Nestle Rejiggers Operations to Keep Factories Running in Ukraine

Nestlé SA is rejiggering its business and supply chain to keep its factories operating in Ukraine and stepping up efforts to donate food to the most devastated areas of Ukraine.

After the outbreak of the war, Nestlé initially closed all three factories in Ukraine. Two days later, the confectionery factory in Lviv and the condiments factory in the northwestern Volhynia region were reopened to continue to supply the country with the food it needed.

To protect factory workers from the threat of ongoing airstrikes Nestle has turned underground spaces into bomb shelters and shut down elevators. We also adjusted the production line to allow frequent outages and starts, reducing the number of field workers and ensuring that everyone fits in the shelter.

Since the beginning of the war, the company has tried to readjust its business operations in Ukraine, but employees have responded to the initial decision to continue selling most and some imported products locally produced in Russia. 

Nestle imports other products such as baby food, soup meal, water, and medical nutrition products from factories elsewhere in Europe and donates them to Ukrainians. Trucks arrive in Poland across the Ukrainian border from countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom, after which supplies are distributed nationwide.