OPERATIONS IN THE COVID-19 ERA
Kabelmetal as a responsible corporate citizen has continued to observe the directives and notifications issued by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) in its operations. We have ensured that our operations are COVID-19 compliant. We therefore assure our valued customers that our corporate offices and factory are very safe for visits for inquiries, FATs, delivery of cables etc. Measures we have instituted in our premises include (but not limited to (i) temperature checks at the entrance of
our premises, (ii) washing of hand with soap and auto-generated water dispenser, (iii) hand sanitizer as an alternative and/or complement to hand washing, (iv) social distancing in our offices, customer lounge, factory
and the retail outlet, (v) mandatory use of face mask in the premises, (vi) respiratory hygiene, (vii) red alert at the factory clinic to report any COVID-19 related symptoms, (viii) public awareness with display banners in strategic locations, (ix) restriction / limitation of gatherings and meetings, and (x) use of adequate PPEs by employees and visitors as recommended by our HSE co-ordinator.
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ERA
With the rapid spread of the COVID-19 to the four winds which led to its being declared a pandemic by the WHO, things have evolved rapidly with countries taking extreme measures to curb the rate of transmission of the disease. City lockdowns, domestic and international travel restrictions, closing of schools and non-essential
In broad terms, there is a slowdown in overall economic growth: there is disruption in global supply chain, lower domestic demand, disruptions to way of working and possible long-term effects on human capital. At the monetary and fiscal levels, there is limited access to hard currency, pressure on interest rates and dwindling sources of finance.
In response to the situation, it is advisable to adopt the Mckinsey & Company Five Frames of strategic actions at the company level and these are: Obtain a realistic view of your Starting Position as it is, Develop Scenarios for multiple version of possible occurrences in the future. Establish your posture and set a Broad Direction to follow, Determine action and Strategic Moves that are robust and dynamic enough to adopt across multiple scenarios, Set Trigger Points that force the organization to action at the right time. Most importantly Stay safe and comply with all health and general hygiene guidelines. As the president of one African country said, “we know how to revive the economy, but we do not know how to bring back a dead person”
THE FUTURE OF THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT
We have lately been giving a thought to how the postCOVID-19 working environment will look like. It is certain nobody can say for sure what the environment will be. However as a responsible organisation, it is important to start mapping various scenario and preparing to adapt to what shall be prevalent with time. Virtual technical and commercial meetings is a big probability. We could consider the propriety of Factory Acceptance Test protocols conducted virtually. Production surveillance, observations, etc by remote/proxy means is a possibility. Kick-off meetings by virtual means is a possibility. Indeed there are many possibilities that will present itself when
mankind is rid of this debilitating pandemic.
PROJECT TRACKING
In the midst of the collapse of prices in the crude oil market and its likely negative cascading impact on the many industry projects, it is important to highlight ‘islands’ of hope in the horizon. One of the few of them is the 12 billion USD Train 7 project for which NCDMB has scaled up the local content threshold. Back in April, NCDMB approved the Nigerian Content Compliance Certificate (NCCC) and the Approved Vendors Lists (AVLs) for this project. It is comforting to note that planning for this project has continued apace.
services, and bans on mass gatherings are some of such measures. These measures have significantly disrupted trading conditions and business operations in general.
Manufacturing Companies like ours suffered productivity losses due to factory closure and it also impacted on revenue, debt management and the need to reevaluate assets and liabilities. Operators have either neglected or refused to comply with the directive.
We also have to cope with the exorbitant cost of transporting containers from the ports to our factory. Such costs have to be absorbed as there is a limit to which they can be passed to our customers. There is no gain-saying that the Nigeria ports are in profound state of lock-jam, and may be heading for a dead end, if some desperate measures are not immediately taken by the Federal Government of Nigeria to remedy the situation.
