Health and safety: key priorities
Our CEO, Dr. Bart Devos gives his insights and personal experiences about running an international business and guiding a team during some of the most challenging working circumstances in living memory.
Bart personally explains the importance of health and safety for our 700 employees, as well as his approach to decision-making, communication, leadership and teamwork and the part they play in building a crisis-resistant business.
"We have adjusted to a new reality."
Dr. Bart Devos
The past few weeks have been challenging for many companies, and AR Metallizing is no different. Like our customers, suppliers, competitors and contacts, we have adjusted to a new reality.
The health and safety of our employees is always our first priority, and we decided early on that acting quickly with caution felt right to us as a company. We also felt a ‘blanket’ approach would be most effective, so we implemented the same hygiene and social distancing processes across the company. We overwhelmingly received positive feedback from our customers who had looked to us to implement best practice measures, regardless of local regulation.
"There was a lot of uncertainty here in the US and many companies were unsure how best to act. AR Metallizing’s quick reaction and implementing broad changes across all sites to keep all staff safe and keep the business operational felt positive and importantly for morale. It helped bringing the team a sense of control,"
Juliana Fakir, Site Manager, Franklin.
Decision-making and communication
Like many other companies, we also adopted a decisive methodology over the past few weeks – decisions have been made quickly and efficiently. Closely connected to this has been our focus on nurturing communication and connectivity throughout the global team: business decisions that are logical and necessary to me at CEO level may make less sense to our team on the factory floor. It’s been my goal that everyone understands what we’re doing as a company, and why, in order that we’re all working in the same direction and there’s clarity in what’s expected.
"We’re in the process of integrating into AR Metallizing after being acquired earlier this year and we’ve been grateful to have so much contact and explanation from Bart as we’ve adapted to both the current situation and the transition into the AR Metallizing family simultaneously. Bart has invested significant time connecting with the team and explaining the day-to-day changes, so the team understand what to expect,"
Michael Koblitz, Site Manager Berlin.
I’ve also approached leadership differently. Using the digital tools and technologies available to us has been key to staying in touch with our 700-strong team, and video conferencing has proven especially useful. A further bonus of video is that we’ve found it opens up two-way communication. Especially in manufacturing businesses, communication has to flow two ways: does someone have a new idea? What challenges are there that I may not know about as CEO? Staying close to the team, visually, if not personally, has been key to keeping information flowing both ways.
"Here in the northern part of Italy, we implemented a contingency plan while having multiple scenarios in our mind. The operations affected the entire factory: warehouse, logistics, planning, operations. We worked day and night to implement even stricter hygiene and cleaning standards, arranging and loading 80 trucks in less than 2 weeks, as well as extending smart working for employees, etc. Following these measures we had useful and important information to share with the rest of AR Metallizing’s workforce about the changes that were coming to other countries and sites. It was important to share best practices, what was going well and where we knew colleagues might struggle to adapt after our own experiences. Knowing information would be shared upwards and then diffused to other sites created a sense of solidarity and we knew colleagues were appreciative,"
Agostino Rosetto, Site Manager Casalgrasso.
Teamwork
The value of team spirit is often hard to quantify in terms of business accomplishments and productivity, but we’ve found that it has been a key component of our success, especially in new and unfamiliar working conditions. Over the past eight weeks, our employees adapted seamlessly to a necessary but undoubtedly more complex working reality. Their commitment and drive to execute new regulations perfectly was strongly built on a steadfast commitment to keep colleagues and friends safe, our working environment hygienic and our customers served. Without a connected team that supports and appreciates each other and our goals, I believe the past few weeks would have been more challenging for us as a business.
"I’ve experienced a lot in my career with AR Metallizing, but the past few weeks has been unlike anything I’ve ever seen in 35 years in the business. That said, teamwork and mutual support kept the team feeling positive and calm. Teamwork that withstands challenging times can’t be built in a few weeks: the foundations were built long ago and have been nurtured over time,"
Helmut Feyaerts, recently retired Warehouse Supervisor, Belgium.
Looking to the future
Looking forward, much remains uncertain. We’ve seen extreme market volatility and companies struggle in strong headwinds. We also know that ‘normal’ – whatever it will look like in the future – will take some time to return. As an employer, we are already looking to support our team transition into what will be a new way of working for some time to come.
We are also embracing the ability to focus on the basics of our business: producing high-quality products, serving happy customers and creating a safe and healthy working environment.