Daniel Baker, Managing Director at Origin, the UK’s leading manufacturer of aluminium doors and windows, offers his insight into the lasting impact the pandemic will have on the manufacturing industry.
Supply and Demand Challenges
As with every industry, one of the biggest impacts that COVID-19 has had on the manufacturing sector is the ongoing uncertainty it has caused across all business functions.
This uncertainty can primarily be split into two categories – demand uncertainty and supply uncertainty. Many companies have been affected by both, with the future of their sales funnel and their ability to get hold of raw materials unclear. Origin has been fortunate because the number of building projects put on hold during the first lockdown created pent up demand for our products and service, so we have actually been incredibly busy. Our main concern has therefore been the uncertainty around our supply chain.
Many businesses will have had to shift their operations in order to weather supply uncertainty. Some might increase the number of suppliers they work with to spread the risk, whilst others might consolidate their supply chain and ring fence stock. Our operational shift started in February as we import some parts from the EU, so we started to feel the true effect of the pandemic before the UK. We created a buffer of raw materials in our UK warehouse to account for expected delays. As time went on, we had to adapt further to protect ourselves against delays in the sourcing of raw materials in Britain. We refocussed our resources and prioritised building up a bank of materials and parts to weather the ongoing disruption. We also worked hard to create and store as much stock as possible in order to minimise disruption and allow us to deliver on time and in full, something that is more important than ever to our customers who are working hard to complete construction projects in the face of so much uncertainty.
Protecting Our People
In addition to these very practical concerns, the manufacturing industry is also facing personnel challenges. Businesses are having to minimise the impact of staff off sick or quarantining, which can happen at short notice because of the track and trace system. Social distancing has also had a huge impact on the way factory floors can operate, and companies have had to pivot their operations significantly to account for these new challenges.
At Origin, one of the biggest changes we have implemented is splitting our factory floor team into two and introducing shifts. This essentially doubles the space available for each worker on the shop floor, allowing our staff to work a safe and comfortable distance away from each other. Splitting the team in two also created staff ‘bubbles’, helping tackle the challenge of sickness and quarantining should anyone in the business become unwell. This was a major adjustment at first, but our team are adapting well, and our operations are now back to our pre-COVID levels, something that simply wouldn’t have been possible without the introduction of shifts.
Many manufacturing firms are also facing the challenge of keeping office staff feeling valued, motivated, and productive whilst the official advice remains to work from home if possible. This presents its own difficulties, and can have huge effect on the company culture, particularly when some members of the team are in the office and others are remote. At Origin, we are working hard to counter this by creating as many human interactions for our remote staff as possible, checking in with all employees regularly, and sending out questionnaires to get their feedback and ensure that they are coping with their current working situation.
Looking Ahead
I have no doubt that COVID-19 will have a long-term impact on the manufacturing industry. As the world gradually returns to its pre-pandemic state, I think we will cherry pick the aspects of our COVID-19 strategies that have worked well and continue to include these as part of our everyday operations. For example, I believe that the pandemic has accelerated remote working by at least five years. We have all successfully incorporated new technologies into our everyday work lives and are continuing to feel the benefits of digital communications, such as video conferencing, which was something many businesses rarely utilised before this year.
As the world begins to recover, I’m sure the industry will grow in confidence once again. However, the experiences of COVID-19 will mean that businesses will now always need contingencies in place so that we are prepared should an incident of this scale happen again. Before 2020, very few businesses were prepared for a viral, global pandemic, but all successful businesses will be from now on.
For more information about Origin, visit https://origin-global.com/
About the Author
Daniel Baker is Managing Director at Origin, the UK’s leading supplier of premium aluminium doors and windows. Daniel was a non-executive member of the Board of Origin for ten years before his appointment as Managing Director in July 2020 and has enjoyed a successful career as an Angel Investor, Non-Executive Director and Management Consultant.