Manufacturing Works is working hard to bring you the latest information pertaining to COVID-19 that your business needs to navigate the bumpy road ahead.
Bringing in Experts
On March 19, 2020, we hosted a virtual information session to educate manufacturers about the recent federal legislation aimed at helping small businesses with access to emergency capital and compensation for employees affected by the coronavirus. 48 people from our community were able to participate in a Q&A session with each other and experts, including:
- Ray Graves, lender relations specialist, Small Business Administration, Cleveland
- Zachary Youseff, sr. manager tax, Plante Moran
- Kiley Smith, vice president, commercial loan manager, Home Savings Bank
If you were unable to join us, you can view a recording of the session below.
As the COVID-19 situation progresses, we will be organizing more sessions like this. Please feel free to suggest a topic you would like us to explore. If you think it is relevant, chances are someone else in our community does too.
Member-to-Member Sharing
Several members have shared the steps they are taking in response to the situation, including:
- Encouraging job functions that can be effectively managed by working from home to do so
- Designating one person to provide written communications. The information is then sent to employees, customers, and suppliers, as appropriate. Make sure written communications are dated and timestamped.
- Providing a feedback loop for the responses coming from the written communications. That same designated person needs to share responses with the management team responsible for the communications content.
- Limiting all physical meetings as much as possible
- Limiting access of outside contractors and vendors
- Limiting exposure to delivery personnel, including USPS, FedEx, UPS, etc.
- Staggering production teams with groups of employees on for a week while the other group is home
- Avoiding having all employees within the same four walls at the same time
- Rotating executive and management teams working in the office and from home on a weekly basis
- Refraining from coming into the office if employees—or their family members—are sick
- Considering ways to lower overall costs as much as possible without headcount reductions
- Reviewing changes after two weeks
What Are You Doing?
We are interested in hearing about the best practices, tips, and insights that you and your company have found helpful during this unprecedented time. Please share your ideas on these and other topics in the comments below.
- Personnel – How is your business addressing the concerns of your employees? What new policies and procedures have you put in place?
- Customers – ideas and suggestions for communicating to customers, access to your personnel, updates on orders, new orders, etc.
- Capital – access to working capital for payroll and supply chain requirements. Have you had any special communication with your banker or lending institution?
- Emergency Capital – Are you following Congress and their recent proposals? How will this legislation affect your company?
- Supply Chain – Have you been affected by supply chain interruptions at your workplace? Are your customers concerned? Tell us about your communications with your supply chain.
- Facility – precautions and suggestions for your facility and personnel safety. What have you communicated or put in place? Who in your organization is coordinating responses and updates?
Manufacturing Works has always been focused on providing solutions to the greatest challenges that Cleveland’s manufacturing community faces, and this time is no different. Let’s lean on each other so we can learn and grow from this and come out on the other side stronger than before.