OeTTINGER Brewery relies on innovations and the continued success of its Blind Tasting Tour
OeTTINGER Brauerei GmbH has been through eventful months and faces even more major challenges. The traditional family-owned company provided information on this at the Works Assembly at the Oettingen site, to which the Works Council had invited staff last Friday 31 May.
Managing Director Michael Mayer connected with those assembled through a video message. He reported on operational and commercial issues from the different departments and indicated that the beer industry found itself in an extremely competitive environment. “We have to meet these challenges in a determined yet calm manner.”
Oliver Bosch, Chair of the Works Council at the Oettingen site, read out his activities report at the assembly. In terms of content, he discussed issues, such as workwear, operating agreements and the operating environment.
Pia Kollmar stressed at the event how important a good atmosphere in the company is to her and reminded all assembled employees of the mission statement, formulated in 1996, which had remained unchanged since then. She emphasised how important credibility is both within the company as well as outwardly.
A further slogan for the event (“0% NON-TRANSPARENT. 100% INFORMED.”) also reflected the positive developments in recent months and years. The systematic implementation of the company’s PR and communication strategy since 2013 was once again resulting in outstanding results. This can clearly be seen by the rapidly rising hits in social media as well as the positive feedback about the Blind Tasting Tour, started in the summer of 2016, which had garnered the company headlines throughout Germany. “We’re well on our way in this respect – that is confirmed time and time again from all sides,” explained Sales Director and Authorised Officer with Procuration Jörg Fritz, deputising for the Executive Board, announcing that this successful approach would continue to be pursued in 2017.
Launch of new products pending
This is yet another reason why the company is looking optimistically towards the future. Admittedly the situation of the German beer market continues to be just as tough. However, the OeTTINGER Brewery considers itself to be well prepared to face the forthcoming challenges with its five divisions. The company will also launch a new product in June 2017. 0.33-litres bottles of OeTTINGER Alcohol-free will be sold in a six-pack, responding to the trend towards smaller bottles.
There was a consensus amongst all the speakers at the Works Assembly that the corporate success of OeTTINGER was due to the balanced relationship between tradition and experience and major innovation strength. Tim Lubecki, Regional Director of the NGG union in the Swabian region, had travelled to the assembly with his colleague Marcel Mansouri and spoke about salary growth and the use of reusable quota. Marcel Mansouri focused his presentation on pension provision. The conclusion of the Works Assembly has traditionally always been dedicated to the honouring of long-service employees. 13 employees, with a total of 330 years of service, celebrated a personal anniversary because they had been employed for a minimum of 25 years at the Oettingen site. Dominika Steinberg, Head of HR at OeTTINGER Brauerei GmbH, presented the awards.
