We are now several weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on people, communities and the economy is cutting deep across the globe. While different regions are going through various stages of the crisis, we are fundamentally facing the same challenge: to weather this storm, protect our family, friends and colleagues and make sure we come out stronger together on the other side.
The same is true for all of us at Aliaxis. Our corporate values inspire us to act swiftly and do the right thing. Our passion to build is now focussed on building resilience, on minimising the impact of COVID-19 on our people, company and business, and on making sure that we are ready to be relaunching our activities in a planned, structured and safe way once possible.
The health & safety of our people is our number one priority
Our primary goal is to minimise risk and to protect the health of our employees and their families, taking guidance from our commitment to care. That’s why we strictly limit access to our sites and impose home-working wherever possible, we practice physical distancing, we reinforce cleaning and hygiene measures and we mobilise every single colleague to support the effort.
Through our global and local crisis teams, we are also constantly adjusting our practices to ensure we fully support every decision or initiative taken by the authorities to halt the spread of COVID-19.
Thankfully, thus far, we have only had a few confirmed cases of infection, with people effectively isolated and receiving proper care and support.
Engaging with customers, partners and stakeholders to offer our support and generate solidarity
Our customers and suppliers still have critical projects to complete and they are facing the same issues as we are. We are focussing on making sensible decisions to maintain supply, in ways that are safe for our employees. Today more than ever, our products and services, for example, prove to be indispensable in making sure hospitals remain operational.
To that extent, we have amongst others supplied our products and solutions in record time, to help set up mobile COVID-19 hospitals in the UK and Guatemala. Our solvent plant in India is producing hydroalcoholic disinfectant and some of our facilities in the US, Spain and India are using 3D-printing to provide facemasks to the local communities. We are actively exchanging best practices from across the globe, so we can learn from each other and really connect to win against COVID-19.
To support our colleagues directly impacted by the COVID-19 crisis and the necessary measures that have been put in place, Aliaxis has created the “COVID-19 Aliaxis People Solidarity Fund”. Our Top Management is making a personal donation, contributing 20% of their second quarter (April-June) salaries to the fund. The fund is also open to all Aliaxis employees who wish to support their colleagues in need.
Protecting our future
Aliaxis has always been a careful company that manages risk and avoids surprises. Our financial discipline and prudent mindset have allowed us to build a solid business with a strong balance sheet. To protect the Company as well as our employees, we will continue these efforts and save on costs. This also means that maintaining a strong financial discipline is more important than ever during these uncertain times. Ultimately, this crisis will end, and we must be prepared to capture the rebound and restart our activities in an agile way integrating the lessons learned through this crisis and the new possibilities it will offer. This is our next challenge and it is important to start working on it progressively.
While focusing on short term measures to manage the downturn, we are also preparing for a rebound in activity. Keeping contact with our customers and people is challenging today and we are all preparing as much as we can to restart our activities and new way of working in an agile way, integrating the lessons learned from this crisis and the new possibilities it will offer.
We are proud of the commitment and resilience our people have shown during this crisis so far and are confident that together we will come out stronger.
Stay safe!