Photo courtesy of: CDC/ Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAMS
March 25, 2020
Regarding: Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) – status of manufacturing operations
Dear Valued Customer,
KitPackers has been closely monitoring the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in relation to its effects on operations. KitPackers is located in Germantown, Wisconsin where 100% of its manufacturing operation takes place. While today’s COVID-19 information appears to indicate that the KitPackers operation is insulated from effects on our personnel, we understand that may not be the case down the road. KitPackers largest risk currently resides within is chemical supplier base which are primarily located within the United States. To date, there are no reported supply chain issues related to COVID-19.
The following is a list of actions that KitPackers has taken to monitor and mitigate COVID-19:
- Employee travel for business has been suspended
- Surface cleaning throughout the manufacturing facility has been increased
- Facility visitors and meetings have been curtailed
- Top tier suppliers have been contacted to discover supply chain concerns.
- All responding suppliers as of the date of this letter are monitoring the situation and currently do not have any reportable supply chain issues or concerns.
Yesterday our Governor implemented a ‘Safer at Home’ declaration for the state of Wisconsin for non-essential businesses. Please be assured that KitPackers will continue to operate as we have asserted that KitPackers operations are essential.
We are confident that we are doing as much as we can at this point to take appropriate precautions to protect our employees and the supply chain for our customers. KitPackers continues to operate with normal shifts and hours to meet customer demands. We will continuously canvas our supplier base to monitor the KitPackers supply chain. Please feel free to contact us at any time for updates.
Sincerely,
Kevin Peura
General Manager
March 24, 2020
Together, we are jointly facing a totally unprecedented situation. The global coronavirus pandemic is impacting on all our families, our businesses and our way of life.
Considering the uncertainty surrounding the recent outbreak of COVID-19, we wish to confirm that our priority continues to be the well-being of our customers, employees, suppliers and all their families and we are committed to ensuring that our facilities and deliveries are operating in the safest way for all.
We have established a risk management program that includes a business continuity plan for all activities. This is reviewed by our management team every morning. We would like to reassure customers that we are taking all necessary steps to follow the guidance given by the Government and the World Health Organisation at this time. This includes having most of our internal sales, purchasing and support personnel working from home and our telephone and IT systems have been reconfigured accordingly. Social distancing is being practiced by any of our team still working within any of our facilities.
All our European facilities remain open and fully functional with deliveries currently running as normal and we are experiencing little in disruption of supplies from our vendors. We have stopped all unnecessary visits externally and to our facility as an additional precaution to reduce the spread of the virus.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank you, our employees and partners for their continued support throughout this uncertain time.
John Henderson
Ellsworth Adhesives Europe
Group Managing Director