Please find below a brief update in respect of the current impact of Covid-19 on the Van Eerd business. lees verder >
Our primary responsibility is the health of our employees, their families and their loved ones, as well as the health of our suppliers’ and clients’ employees. Next to that, Van Eerd produces cartons for the pharmaceutical industry, that are - a small but - crucial elements in getting medicines to patients around the world. Our focus is on meeting your needs for cartons also in these challenging times.
Production/employees
Since the beginning of the outbreak, none of our employees has been diagnosed with the virus, and we have taken a series of precautions. This has contributed to the current situation that production is uninterrupted and we are able to staff our shifts properly. Most important measures on top of general precaution measures issued by the Dutch health authorities (e.g., social distancing/hygienic precautions/staying home at early signs of sickness):
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We do not visit or receive any incoming visitors at our facilities (regardless the location of origin)
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Only business critical maintenance/repair engineers are allowed to operate within our facilities
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Production shifts work no overlapping shift times
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Non-production personnel works either from home (when possible) or in separate offices
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Drivers/logistics have no longer access to our facilities and there is no interaction while loading/unloading trucks (done by Van Eerd employees, driver stays in his vehicle)
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Effectively, we are in lock-down except for critical Van Eerd employees.
Supply chain
Our critical suppliers, that are all located in Northern-Europe, are operational and deliver as schedule. Our main supply is board. Before the outbreak in Europe, we had already increased our inventory of board, which provides us in the situation that we have excess inventory (3 to 4 months). Besides, our main supplier of board is fully operational at this moment and we are not tapping into this excess inventory.
We are in regular contact with other (critical) suppliers (board, inks, packaging material) and monitor this situation closely. At this stage we have not identified any supplier facing production or delivery issues. Within our industry association (ECMA) we are actively pursuing prioritization of deliveries to companies like van Eerd (Pharma related) in case of future shortages. We do however not expect that this will be necessary.
Production capacity
We still operate within our scheduled production shifts and have not structurally tapped into our excess production capacity. We do not experience increased sick levels. Given the expected duration of the Covid-19 measures, we focus on the health of our people and will do our utmost to operate ‘normal’ shifts. Please do not hesitate to contact us, if you have any questions.