facilities have been professionally sanitized, workers have been staggered across shifts, and breaks of up to 30 minutes between shifts have been established. Much of the industry’s non-production office personnel have found themselves working from home, and restrictions on company travel and plant visitors are in place.
One operation has removed all door handles and installed foot pulls, shut down all possible common areas, refrigerators, water fountains, and posted capacity limitations for social distancing on entrances to break rooms and bath rooms. They have also marked spacing in common areas such as time clocks.
Another Member reports that senior management meets three times weekly to discuss issues regarding corona-virus. Extra cleaning in common areas is taking place, and personal cleaning packs with hand sanitizer has been distributed to each individual in the plant. Raw material and key sub tier suppliers have been notified of the company’s essential business status, and all meetings have gone virtual as the company has limited the number of people in meeting rooms to two.
With respect to the overall employment and the business situation, 61% believe that for the medium term, the impact of COVID-19 will be high or very high. Only two respondents, or 5%, see no medium term impact. Survey respondents report concerns over the world economy, citing the overall impact caused by the virus and the fear it creates.
One Member anticipates that 2nd and 3rd quarters will
be off significantly, with 3 of their top10 customers being shut down and the majority of the others being down by 20% or more. Another notes that it’s going to be tough for Commercial Aerospace, and although Defense is not affected at this time, it could be when the government is forced to economize. Other respondents feel that a large percentage of the public will continue to be uncomfortable traveling, dining out or just being in public until a vaccine or high rate testing is available to reduce the possibility of infection, resulting in the unemployment rate remaining high and the economy continuing to sputter.
When asked to identify potential cooperative initiatives among Members in support of societal needs, the industry supply chain and customer support, 26% responded with ideas. Knowing this industry as many do, one would expect the words of support to be positive, as one respondent wrote, “I’m happy to support any company to plan for emerging from this pandemic. Not looking to make money but rather, provide support.” Another respondent commented, “The industry has always been outstanding in this respect”.
Continued on pg 18 May 2020 ❘ 17 ®
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