Milestone in ongoing operations

All KWS countries in Europe have been transitioned to GLOBE since March 1 – what significance does this milestone have for the transition project and KWS?

First of all, this milestone means that despite such an extensive restructuring project, we have so far been very well able to continue expanding our core business and supporting it even in a difficult current environment. Despite these challenges, KWS has been developing consistently since 2018, for example by expanding its business to include vegetables. But at the same time, we are of course aware that (ONE)GLOBE is demanding a great deal of our colleagues at all locations - in both new and old structures.

If we look at the project itself, we have certainly become better at transitioning individual countries in the two years. We are questioning processes more actively, especially for the things that are not documented anywhere - after all, we are talking about processes and activities that have often grown over decades. We start earlier with documentation and knowledge transfer and focus primarily on safeguarding ongoing operations in the core administrative processes such as payroll, accounting, and bookkeeping. Nevertheless, such a complex changeover does not always run smoothly and sometimes knowledge about certain issues is lost. As a result, we were not able to arrive completely at the target model in all areas during the transition. And therefore, this milestone also means that there is still a lot of work ahead of us.

The transitions in the USA and China are now underway, and Brazil is about to start - what can we expect here?

We have postponed the Spanish-speaking South American transitions (Argentina, Chile, and Peru) until the end of 2021 and can therefore focus on the U.S., China, and Brazil - three KWS heavyweights with complex local legislation, major time differences and very different cultures. There is also the full bandwidth in these companies' structures - from joint ventures to full-stack in-house breeding and production operations. We are therefore preparing ourselves for new challenges and surprises. Personally, I am very much looking forward to the upcoming transitions and also hope that the team will soon be able to carry out at least some of the project activities in person on-site again - because even though we were able to transition Eastern Europe almost completely from the "home office," the personal encounter helps us better to take on issues and, above all, to build relationships between old and new colleagues and structures.

You have been involved in the project since the very beginning. How did you get to know KWS?

I can still remember my first train ride from Berlin via Hanover to Einbeck. I still feel the route is special, especially from Hanover, when you travel by train along hills and fields and rarely hear a cell phone ring because of the cellular network. And when I arrived in Einbeck, I was thrilled by the location and the people. From the very first day, I was met very openly and warmly - probably because not many people knew at the time that I was also part of the ONEGLOBE project. But all joking aside - I felt at home from the very first day. What makes KWS special for me is that everyone works together to ensure the company's success, and everyone proudly makes their contribution. We also try to live this in the GLOBE organization. We are succeeding very well in some places, but we still have quite a bit of work ahead of us in others.

How has KWS changed since then?

In the last few years, I think the ability of KWS to change has evolved above all. I think that is also a continuation of a historical trend at KWS - after all, change is one of our company's core competencies, especially in research and breeding. At the same time, of course, this change is now shifting strongly to the digital sphere. KWS saw digitization as an opportunity early on and has positioned itself well in technical terms. The digitization of processes not only in administration, but also in our core business - research and breeding - will continue to build on that. However, KWS' business also thrives on personal closeness to customers and colleagues. That is why it will be our task to find a way of "joint efficiency.”

Of course, we'd also like to get to know you a bit better, so what motivates you every day?

I can answer that question pretty clearly: celebrating successes together is the greatest motivation for me. And for me, “together” means across organizations. I always try to keep an eye on the big picture and work towards achieving the success of the company together.