Danish Crown takes the next step in major transformation
Danish Crown is in the midst of a profound transformation that will strengthen the company in the global food market.
The group has improved its competitiveness over the past year and created the basis for a new ownership model. Now Danish Crown is looking into the next phase and shifting away from the old conglomerate structure. This is done through a new organizational structure, which is an important element in the transformation of Danish Crown.
"We must fundamentally normalize Danish Crown so that we resemble other international companies that do what we do. Today, our business units are largely run as independent companies. We want to change that now, and that is why we are linking our businesses more closely together. We must work as one fully integrated company – across business areas and across countries," says Group CEO Niels Ulrich Duedahl.
It is estimated that over the next two to three years, efficiency improvements of DKK 500 million can be achieved by transitioning to the new organizational model. Specifically, Danish Crown will use the new model to bring together a number of central group functions that are currently largely anchored in the individual business units.
A central element of the new model is to create a simpler organization with fewer management layers, broader and more focused management roles, and more direct references under the individual manager.
The new organizational structure means that Danish Crown will reduce the number of employees across its international organization by approximately 800 over the next two to three years. The restructuring will take place among managers and white-collar workers, as central group functions are consolidated across business units.
"By bringing together the functions at group level, we can better utilize our size, work more uniformly across the organization and create more efficient operations. Instead of doing things differently depending on which country you are in, we need to have common standards, common systems and common goals. This also means that over the next two to three years there will be a need for fewer management layers and a smaller number of employees," says Niels Ulrich Duedahl.
Danish Crown currently consists of eight business units, including Industry, Foods, Beef, UK, KLS, SokoĊów, ESS-FOOD and DAT-Schaub. Redundancies will occur continuously across countries and business units, and negotiations on the plan will be initiated at the beginning of June in the individual countries.
"We at Danish Crown have improved our competitiveness, but we still have a large untapped potential that we believe we can fulfill. Competition in the global food market is historically fierce, and our owners are going through a difficult time on the farms. This emphasizes the need to complete our transformation, which will improve our competitiveness and the settlement to our owners. This is a crucial step in that journey," says Niels Ulrich Duedahl.
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