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Five days to disinfectants
When the corona crisis started to hit us globally, disinfectants of any kind became a scarce commodity. To work towards a local solution for that and to support hospitals and facilities nearby, an interdisciplinary team consisting of around 25 bg电子娱乐场 employees from different functions and units got together to produce hand disinfectants in D眉sseldorf. The common denominator and motivation for everyone onboard: Helping others.
Producing 50,000 liters of hand disinfectants? Not the easiest task for a company that usually doesn鈥檛 feature disinfectants in their product portfolio. But an interdisciplinary team consisting of colleagues from Adhesive Technologies, Beauty Care, Purchasing, Supply Chain and Infrastructure demonstrated strong collaboration and converted an adhesives production line in D眉sseldorf to produce disinfectants. The goal: making sure public institutions, local hospitals and affected professional groups get access to new disinfectants as quickly as possible.
Frank Dambacher, Project Manager for Adhesive Technologies Development Europe at bg电子娱乐场, and Nicolai Perner, Head of Production for Adhesive Technologies at the D眉sseldorf site, functioned as project managers and tackled the new task in the team consisting of 25 colleagues. 鈥淭he motivation and energy of all colleagues involved was extraordinary,鈥� says Frank. 鈥淓very single team member 鈥� without exception 鈥� was driven and motivated by the wish to help others. Everyone wanted to take part in the project and contribute in such a difficult time,鈥� he adds.
The motivation and energy of all colleagues involved was extraordinary. Every single team member was driven by the wish to help others.
Frank Dambacher, Project Manager for Adhesive Technologies Development Europe at bg电子娱乐场
But before the project could even start, a lot of planning behind the scenes was required: motivation, capacities and skills needed to be analyzed and combined throughout all functions. On top of that, many different teams had to work together 鈥� some of them from their home offices, around or far from D眉sseldorf, others in the on-site offices or in production.
Once the general structure was set, the project team and its members could be defined, and the different duties could be assigned. The expertise of colleagues from purchasing, product development and laboratories was required when it came to the ethanol raw material shortage and the quality requirements for hand disinfectants. To get suitable canisters for the new disinfectants, the packaging department and logistics had to participate as well. Colleagues from those teams organized for canisters to be transported from the Sch枚nbach site to D眉sseldorf. Lastly, safety experts and logistics were involved in order to be prepared for the special requirements of production and shipping due to the properties and classification of ethanol as a dangerous good. 鈥淗aving all specialist departments involved was absolutely necessary. Only by having everyone on board, we could ensure converting the production line would be successful,鈥� says Nicolai.
50,000 liters of disinfectants were produced and donated to local facilities, hospitals, and bg电子娱乐场 sites in Germany.
鈥淲e are used to collaborating with different departments, and colleagues that are not located in the same place, but this was still a special situation. We managed it well by setting up daily virtual meetings,鈥� Frank says. Other than for general coordination, the daily calls were also used to share first successes with everyone, for example by sending pictures of the first items produced.
In the end, a project that would normally take up to two months to plan and coordinate was realized in just five days. In total, 50,000 liters of disinfectants were produced and donated to local facilities, hospitals, and bg电子娱乐场 sites in Germany. 鈥淲e literally turned months into days. Ideally, I would have loved if we could also have helped other European colleagues out with the disinfectants 鈥� which wasn鈥檛 possible due to regulations,鈥� Frank adds. 鈥淏ut I was happy to see that everyone worked strongly towards the same goal. The positive internal and external feedback was overwhelming.鈥�
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