OUR RESPONSE TO CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)
Community is at the center of our company’s raison d’être and founder’s corporate philosophy “What is good for the community is good for the company. What is good for the company, we will strive to do excellently and in a way that enriches the lives of our people.” The world is facing an unprecedented threat in the 21st century from the global pandemic COVID-19 which has disrupted business and interrupted life as we know it. As such, we took it on ourselves to do what we can to help overcome this pandemic and at the same time secure business continuity and the safety of our employees.
As we know that the products we manufacture are in fact essentials, our plants are working meticulously to cater to the pressing needs for consumer goods, hygiene products, and sanitizers, as well as protective gear (masks, gloves, etc.). We have enforced stringent safety measures to secure the safety and wellbeing of our employees and all stakeholders in the process. Read below the section about Employee Wellbeing.
Identifying local (Lebanon) needs to combat COVID-19, INDEVCO member companies are developing products to help assist healthcare institutions and the government in readiness to overcome the virus and treat patients. We are working to support those who are keeping our communities safe – particularly responders on the front line of the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Phoenix Machinery, our machinery and parts manufacturing company, has developed and begun manufacturing ventilator machines in Lebanon, serving the local and international healthcare industry. The company has also developed the technology to help hygiene converting companies transform existing machinery to produce products such as masks.
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Sanita, our consumer and away-from-home disposables manufacturing company, is pushing full force with the production of its hand sanitizers, household disinfectants, masks, gloves, and other healthcare protective gear.
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Masterpak, our flexible packaging manufacturing company, launched production of protective suits.
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Prepak, our rigid plastics manufacturing company, launched production of reusable respiratory masks.
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INDEVCO Paper Containers, our corrugated packaging manufacturing division, developed a social distancing line for shopfloor, desk, and table separation.
Emphasizing the importance of citizens staying at home as much as possible, we have launched INDEVCO’s online e-commerce platform and application, 961Home, available in Google Play and Apple store. The application currently offers consumers with the full range of Sanita household products from baby and feminine care to household detergents and tissue and towels. The application delivers products to consumers free of charge and offers discounts. The e-commerce platform will expand its product offering in the future.
Employees are the core of our company and securing their health and wellbeing is a priority. As such, amid the COVID-19 pandemic we have put in place strict measures to ensure the safety of our people. With a specialized health and safety team, we closely monitor developments locally and internationally and update precautionary measures accordingly.
As we are a multinational company, we have expatriates working across the globe, as well as regular business travel. In order to protect the health of our employees, we have advised against any unnecessary travel during this time, as travel puts our employees at higher risk of exposure to the virus. For employees that must travel, we have required a 14-day self-quarantine before returning to work. Furthermore, we have put stringent processes for employees that have high mobility to protect their safety and that of their colleagues, including secure separate offices and mandatory protective gear.
We monitor closely the Covid-19 situation and follow local Ministry of Health directives and recommendations. As manufacturers of essential products, the government permits our plants to continue operation during lockdowns. During the strict government-imposed lockdown early 2020, we empowered employees that could work remotely to work from the confinement of their homes. Our IT had ensured that employees working from home had all the necessary tools and accesses to be able to conduct work as usual.
For employees that cannot work from home, we have created new shift schedules, which allow a certain number of employees per shift. This reduces the number of employees working simultaneously and enhances distancing between employees. We have also mandated that for employees working from the office, no more than 1 – 2 people work from the same workspace, respecting the necessary social distance.
Today our cleaning staff, along with our operators, are among our INDEVCO heroes. We have launched very strict hygiene practices across the company offices and plants with hand sanitizers distributed to every office, frequent disinfectant cleaning of all premises especially high contact services, as well as regular sanitization of offices.
We have advised against all unnecessary in-person meetings and have requested that when possible employees turn to video conferencing instead. However, in the case of necessary meetings, we have allocated masks, hand sanitizers, and a dedicated meeting room in all of our operations across Lebanon.
As we pass through these difficult times, we are committed to securing our business continuity in order to continually surpass our customer needs and simultaneously continue to support our 10,000+ employees and their families. Every single INDEVCO family member is dedicated to successfully continuing business and nurturing our business partnerships. Furthermore, thanks to our diversification and multinational operations, we secure production and delivery to customers.
“It is more than evident that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted life and interrupted business and will have long term effects on global and local economies. This crisis has, however, highlighted the critical role of the industrial sector worldwide and the importance of secure and reliable suppliers to support needs in situations of emergency. With over 65 years in the market, we have ridden many waves and built a secure and resilient foundation of business on strong pillars of trust, partnership, diversification, innovation, and quality.
This storm shall too pass, and we are dedicated to help the communities we serve and our partners and customers to steer through these unchartered waters. This global pandemic is the first to have impacted the world so strongly in this century and as such we are all facing uncertain times. I would like to personally stress our dedication and commitment to secure the needs of our community and serve our customers meeting the quality and service standards you have become accustomed to. We manufacture essentials, and as such, our plants are operating and our teams working hard to ensure supply and delivery of our products. We have put in place very stringent health and safety practices to secure the wellbeing of all our employees, as well as all entities they may come in contact with.
I hope that we will all join together to overcome the existing challenges and those that lie ahead.
Stay safe and be well.”
Neemat G. Frem
INDEVCO Chairman & CEO