A letter from our Managing Director, James Moore
To our global community
At this incredibly challenging time, when COVID-19 is negatively impacting us, our families, friends, local communities and businesses across the world, I want to share with you how Hosokawa Micron Ltd is adapting to the constantly evolving situation, as we intend to remain open for business for as long as we possibly can to support our customers in essential business sectors, such as food and beverages and pharmaceuticals.
Crisis Team Implementation
We have set up a COVID-19 Crisis Team, which will be constantly monitoring the Coronavirus pandemic and keeping abreast of the UK situation in terms of policy changes and any help that the government may require from manufacturers such as ourselves. The team will also deal with any daily issues that arise within the business related to COVID-19, supporting our staff, engaging with them, adapting processes and ensuring that customers with upcoming or ongoing manufacturing projects are kept informed about the progress of their equipment and its timely delivery, wherever possible. Our processes and policies will be guided by and reflect the latest information supplied by the UK government and the World Health Organisation.
Ensuring we protect the health and safety of our staff, contractors, customers and suppliers
Hosokawa Micron’s priority is to make sure our staff and their families, as well as our contractors, customers and suppliers, are safe from exposure to COVID-19. To this end, we are committed to adapting our business operations policies and exceeding our usual high standards of cleanliness and hygiene by:
- Ensuring our staff can work from home wherever possible
- Implementing the use of hand sanitisers for employees and visitors
- Introducing additional cleaning procedures in high traffic areas
- Encouraging frequent and thorough hand washing throughout the working day
- Employing social distancing at all times
- Asking all visitors to fill in a health and safety assessment form
- Asking our customers and suppliers to inform us of site restrictions
- Asking our customers and suppliers to share information regarding any of our contacts who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or have flu-like symptoms
- Cancelling external meetings or having them via telephone or video conferencing
- Cancelling non-essential business travel
- Postponing and declining all internal and external industry events
Supply Chain Issues
Hosokawa Micron employs a wide range of suppliers to provide parts and technology for the state-of-the-art equipment we produce for manufacturing industries in the UK, Europe and beyond. You’ll be all too aware that the Coronavirus pandemic is a dynamic situation that is literally changing hour by hour. As part of our crisis team efforts, we are preparing for various scenarios and working with our suppliers to ensure we can receive parts as and when we need them to keep to our production schedules. If we run into issues that could affect the delivery of any Hosokawa Micron equipment, for whatever reason, we are committed to being honest with our customers and will work towards finding a resolution as soon as possible.
Lifecycle Services – Spare Parts, Training and Maintenance
We have an expert Lifecycle Services team at Hosokawa Micron, dedicated to providing excellent service to customers throughout the lifecycle of their equipment. If it’s an essential spare part you require for your equipment, please get in touch, so we can order and deliver the part as quickly as possible, especially important now if we don’t have the item in stock. May we ask that you please only order the stock you require, to help ensure we can supply spare parts to all our customers in a timely fashion. If you urgently require training on our equipment, do get in touch so we can work together to provide a suitable solution. We may be able to conduct remote training sessions, provide training manuals or utilise our virtual reality capability to share knowledge in a safe way. If you require a maintenance visit (or are scheduled to have one that has already been arranged as part of your Maintenance Package), please contact our Lifecycle Services team by email aftersales@hmluk.hosokawa.com
Equipment Deliveries
We are liaising with each customer who has placed an order with us to establish what their situation is regarding accepting deliveries of new equipment, as well as installing it. Mindful of the individual scenarios our customers are facing at the moment, we are more than happy to discuss completing the manufacture and FAT testing of any equipment, then arranging the storage of the equipment until a time when it can safely be delivered and installed. Indeed, this is a situation that we have become more used to in recent weeks. For further information, please contact your dedicated Hosokawa Micron Product Manager or email our Lifecycle Services team aftersales@hmluk.hosokawa.com
Contract Manufacturing for the Food & Beverage Industry
At a time when food and household items seem to be in short supply, I want to remind our food and beverage manufacturing customers that we are here to help with any requirements you might have for increasing production to meet current demand. Our capability to professionally manufacture ultra-small batches to multi-tonne lots of powder and granules at our in-house contained processing facility in the north west of England means that we can produce high-quality ingredients for your end products with expert efficiency, securely store the processed ingredients and deliver each batch as and when you need it. Whether it is soup, gravy or coffee granules, drinks powders, sauces, bakery products, flavourings or chocolate, we can supplement your ingredients output to help meet the demands of your retail customers. To enquire about this service, please email info@hmluk.hosokawa.com
Remote Monitoring For Remote Working
With the ever-increasing need to work remotely, the ability for businesses to have their fingers on the pulse regarding the performance of their equipment is even more vital, both to ensure the stability of the business and contribute to the UK economy. Our groundbreaking remote monitoring software, Hosokawa Gen4, has been created specifically for process manufacturing businesses and offers a raft of benefits. This agile technology allows chosen employees to monitor the performance of their processing equipment, whether on site or not, and act quickly if something goes wrong or needs adjustment. We have a dedicated Gen4 team, who are experts in creating digital strategies and implementation procedures and would be pleased to provide further information and advice regarding the current Coronavirus situation or assist with any digital transformation planning you are engaged in. To find out more, please email info@hosokawagen4.com
We are here to help and support our staff, fellow manufacturers, customers old and new, and our suppliers during the Coronavirus pandemic. We aim to maintain our business continuity wherever possible, heeding the policies and guidance given by the UK government, their health experts and the WHO. If we work together safely in imaginative new ways, despite our challenges, adapt how we engage and utilise new technology to help achieve our business goals, we will be more robust as businesses in the future. Hosokawa Micron is extremely grateful to all of our customers, partners and suppliers for your continued support and if we can be of any help or support, please do not hesitate to contact us.
To get in touch, please email info@hmluk.hosokawa.com or make an enquiry here.
May I also take this opportunity to thank my amazing team at Hosokawa Micron for their understanding, dedication, good humour, patience and teamwork during this unprecedented situation.
Please take care and stay safe
James
