'DJ' Maughfling's final report from the front line of business in Europe …
During the past two and a half years, my every day, in some way or another, has been dominated by the war in Ukraine. I feel that it is time to sign off from this topic with a last few words...
The war has turned out to be political. It was never about land or freedom. It was always about East and West, and the struggle and manipulation from governments. We have heard Western government leaders argue and disagree about the appropriate action for Western countries to take - changing their message, depending on the reaction from their voting public and the nearness of elections!
Meanwhile, we see many of the Eastern governments using the situation to set up new trade deals and look for new strategic alliances - ones that will give them greater strength in future negotiations.
So, what has really changed? For sure, there have been new laws passed. There have been massive loans and financial donations, with the majority of older military equipment being disposed of on Ukrainian territory.
In the future, this will result in increased spending on national security all around the world and on other related areas of national self-interest. So far it is hard to see any clear unity or willingness to act decisively to end this war.
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| Oleksii Lavrin, 1989-2024. During better times, Oleksii worked in the tooth-cutting department. |
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| Roman Komisarchuk, 2001-2024. Roman worked in the laser-cutting department. |
Here at the Supersprox factory in Ukraine, reality will continue to be tough for our team. When the war started, we had 75 staff in Ukraine. From those, 15 are serving in the military. During 2024, two of those servicemen have been killed at the front line. One was formerly an operator on the tooth-cutting machines, and the other was an operator in the laser-cutting department.
We have seen more than 30 people leave the company for a variety of reasons, all connected to the war in some way or another. We have been pressed to the far limits of our creative and emotional ability to develop new strategies for the company - ones that allow us to do more with less.
In some ways we feel invincible. They can’t stop us with their bombs, and we will find a way to go on, no matter what. However, it is deeply stressful for people to live under such pressure, and I can feel that.
I don't want to leave this topic on a negative note though. The political world will get over Ukraine and at some point [to channel Lt. Col. "Bill" Kilgore in Apocalypse Now], the war will stop. If nothing more, I have repeatedly said that people are resilient and will find a way to survive.
If you are able to take something from my letters, it would be this. It is easy to get too stressed over things that are not important. If we can try to stand back just a little and not be reactive, we will all be calmer and the people around us will be happier.
To anyone who has been reading these letters, thank you for giving me the opportunity to offload on you!
As for Supersprox and our future. We will go on with our work and our passion. We are optimistic that our strong brand and dedicated team will continue to supply great products for fans of our brand. We will balance the production between our factories in Poland and Ukraine, to secure supply to our clients.
