2021 | Corona update there are still difficulties to overcome on the road to recovery
Recent times have clearly shown that the coronavirus can have serious consequences. The most serious are personal, especially for families who have lost loved ones. But companies being shut down and people made unemployed are also serious consequences of COVID-19 and recovering from that will take time.
To say nothing of the damage which might have been done to the economy, people’s (mental) well-being, education, social cohesion, etc.
Limited capacity
The sectors which seem less affected by the coronavirus crisis are also experiencing difficulties or setbacks in one way or another. At BKB Precision, we have been able to keep going until now and the demand for plastic components remains high.
But we also see significant gaps in our available capacity at times due to the (preventive) quarantine of employees. The result is that although we work hard to get our deliveries to customers on time, the strict regulations we must also adhere to means we do not always succeed.
Staff still operating under the restrictions often need to make extra efforts and we are concerned about this as people cannot keep working flat out indefinitely. And certainly not in a society where the facilities for relaxation and leisure are mostly shut down.
Communication is important
Suppliers also experience difficulties. Parts which need to be processed into composite products do not always arrive on time, which means we end up delivering later than planned.
Fortunately, our experience is that people understand the situation, although we know that these things should not happen in the first place given the efforts made to iron out anticipated problems. Still, the least we can do is to inform our customers in good time if delivery problems arise.
And, despite the technology available, we also find that communication goes differently and sometimes not as well as before. The development process is different and slower, details are less clearly defined, the emotion in a message does not come across in the same way, and so on.
This can result in unpleasant surprises or unforeseen delays or expectations which are unfulfilled because they should have been managed differently.
Commodity production is lagging behind
Nevertheless, it is also becoming clear that commodity production is lagging behind the growth in demand due to the recovery of the economy, and that scarcity will put pressure on prices. In the case of plastics, concerns on their timely availability are such that attention was even drawn to the issue at European level. You can read more about it here.
In conclusion, we are doing everything we can to adapt to or prevent difficulties in the chain.
The road to recovery
However, the road to recovery will be largely a process of trial and error. This is also because the impact of many effects of the pandemic will only become clear in the near future.
Good communication on the subject remains an important item because, ‘Only together will we get corona under control!’