Five key steps for a resilient and safer factory floor amid COVID-19

Creating a flexible plan that confronts uncertainty  

1. Plan your phased approach, guided by risk

The need for diligence on the front end is critical. A pre-vaccination period of “semi-normal” for the near future — involving more safeguards and additional procedures in place to protect workers, vendors and customers — will be required. Such a setup could fluctuate on a month-to-month or even week-to-week basis.

Perform an initial risk assessment to identify your vulnerabilities. Are COVID-19 cases increasing in your community? Have any of your workers tested positive? How would your operations be affected if your workforce was reduced? Perform regular checks, with lower-risk items requiring less frequent reviews. Then develop scenarios and plan for them, guided by the high-risk priorities you identified, with variables such as increases and decreases in affected employees and customer demand.

2. Look at your end customers and the impact of swings in demand

As part of scenario planning, you must account for consumer demand, knowing that historical data is unlikely to be helpful. Analysts are putting information out about all the scenarios, while many companies are taking a conservative position and adapting that based on new data.

This again highlights the need for thinking through scenarios and being able to pivot, because ultimately customer demand is the crucial variable dictating the impact on your production and supply base. Some of the critical questions to consider include:

• What can you make, and what’s the demand right now?
• What are the key materials and suppliers involved to get the resources to produce when you hit the restart button?
• Which suppliers will you need to get the resources to produce as you start over?
• What is the impact on your workforce’s needs if you’re producing a different mix of SKUs?
• Can you simulate how to optimize production when you have less than a full workforce available?

3. Revisit your policies, procedures and processes for workplace health and safety

Each plant is different. Within the framework of scenario planning, you must consider critical questions, such as:

• How does a worker enter the building?
• Can you stagger start times to accommodate social-distancing needs for a larger workforce?
• Will you be testing employees for COVID-19 when they develop symptoms, or is your plan to do random testing, as spreading by those without symptoms is also a concern?
• Do your policies for dealing with potential incidents need to be updated?
• How will you sanitize the equipment?
• Do you have the required amount of personal protective equipment?
• Is it appropriate or feasible to deploy technologies to assist in distancing and tracing?

Using the answers to such questions, develop reopening criteria and a schedule, also relying on information and guidance from local and federal governments and scientific authorities. Stage a return to the workplace, creating worker personas or categories and prioritize them while encouraging remote work when possible. Critically evaluate who needs to be on site, at which site, and consider the possibility that workers who have made remote work successful may not need to physically return at all.

Establish clear policies on workplace social distancing, meeting protocols, health, hygiene, and daily cleaning and disinfection requirements to support adaptive guidance — as it is developed and socialized. Modify your workplaces accordingly — for example, by reconfiguring workstations to accommodate greater distance between workers.

Take a people-first approach to your policies. According to Mike Bertolino, EY Global People Advisory Services Leader, “By putting people first, organizations can build and maintain trust with their employees, their customers and their stakeholders.”

4. Communicate clearly and effectively

This is a disconcerting time for employees, who are naturally concerned for their lives and their livelihoods. Not only is it a time for empathy, but it’s a time to be as clear and thorough as possible in your communication plan. All key stakeholders — including employees, landlords, visitors and vendors — must know new workplace procedures. The tone and messaging should remain direct, honest and empathetic. Communicate return-to-workplace expectations across appropriate channels early and often.

And it is critical to establish two-way communication throughout the crisis. Establishing a dedicated channel or hub for workers to submit questions, feedback and concerns can go a long way in ensuring seamless communication. Also, consider deploying pulse surveys on a regular basis to gauge employee health and productivity.

5. Keep an eye on your cost structure

The costs of not getting this balance correct are high as many manufacturers are also facing liquidity challenges. Stimulus dollars and the opportunities to preserve cash and defer taxes are available, but planning should also explore how to pull cost out when reacting to scenarios — for instance, outsourcing some back-office functions, suspending R&D, marketing and non-fixed costs, or revisiting short-term staffing models.

While the challenges are steep and the learning curve is short, this crisis is an opportunity to usher in a new way of working that could ultimately benefit your business, your employees and your customers. The journey there may be difficult, but with new resiliency, the future can be more focused on what’s possible, not what’s in your way.