Dear Valued Customer,
We are reaching out to address the increasing risk of and exposure to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) and the steps we are taking to keep our employees, customers and our families safe.
The Coronavirus situation is evolving by the day and by the hour. We have established a management team committee to monitor the situation and the potential impacts to our business. We are closely coordinating with our facilities across North America to assess risks and implement contingency plans where necessary. We are mindful of the variety of impacts the industry is facing from supply disruptions, to labor, to logistics, and paperwork. Above all, we are committed to the safety and wellbeing of our employees, customers, suppliers, and third parties.
Our sales, customer service and operations teams are taking precautionary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. With this comes some immediate changes that we want to make you aware of.
- Limit face-to-face meetings. While we pride ourselves on personal meetings with our customers, we are restricting those meetings until further notice. We will be relying on phone and electronic communication and encourage video conferences for our staff and customers. At our offices, we are implementing remote-work capabilities so that office and administrative personnel may work from home. We have also restricted air travel and all other travel to business-critical needs.
- Limit exposure at our facilities. We will continue to receive deliveries at our grain elevators but are restricting non-essential visitors to our offices. For essential visitors (e.g., truck drivers, maintenance contractors, delivery drivers, etc.) we are implementing additional guidelines and limiting exposure between people. We will strive to operate business as usual, but any changes will be communicated via text message, mobile app and our websites Andersonsgrain.com and Andersonscanada.com.
- Facility readiness. Across our facilities, we have identified work critical staffing requirements for our facilities. We are evaluating contingency plans for facilities that operate multiple shifts and how these could consolidate into reduced shifts for a period of time. We are considering labor sharing across facilities where suitable.
- In our production facilities, we are refreshing training with our staff regarding GMPs (Good Manufacturing Practices) and other relevant elements of our food safety and quality management programs.
- Prepare for supply changes. We are discussing plans with our suppliers to limit supply chain issues and prevent production interruptions.
- Your safety. Your personal safety is a priority. In the event you have concerns of your health and safety and its impact on your current contract, please contact your territory manager immediately and we can help you work through it.
We are committed to maintaining our high level of customer service throughout this challenging situation. We acknowledge there may likely be some impacts to production, supply chain, paperwork, etc. We believe our response planning and cooperation with our suppliers, customers, and logistics providers will help to lessen any impacts. As always, we greatly appreciate your business as a customer of The Andersons. If you have any questions or comments, please let your point of contact know.
Sincerely,
Bill Krueger
President
The Andersons Trade Group
