment in countries where it is most needed.

Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestlé, said: “Now is the time to demonstrate the values of the Nestlé family. I am deeply impressed and humbled by what our team has accomplished in order to support individuals and communities affected by this crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic is a global problem and consequently, we are offering help on the ground everywhere, drawing on our extensive presence and experience in 187 countries. In addition, we give our full support to those who are fighting tirelessly against the spread of the virus, every day. This is where our trusted and longstanding partnership with the IFRC comes in. We applaud the relentless efforts of the millions of Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers and admire their determination to make a difference on the ground.”

Nestlé assured the customers and consumers that they will continue to produce and deliver products to meet global demand. “We have implemented enhanced safety measures at all our sites, with particular focus on our frontline workers in Nestlé factories, quality labs, and distribution centers. Also, where needed, we are offering free meals and transport for staff to help reduce the risk they fall ill. In addition, we have put in place generous sick leave arrangements for those who contract the virus and will provide cash loans or advances for those in financial distress. All hourly and salaried staff affected by temporary stoppages will be paid in full for a minimum of 12 weeks,” the company stated. 

Full-scale Production at Diosna 

Henrik Oevermann, CEO Diosna Dierks & Sohne GMBH, announced that the company continues its day-to-day production operations almost without restriction. Producing mixing machines and systems, for bakery products, Diosna serves a market for one of the most important staple foods and, in this crisis, it observes a significant increase in industrially manufactured and packaged products. 

“Our customers can rely on us 100%, because our in-house workshops are well organized. Orders that have already been confirmed will, of course, be processed and delivered. If there are any delays due to illness or from our sub-suppliers, we will inform our customers in good time. Reliable processes have been developed to keep the information up to date. Provided that the production chains work, we can continue to deliver on time. Restrictions naturally result from restricted freedom of travel. This primarily affects our experts, who work closely with the customers, these are our salesmen, technical fitters, technologists, programmers, and commissioning engineers. The Diosna Group has a large network consisting of its own competent sales and service employees, as well as reliable partners. Depending on availability, the relevant specialist personnel or partners on site will act quickly. We can, therefore, cover a very large market and continue to offer well-structured customer service,” the CEO said. 

Oervermann has also announced that the goal is to do everything to protect the employees and customers. Great importance has always been attached to the topic of hygiene, however, all employees were also informed and quite a lot are able to work from home if the situation demands it. 

“As the market leader, we always strive to offer our customers something special. We are currently testing how we can use social media and tools such as 3D scans to interact with our customers. Since it is not possible for every customer to get detailed information from us in Osnabrück, we use digitalization as an opportunity to develop new ways to keep our customers up to date. You can be amazed to see what new ideas we come up with,” Oervermann added.