Back to Customer UpdatesAt noon yesterday the New Zealand Government ordered all non-essential businesses to shut down by midnight on Wednesday the 25th March 2020. The shutdown period is initially predicted to be 4 weeks. During this period the HamiltonJet Factory and Christchurch Office buildings will be closed.
Everyone will be confined to their homes during this time, except for those involved with essential services. For details of the announcement please refer to: https://covid19.govt.nz/latest-updates/update-from-prime-minister-jacind...
Whilst our Factory is closed, a large proportion of our office team is prepared for working from home, in fact many already are doing so. This includes our Senior Management Team, Sales and Marketing team, Technical support, IT team and Finance teams.
We have prepared for this eventuality in our Business Continuity plan (BCP). As mentioned in the previous update our plan is based on the following:
- Protect our people and those we come in contact with.
- Adapt our business to the current situation
- Engage actively with our stakeholders – employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders
- Plan for the recovery and return to a new normal.
This update details the steps we will take to cope with the effects of the shutdown.
- Delivery Information – Over the next 48 hours we will make direct contact with customers with orders with delivery dates within the next 8 weeks, including those which have not shipped as of today.
- Production rescheduling – We will be looking at the impact of the immediate 4-week shutdown on our existing orders and how we can reschedule to keep as many orders as close to the original delivery date as possible. When we have completed this exercise, we will advise individual customers what impact this will have on their orders. Your cooperation with this process will be very much appreciated to try and minimise the delays for everyone.
- Production Flexibility – We go into this event with higher-than-normal levels of production staff and we expect to be able to retain these staff until the factory reopens. This should enable an orderly, safe and fast resumption of a high production rate, which we will use to minimise customer impact as much as possible.
- Customer Support – We will continue to respond to sales enquiries and provide technical support throughout this period. We have activated remote-office and working from home plans and expect to be able to provide timely responses to customer enquiries.
- Critical Infrastructure Support – We are appealing for dispensation from the NZ Government to have a small crew of IT support, maintenance and stores persons allowed at the factory to ensure we can support customer communication and urgent requirements (e.g. security, police, fire and rescue services) around the globe. Our Regional Office parts-hubs are also looking at local rules to ensure they can continue to support urgent parts and support requests.
- Business Strength – Over the years the Board and Owners of HamiltonJet have been financially prudent. The company is in a strong financial position with no risk this situation will jeopardise our liquidity or long-term survival. We continue to invest in people, products and technology solutions to support our customers around the world and will be well placed to return to the new normal once the pandemic risk has passed.
We will keep you advised of changes to plans as they develop and keep our website information up to date. Please keep in contact with your HamiltonJet distributor or Regional Sales Manager.
Meantime we wish all customers and business partners the best in these unprecedented circumstances.
Stay safe,
Benjamin E Reed
CEO – HamiltonJet