{"id":38320,"date":"2021-05-30T14:10:24","date_gmt":"2021-05-30T14:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mumnet.cn\/our-employees-are-our-most-important-asset"},"modified":"2022-02-14T13:12:49","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T13:12:49","slug":"our-employees-are-our-most-important-asset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mumnet.cn\/ch-en\/our-employees-are-our-most-important-asset","title":{"rendered":"\u201eOur employees are our most important asset\u201c"},"content":{"rendered":"
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After more than a year of the pandemic, the Militzer & M\u00fcnch Group looks back on 2020 with an overall sense of satisfaction. The results of the individual regions vary \u2013 but one thing is certain: The employees are committed to creatively mastering the small and big challenges, and to always having an open ear for their customers.<\/b><\/p>\n

The Militzer & M\u00fcnch Group’s 2020 business year was, on the whole, satisfactory. \u201cThe term ‘mixed fortunes’ sums up the past year quite well,\u201d says Alexei Kovalenko, Chief Financial Officer TransInvest and Militzer & M\u00fcnch, and spokesman of the Militzer & M\u00fcnch Group Management. \u201cExcept for the spring, especially the month of April, which was marked by lots of uncertainties due to the completely new situation, the rest of the year went largely in line with our expectations.\u201d Among others, there was positive business development in Western Europe, particularly in France and Germany, as well as in the Maghreb.<\/p>\n

The Militzer & M\u00fcnch teams in the individual countries played a substantial role in this development. \u201cThese past months have confirmed once again that employees are our most important asset,\u201d says Alexei Kovalenko. \u201cBesides the framework conditions imposed on us by the governments, development is closely related to the colleagues on site. In many cases, the local management did a good job of communicating the temporary and necessary measures, such as short-time work, and the teams went along with them \u2013 that was crucial in order to prevail also in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, the politico-economic framework conditions in some countries were favorable, especially in France and Germany, and Militzer & M\u00fcnch made use of government support. \u201cIn Germany, we experienced some tough weeks in Q2 across all business segments,\u201d says Holger Seehusen, member of the M&M Group Management and Managing Director M&M air sea cargo GmbH. \u201cThe option of short-time work was important for the German country unit, and our team fully backed the decision.\u201d In Central Asia, for example, there was no such form of government support, which made the situation far more difficult. There, Militzer & M\u00fcnch is active in the project business, among other things \u2013 this segment however declined noticeably during the pandemic. \u201cCentral Asia has been and will be badly shaken by the pandemic,\u201d says Alexei Kovalenko. \u201cHowever, we are confident that the situation will ease again, and we are still expecting great opportunities in the project business along the new Silk Road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Positive signals from the industries<\/b><\/p>\n

After minor declines, demand from automotive customers already recovered in 2020, and also in the textile and cosmetics sectors, Militzer & M\u00fcnch records only minor dents in transport demand. \u201cEspecially with cosmetics and hygiene products, our expectations of an increase in demand were perhaps a bit higher than it ultimately turned out to be,\u201d says Holger Seehusen. \u201cA positive example is the good cooperation between the teams in China and Germany on the transport of corona protection materials.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asia is also benefiting from the e-commerce business, which is particularly noticeable at EMEX, the M&M courier and express service in Kazakhstan \u2013 a development that was already apparent in 2020 and continued in Q1\/2021. The 1st quarter of 2021 was good in all Militzer & M\u00fcnch regions, with the country units in Asia still needing to catch up more than their European counterparts.<\/p>\n

In some regions, the signs are even pointing to growth: the former delegation in\u00a0Malaysia<\/a>\u00a0has been turned into a full country unit as a joint venture. Militzer & M\u00fcnch France has taken over ITP and ITPL, companies of the\u00a0LPS Group<\/a>\u00a0(Logistique et Prestations de Services), to further strengthen the Maghreb business. In Vienna, Austria, Militzer & M\u00fcnch has been represented by its own branch office since October 2020. And the joint venture in Serbia is also developing promisingly. \u201c2020 was the first full year of business for the highly motivated team,\u201d says Alexei Kovalenko. \u201cThanks to the good development, we decided in March 2021 to acquire the previously rented property with 10,000 square meters of warehousing and 3,000 square meters of office space in Dobanovci near Belgrade, thus giving Militzer & M\u00fcnch Serbia even more space for growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ready for the extra mile<\/b><\/p>\n

The Militzer & M\u00fcnch Group has always been flexible, and the pandemic once again confirmed it. Where activities allowed, home office options were created at short notice, with both the central IT in Hof and the local IT teams contributing. Some sites relied on a rotating model, which ensured that the offices were never fully staffed.<\/p>\n

For the sales teams, among others, however, the pandemic with its many restrictions has been a challenge. \u201cAt times, one-on-one customer contact was not possible at all, and digital-only meetings are not easy for either side \u2013 neither for forwarders nor for their customers,\u201d says Holger Seehusen. \u201cThe creativity of the employees in approaching customers has shown that even in difficult times they are motivated to go the extra mile, to always be close to their customers and understand their needs.\u201d And they demonstrate a great deal of flexibility: telephone conferences called at short notice across national borders and time zones go very well \u2013 proof that intensive and efficient exchange is also possible digitally.<\/p>\n

Maintaining customer relationships is easier in pandemic times than acquiring new customers, but Militzer & M\u00fcnch was already well positioned before the pandemic and was able to rely on existing contacts. Thus, the Rail segment at M&M air sea cargo GmbH, for example, developed well in cooperation with the InterRail Group. The relatively new project department in D\u00fcsseldorf also gained a foothold and completed some exciting project shipments, including on-carriage to the hinterland, within a very short period of time. In view of the positive business development, Militzer & M\u00fcnch decided to join the worldwide\u00a0Atlas Breakbulk Alliance<\/a>\u00a0(ABA) network, whose members are forwarding companies with a focus on project shipments only. Thus, participation in the Breakbulk Europe trade fair, which will hopefully take place next year, is a must.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Alexei Kovalenko, Chief Financial Officer, TransInvest and Militzer & M\u00fcnch, as well as Spokesman of Militzer & M\u00fcnch Group Management<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Holger Seehusen, member of the Militzer & M\u00fcnch Group Management and Managing Director M&M air sea cargo GmbH.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After more than a year of the pandemic, the Militzer & M\u00fcnch Group looks back on 2020 with an overall sense of satisfaction. The results of the individual regions vary \u2013 but one thing is certain: The employees are committed to creatively mastering the small and big challenges, and to always having an open ear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1723,1508,900,901],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mumnet.cn\/ch-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38320"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mumnet.cn\/ch-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mumnet.cn\/ch-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mumnet.cn\/ch-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mumnet.cn\/ch-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mumnet.cn\/ch-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mumnet.cn\/ch-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mumnet.cn\/ch-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mumnet.cn\/ch-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mumnet.cn\/ch-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}