Businesses better adapt to Covid-19 after lessons learned from spring emergency

This fall, when infections rose again, Mr Broadbent added another larger warehouse to allow employees to socially distance themselves and stay safe. The company, Greater Good Fresh Brewing Co., managed to deliver ingredients to make 50,000 mugs of beer in a week.

“It was difficult, but not nearly as complicated as the first time,” he said.

The resurgence of coronavirus infections throughout the autumn in the West has dealt a new blow to the global economy. But the impact is much lower, in part because of the lessons learned by businesses, especially in the manufacturing industry, on how to keep workers safe and continue to operate. The resurgence of East Asian economies, especially China, has also stimulated many Western producers.

Moreover, unlike the spring wave, supply chain disruptions were less frequent as parts and raw materials continued to flow to factories.

The US economy contracted by 9% in the three months to June, partly due to a 15.8% drop in factory production in April. But the country’s factories have since shrunk and increased their production by 0.8% in November. Economists expect the continued recovery to contribute to a 1% increase in gross domestic product in the last three months of the year.

The British economy contracted by almost a fifth in April compared to March. Production fell by a quarter, while service activity fell by almost 18%.

Earlier this year, “I just thought it would be limited to China,” Mr. Broadbent said. “Most people were caught off guard. We managed to continue, but it was very slow. “

Instead, last month, when the authorities imposed a blockade at the national level, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research estimates that economic activity fell by 9.3%.

In response to the fall, authorities in many Western countries have imposed new restrictions on entertainment and hospitality, while Europeans and Americans are paying attention to activities that involve close contact. As a result, some service industries suffer as much as in the spring.

In October, production in British restaurants, bars and hotels fell by 14.4%. But British production increased by 1.7%, reflecting the ability of factories to adapt to the pandemic.

In France, while accommodation and catering services were estimated to be 60% lower in November than last year, production was only 5% below the pre-pandemic level of activity.

The European Central Bank estimates that euro area GDP will fall by 2.2% in the last quarter. In contrast, GDP fell by 11.7% in the three months to June.

In March, as the virus spread to the United States, Stephen Bullock, president of a company that produces paving machines – which construction workers use to make curbs in new housing developments – presented four potential scenarios for the year. ranging from full of optimism.

In the following weeks, the business fell through and the Power Curbers Cos began asking for masks, banned employees from gathering during breaks, and began checking their door temperatures. The company has reduced production and some of the coronavirus-related measures have led to some declines in efficiency and productivity, he said.

“For the first two months, I didn’t feel like I was in production,” said Mr. Bullock. “I was in the field of Covid management.”

But as the weeks passed, none of the employees became ill and business began to return. Even amid a growing number of new cases around its home base in Salisbury, NC, fewer than 10 of its 120 employees have fallen ill.

The manufacturer is now on the right track to meet its most ambitious forecasts, as new homes under construction have returned to pre-crisis levels.

“We know what we are doing now. We know how to react, “he said. “Our production manager did a lot of juggling.”

Moreover, for many producers, export markets are more open than they were in the spring, a special bonus for markets in China and other parts of East Asia, where economies have already recovered or are close to doing so.

In October, Germany’s exports to China were higher than a year earlier, although its sales to the US and the UK were much lower.

Paul Horn GmbH, a precision instrument manufacturer based in the southern German city of Tübingen, reduced its work schedule for about 1,000 local employees by 20% and 60% in June, after a drop of about 50% in new orders in April and May, said Christian Thiele, a company spokesman.

The company, which produces tools used to build medical devices, cars and airplanes, has been hit by disruptions in Germany’s large car industry and airlines.

But after a strong return of new orders in September, all staff returned to full-time work in October, Mr Thiele said. While exports to the US are below the levels observed in 2019, the company has seen an increase in sales to China, especially to customers in the automotive and hydraulic sectors.

“December has been surprisingly good,” Mr Thiele said.

However, production is not completely separated from the service sectors that are most affected by the new infections and the restrictions they impose. Arthur Price has been a British cutlery maker since the turn of the century in Lichfield, a town about 125 miles north of London.

Most of its sales are for households and have survived due to online sales. Export markets in the US, the Middle East, Russia and East Asia were also a source of demand.

But a fifth of its sales have traditionally gone to hospitality companies, including the many hotels in London. When they were not closed or strictly restricted in what they could offer customers, they were hit hard by a collapse in sightseeing and business visits.

“It would be very helpful if hotels would come back and stay back,” said Simon Price, who is a member of his family’s fourth-generation family.

Write to Paul Hannon at [email protected], Austen Hufford at [email protected] and Tom Fairless at [email protected]