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One of these examples is the closer collaboration of InterAmerican Coffee (IAC) Europe and Bernhard Rothfos (BR) in Hamburg, which will be implemented from January 2022 on. Initiated by David M. Neumann and the management of both companies, NG HR organized and carried out workshops with colleagues from both teams. Christoph Kühn, Head of NG HR, is very content with the development: “We took several steps and were also able to generate measures, where we have the possibility to join forces and processes, which are going to be realized shortly.” In close exchange with the Management from IAC and BR and Jörn Severloh as Coach, these findings have been evaluated, and a plan for the upcoming years is prepared. Just like IAC and BR in the USA, both companies will work together more closely on a professional level as well as regarding the workspace to enhance processes and communication flows. However, the General Management will stay the same at IAC as well as BR.
“Through joining our forces, we hope to generate synergies. With better services, an extended portfolio, and interesting offers, we can be the perfect partner for our customers”, Inácio Teixeira and Mirella Cielek, Managing Director IAC, say optimistically. Both companies look forward to strengthening their connection and becoming more agile and more efficient to create a competitive edge in the market.
Sustainable Business is another topic that is crucial for the achievement of the overall goal. This year has clearly shown that we have to be aware of many different kinds of potential threats, for example frost, droughts, or to much rain in a short period of time. To deal with these events successfully, we have to prioritise sustainable business and find possibilities how to be prepared. To benefit from what we will do and what we are doing already, we also have to communicate more regularly and proactively. Although NKG and all group companies have been working on sustainable business successfully in the last years, we have not talked about it a lot. With our NKG Responsible Business Program, headed by Dr. Sarah Tischer, we now have the framework to intensify communication about our efforts. Besides a marketing presentation about the Responsible Business Program, there will be for example an annual collection of data, which will be published every two years in the NKG Sustainability Report. The importance of the topic is also reflected upon in the structure of the Responsible Business Program team: Group Compliance, Board of Management, Sustainable Business Unit (SBU), NG Communications, NKG Human Resources, and external partners all work together closely.
This kind of flexible teamwork is gaining more and more importance. To keep them in line with our main goal 20/200, bigger and more complex projects will partly be coordinated centrally from Neumann Gruppe in the future. “With both rising complexities and sheer quantities of projects, this hands-on approach has reached its practical limits”, explains Hanns-Christian Neumann, NG Corporate Affairs und Project Coordination. Until now, these extended teams are mostly formed on short notice, without a superordinate structure – this is going to change soon. The process is not yet completed, so we will keep you updated about the next steps.
Undoubtedly, communication plays an important role in every company, every project, and every team. Besides other things, we at NG Communications want to intensify our commitment to our joint aim and communicate more transparently, interactively, and promptly – externally as well as internally. To make getting in touch with with each other easier, we are enhancing our communication channels (for example through the digital NKG Connected and an increased usage of N’Sider). In an ongoing process, we are further refining and sharpening our Corporate Identity and Corporate Design, which are based on our lived Corporate Culture, our beliefs and our values. This is very important, as it represents our strengths as NKG. We all love the product we work with daily, and we want to include everyone, who contributes to a sustainable future for this great product. We are a reliable partner not only for other participants in the market, but also for each other internally at NKG. And this is exactly what will form the center of our Corporate Identity. Derived from the identity, our Corporate Design determines visual guidelines and serves as a basis and reminder for us to make sure we know who we are, what we stand for, and where we are heading as NKG.
As we said in the beginning, the new goal 20/200 is ambitious. But, with everything we have achieved in the past years and everything going on right now, we are well prepared to live up to our own expectations. Through growing further together, we have the opportunity to shape a successful future, not only for us as NKG, but also for our partners and the whole coffee industry.
Supply chain management faced huge challenges in 2021, and there is no relief in sight for 2022. Three experts from our group explain, how supply chain disruptions are challenging NKG and how we are working together to overcome them.
The frost in Brazil on July 20th made headlines around the world. There were huge losses on the plantations, and, as a result, the price of green coffee rose to a six-year high. Frost was and is not the only and biggest problem that NKG Fazenda da Lagoa in Minas Gerais and others have to cope with. Hans Faessler from NKG Tropical Farm Management and Tiago Amaral Oliveira and Patrik Avelar from Fazenda da Lagoa told us which concepts they are implementing on the farm to combat the increasing drought and extreme rainfall.
One of NKG’s approaches for a more sustainable supply chain is the new program NKG Verified. With Verified, NKG wants to improve supply chain traceability and compliance with key sustainability criteria.
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