Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic poses additional challenges for procurement. Flexible forms of work were introduced in procurement two years ago. This groundwork, an advanced organizational culture, and an increasing focus on digitalization made it possible for us to transition smoothly to working from home under difficult circumstances. Thanks to the comprehensive development of our risk management system and the greater involvement of the procurement network in identifying, analyzing and assessing risk, targeted risk strategies were drawn up to minimize the impact of the pandemic on supply and to stabilize supply chains. This enabled us to secure our operational processes. For instance, collective efforts ensured that construction activities could continue at almost full capacity des­­pite Covid-19 restrictions. The procurement function was a member of the Covid-19 task force and was involved in making key decisions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the year under review, we also procured large quantities of protective products for the Federal Government. With the Eurasian land bridge, we use environmentally friendly logistics services for transport to Germany.

We have also set up a countermeasure program with partners in our procurement network to compensate for the financial damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. In this context, we have expanded the MyProFit program to include a recovery program.