Board Converting News, March 30, 2020

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AICC Members (CONT’D FROM PAGE 1)

As for their own companies’ responses to the corona- virus crisis, 100 percent of box makers have educated and reminded employees about the importance of hygiene and are provided hygienic supplies to them. Eighty-four percent have restricted travel of company employees. An- other step taken by 51 percent of those responding was to require employees to self-quarantine if they have traveled overseas or to places of high concentrations of reported infections. Asked to list additional steps, telework for office staff was mentioned frequently, as well as creatively working on shift changes for plant employees. Another said, “Dai- ly wipe downs of high touch-points throughout the facility and on machines. Evaluating the skills of every employee and aggressively cross-training in gaps identified.” Many have installed no visitor policies or if visitors are allowed, they must undergo a health evaluation. Other re- sponses included, “Taking all employee and visitor tem- peratures each day before accessing the building,” “Stag- ger breaks and lunches to improve social distancing,” and “Changed start and stop time of shifts so there is an hour gap to clean and disinfect all equipment surfaces.” Supplier Survey Responses AICC’s supplier members are also facing new chal- lenges and changing their operations to accommodate the COVID-19 crisis. In a survey conducted in the week of March 16, 70 of the 182 AICC supplier member compa- CONTINUED ON PAGE 68

reasons are. “We’re seeing larger than normal orders from customers replenishing food, medicine and medical devic- es,” wrote one member. Yet, a predominant theme in the comments received was uncertainty. “Not sure what impact this will have on our business. Yesterday we had our best booking day in over six weeks,” wrote one respondent. Another wrote, “Increase in volume from retail food, beverage and pa- per products. 10 percent to 35 percent advised and seen. Problem is these are advance purchases so volumes in May and June could be lower than normal.” Asked to predict the negative impact on their business, 49 percent of general members replied, “Don’t know, too hard to tell.” AICC also asked its general members what their cus- tomers are telling them about their business conditions. Customers slowing orders garnered a 35 percent re- sponse while 16 percent were seeing increasing orders. No change was the response of 20 percent. Again, uncer- tainty seemed to be the ruling opinion. “Some are ramping up the food sector while others are cutting back,” said one repsondent. “We are seeing both increases and decreases, depending on what industry the customer is in,” said another. “So far it has balanced out,” “Too early to tell,” and “Pure uncertainty” were other re- sponses.

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March 30, 2020

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