Dear readers,
We put Daimler Magazine on an unscheduled hold in mid-March, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. At the time, the novel coronavirus had completely disrupted our lives, seemingly from one day to the next. During this time, breaking the chain of infection in order to prevent the further exponential spread of the virus was the number one priority. Public life came to a previously unimaginable emergency stop, unprecedented in our lifetimes. Restaurants, movie theaters, sports stadiums, and even schools were forced to close temporarily. At Daimler as well, the majority our production units as well as selected administrative departments temporarily suspended their activities.
All of this happened around 100 days ago. The situation is different now, as sophisticated safety and hygiene concepts have been implemented in various areas of public life in order to protect people from infection as they go about their daily business. Nevertheless, the danger posed by this novel coronavirus has not disappeared, since no one can say at this time whether and when there will be a second wave of infection , how extensive that wave might be, or when a vaccine will be available.
Still, people have learned to live with the virus — both privately and in the work environment. The time has therefore come for Daimler to draw a first balance. How do our colleagues in the Group crisis team look back at the dynamic developments in spring? What does the “new normal” everyone’s talking about look like at our locations around the world? And what comes next?
We went looking for the answers to exactly these questions for our cover story. The result is a rather unconventional look behind the scenes at a major corporation — at the height of the state of emergency and in the weeks that followed. Pleasant reading!
The Daimler Magazine editorial team
