In the light of ongoing concerns across the globe and questions from some of our key customers, we thought it would be helpful for us to lay out our current plans to mitigate foreseeable impacts from the spread of COVID-19.
Obviously, at this stage, no-one knows quite what is going to happen and – although we have not (yet!) witnessed panic-buying of air compressors or Zone Guardian – it’s as well to have a plan in place!
All of our staff have been instructed to self-check every morning, and remain away from work should they not feel perfectly well. This approach recognises that even unrelated illnesses would impact a person’s ability to fight and recover should they be diagnosed with Coronavirus.
In early March we are placing extra orders for all our raw materials and components, to ensure that we can continue with our production plans and satisfy customer demand.
We are also aiming to increase our finished goods stock by 50-100% over the coming weeks, so that if any of our production staff are directly affected, we will still be able to ship standard product and manufacture most specials.
We have the resources at our disposal to double our stocks should the need arise, and this will ensure that if any of our key suppliers are badly affected then this is not passed up the supply chain. We have also recently invested in additional storage space as part of our ongoing growth plan, so this is not a problem.
Obviously production staff do not have the option to work from home; however, our office is based on hosted /remote desktop so office staff would be able to work remotely (and direct shipping) if necessary.
We have a flexible and dedicated workforce, and consensus has already been reached that additional time (in the case of some staff being taken ill whilst demand continues) or short-time (in the case of a fall in demand) could be introduced accordingly.
Finally, as a responsible (and dare we say, caring?) employer, it has been agreed that for anyone having to take sick time during this period, we will pay double the statutory rates for as long as financially feasible.
Hopefully this will all be the proverbial ‘storm in a teacup’ and blow over in a few months; however, we hope that our customers are assured that rather than burying our heads in the sand, we are thinking ahead to plan for the worst whilst hoping for the best.
If you have any questions then please contact us.