What European countries do you usually visit for business?

I think that Germany is Mecca for sausage production. Historically a lot of sausage kinds are produced there, and numerous sausage and meat festivals are held there. The largest professional exhibitions of meat processing industry equipment are held there too.

We always visit a specific trade show IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin). At these shows manufacturers can communicate with business partners, find new ones and agree upon holding seminars according to actual needs of the company at once. They are not just discussing the latest innovations but show manufactories with these changes implemented. In other words, we have the opportunity to continuously improve our professional skills and be aware of the latest inventions and achievements. Of course, I visit German companies and seminars more often than this exhibition takes place.

We also visit sausage manufacturers in Poland and Austria.

Do leading Ukrainian sausage manufacturers often attend this kind of events too?

It is difficult to talk about Ukrainian market. But if to talk about Volyn producers I should say that no competitors were on the market when we were just starting our business. We realised this and spent all funds to upgrade the equipment and buy the new one, mainly of  German production. It was difficult, but we got the results and made a huge step forward leaving many competitors behind. They had a hundred times greater financial opportunities, but nothing seek nothing find.  

When you look at the equipment company has, you can see if the company visits the events. If the equipment is outdated, then general approach to work is outdated as well.

But the fact is not every manufacturer wants to let strangers to his production facility and show his manufacture.

Do you let the strangers in?

Yes, but not every person passing by . There are certain requirements for hygiene, safety, etc. Our partners visit our manufactories after prearrangement if necessary. Besides, we plan to open our manufacture for journalists in Autumn. After the tour for media, we plan to invite students and concerned adults. Of course, we will conduct preliminary instructions. Our visitors will pass through special sanitary walk-through dressed in special clothing. I would like people to become aware of food production. They will understand where ad slogans end and real quality starts.

Do German manufacturers let the visitors in ?

They let us in (I mean colleagues). We share experience and visit manufactories during seminars. I am not sure about other people. I don’t think so.

Tell us something about your German partners.

First of all, we buy equipment in Germany. Besides, “Raps” company, one of the biggest spices manufacturers, is situated there. They manufacture spices for us as well. Every spice mix that meets our requirements is approved and gets a unique number to be manufactured just for our company.

I can’t but mention that copyright and patents are steady in Germany. If Germans have patents for something (receipt for example), the attempts to copy it will be regulated by law. The situation in Ukraine is different and too liberal.

Tell us about the German manufactory. What differs it from Ukrainian?

Small manufactory “Dmytruk” and German sausage manufactory don’t differ fundamentally. Some time ago I was visiting one large German manufactory that produces up to 150 types of sausage. Production departments of this company have the simple equipment. It is modern and high-quality equipment but you will see nothing special in it. We had good Polish equipment at the beginning but then changed it to German. So now we have the almost identical equipment to German manufacturers.

Workers wear special clothing, pass sanitary walk-through, the manufacture is clean. Everyone sticks to the rules both in Ukraine and in Germany.

And still, there are small but important differences. They are related to the organisation of work in global sense and employees attitude to work.

What do you mean saying “in global sense”?

Europe reminds me of a well-programmed socialism. Everyone does what he has to and does it better than anyone else. For example, in Germany manager is not concerned about where he should get meat. He makes an order and high-quality meat raw material comes to his manufacture the next day because the supplier of meat specialises just in meat supplies.

Our current realities are different. When we buy chicken meat, we usually debone it by ourselves. I need just a fillet part and not the whole chicken. But I had to refuse the supplies of chicken fillet because suppliers began to stuff meat with water to boost weight. I used to come to them and ask to give me the product I need even if it is more expensive. But at the end, we make deboning at our producing department.

Today to provide a full production circle you should organise animal breeding, slaughter, meat processing, products sale. It is a very complicated and long process when you have limited financial resources.

There is another example. One German corporation consists of 6 factories and we had a talk with the owner of one. He told that each of these factories manufactures just some kinds of sausage, so one enterprise makes minimum procedures, it saves time and effort and provides a higher quality of work and product. They made their wide net of brand shops. Corporation offers a broad range of high-quality products with minimum production, logistics, sales net expenses. Ukraine still doesn’t use this; though there is nothing complicated about it.

Here is another interesting example of sharing the experience. I recently had a talk with my German colleague who was complaining about the situation he faced. He equipped his manufacture with very expensive units for water purification and had to remove it in a month. I asked why did he have to remove it, it was so expensive. And he answered that they had got the entirely different product with different taste, the taste had become artificial. The water had become distilled and dead. After this conversation, I made sure one more time that water should be moderately cleaned and contain healthy minerals.

What are the characteristics of work organisation?

As for work organisation, we are trying to look up to German manufacturers. German employees take their duties very responsibly. They can leave their working place if they need but their absence is not reflected on the results of their work. Each employee realises the importance of his work.

Our employees have two 15 min breaks during a day. They can talk on the phone (which they leave in their personal locker) or work on their personal matters. In other words, nothing distracts them from a process of manufacture.

You told you’ve changed your good equipment to a better German one. What was the reason?

We hadn’t just updated the equipment but broaden the range. We’ve faced the increasing demand for our products. There are two ways to increase the number of goods. First one is to extend the production process to 10, 12 or even 14 hours. In this way workers get tired quickly, attention concentration decreases, mistakes are possible, the so-called human factor plays the part here. We have been sticking to all standards and norms for seven years to produce high-quality products and had finally won the confidence in our product. We will harm ourselves if we start to produce goods with some irregularities in the procedure. So we decided to expand industrial capacity, to install more of modern, powerful European equipment which works faster and provides higher performance.

You tell about a lot of important strategic points. Aren’t you afraid that your competitors will take your example and leave you behind?

I take this philosophically. I do not invent anything new buying European equipment. My advantage is that I am the one who is responsible for purchase and control investments. It means no one can bribe me with kickbacks as it sometimes happens at large holdings. Purchase manager usually buys not the equipment the manufactory needs but the equipment of the manufacturer who gives a better bribe. This is what characterises modern Ukrainian business, unfortunately. This kind of management approach to work is one of the reasons for Ukrainian inferiority complex. We need to fight this by showing people facts and numbers of our real achievements or gaps.

All more or less successful companies implement the approach of continuous improvement of employees professional skills, upgrade and expansion of equipment. If you don’t move forward, you give your competitors a head start. And it doesn’t matter whether it is Europe or Ukraine.