Dear Colleagues,
The importance of good cooperation both within and outside our company was demonstrated last week: A major fire at a nearby recycling center brought our production and logistics to a complete standstill for a short time. Around 3,000 square meters of landfill area were ablaze from Wednesday evening until Friday morning – resulting in a correspondingly heavy smoke and odor. The smoke prevented the necessary cooling air from being drawn in for our machines and equipment, forcing us to suspend operations.
The scale of the fire is evident from these figures: 19 fire departments with over 100 firefighters from the region, as well as the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), were deployed. A tracked excavator was used to pull apart the burning waste, which was later covered with fire-fighting foam. The major fire was finally extinguished by Friday morning, demonstrating the speed and expertise of the fire and disaster relief services. As early as Thursday afternoon, the fire department gave us the go-ahead to reopen the company as usual at 7:00 a.m. on Friday.
What I find particularly noteworthy is the way we collaborated internally and externally: characterized by professionalism, mutual trust, and a remarkable composure in dealing with the situation. Communication with the city and the fire department's incident command took place regularly through personal meetings and was always reliable. This enabled the emergency response team at Bauerfeind to make swift and confident decisions, for example, regarding the cancellation of shifts on Thursday.
In parallel, many colleagues within the company contributed with great dedication to managing the situation from the outset – and then to normalizing operations as quickly as possible. Special mention goes to colleagues from occupational safety and fire protection, as well as from facility management, production and logistics, and the emergency response team: immediately after the fire was reported, the first protective measures were implemented together, even during the night leading into Thursday. My sincere thanks also go to all colleagues who, starting last weekend, worked overtime to reduce the resulting delivery backlogs and accumulated orders!
I mustn't forget to acknowledge the Aramark team in this successful collaboration, as they adapted just as flexibly to the exceptional situation: On Thursday morning, they promptly delivered the meals intended for the night and early shifts in our company restaurant to the emergency responders at the landfill. This was so well received that the fire department requested breakfast from us again the following day. And the Aramark team made it possible once more, despite the canteen being operating normally.
The events of the past few days caught us unexpectedly, but they have shown me how resilient our structures and networks are.
Yours sincerely,
Rainer Berthan
Chief Executive Officer