We are experiencing an unprecedented health crisis for our generation. Linked to it, it seems that an economic crisis is ongoing, and will continue for some time, that has the potential to have a very harsh impact on our society, generating impoverishment and difficulties for everyone.
As professionals linked to the ceramic industry, we are directly involved in this scenario. What we are responsible for, in this difficult time, is to seek quality information, properly contextualized; and work hard on planning.
Information is circulating through our contact networks in droves. They should be used as a cornerstone for planning activities. Therefore, the first premise is to use information that is reliable; and the second is that they are contextualized. Furthermore, we need to be very attentive to the speed at which things are changing these days, as what we know today may no longer be up to date tomorrow. In this context, I share some important information from our sector, valid and contextualized for this 17/04, when I write this text:
- Brazil operates with approximately 10% of its production capacity for ceramic flooring and coverings;
- As it turns out, in the country’s main hub (Santa Gertrudes and region), we have 103 active furnaces, of which only 9 are in operation at the moment;
- The ovens were turned off due to health issues involving the Covid-19 pandemic, but also because the market slowed down abruptly in recent weeks. On average, companies report loading products of around 30% of what they used to carry before the pandemic;
- In the main countries of the world, where there is significant production of ceramic tiles, factories interrupted their activities throughout the month of March, motivated, in most cases, by government decrees. This occurred, to name a few examples, in Italy, Spain and our neighbors in South America;
- In practically all the main ceramic producers in the Western world, factories remain closed and monitor the health situation to resume production;
- Spain is an exception, as production resumed on 04/13. This is a result of the country’s government policy and the fact that the pandemic, although it has caused many deaths in this country, is already in the decreasing phase of the contagion curve;
- Italy, it seems, should follow the same path and is preparing the resumption of companies in the coming days. The country’s provinces have the autonomy to decide when to restart activities, but the resumption will probably take place from 05/03, the date stipulated by government decree.
In terms of planning, each company must identify the most appropriate time to restart its activities and with what production capacity the resumption should occur. This decision is very particular to each organization, but must take into account a series of factors, such as government decrees, measured and predicted recession rates for the country, indicators of the construction sector, etc.
Furthermore, this is the time to plan how activities should be resumed, with regard to health and safety protocols. It is an illusion to believe that economic activity will only resume when the pandemic is completely removed from society. But it is an illusion, equally worrying, to believe that economic activity will return through the same safety protocols and work relations usually adopted before the pandemic. In this context, there is a lot of relevant information available in other industrial segments that are already operating (or that could not stop because they are essential activities) and in other countries. This information must be used so that ceramic industries can plan for the resumption of activities.
Use of masks and frequency of replacement, environmental hygiene protocols, measuring the temperature of employees upon entry to factories, application of questionnaires on the health of workers and their families, acquisition of tests to assess the existence of infected employees, use of cell phone applications that monitor the distance between people in the company, teleworking systems, policies for the entry of third parties into the company, replanning of activities that involve crowds, such as employee transportation, meetings, cafeterias, etc. All of these measures are being adopted with different degrees of rigor and under different protocols in companies around the world. In the midst of all this, it is necessary to discuss metrics to monitor the productivity of employees and companies in this scenario. How to conduct the operation with the supplier network and input transport partially paralyzed?
These are new times, which require us to be even faster and more assertive in making decisions. Information and planning are more important than ever.