OPM prides itself on having lean, clean, proactive processes and a communicative team, all of which is no small part why we’ve managed to keep production moving to our usual high standards throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re proud to report that less than a handful of cases have been reported and contained over the past challenging months and here’s how we’ve accomplished it.
Proactive planning
From the earliest phone call with a grim warning from our international friends in the industry, OPM was able to undertake preparations for keeping everyone safe. In turn, we continued to serve the clients who needed us without a hitch, including those in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors.
Existing standards
Already working to Good Manufacturing Practice standards and PS9000 pharma-grade accreditations, our commitments to best in class operations enabled us to quickly further elevate our hygiene disciplines already achieved, along with some clever dividing and bubbling up of our dedicated workforce.
Our COVID Team
To keep everyone up to date with the latest news and developments, a cluster of colleagues became ‘The COVID Team’ which provided weekly updates and full disclosure – both internally and externally -about the progress of orders, operations, and general wellbeing.
Importantly, they liaised with the medical industry, who provided documentation for our key workers should they be stopped by authorities travelling to and from work.
Divide and Conquer
Our MDs, Susan and Chris Ellison, understood that reassuring staff was key to the success of our plans and having a structured approach to staff management could minimise risk to the business.
Those who could work from home, the Sales team, were asked to with immediacy, and for those key to production, they were divided into one of three groups, so that if one went down (which, fortunately, they never did) there was always a team to keep each crucial wheel moving. For example, for every Mac operator there was a member of the customer service team to collaborate with.
Staggering shift starts also meant that there was the least connection between staff. Once everyone was in after the half hour change, a digital handover was given as opposed to a face to face one minimising risks.
“Nobody moves, everybody contributes, everybody shares screens, and that’s a much better way of functioning,” said MD Susan Ellison, explaining the advantages of the management plan.
For key workers, there came a point where it was safer to be at work than at home thanks to the approach the company was taking. Susan was delighted that the site actually became a bit of a safe haven for the team to ‘breath out’ amongst the rest of the world’s uncertainty. After all, the production teams couldn’t take their printing presses home!
Luckily, we had the space necessary to create separate, self-service canteens, as well as toilet blocks for each team. Post, larger than the small reception dropbox, was re-routed to the delivery entrance, so that the receptionist only handled items for the offices, rather than re-dispatching to departments, after a considerable time of product decontamination.
Digital Upgrades and Updates
To reduce touch points, we focused on our reception area for digital upgrades and updates. As it’s the threshold between the outside world and the company, it was important to make it secure. Necessary visitors, such as engineers and suppliers, were invited to adopt the new approach: the upgraded tech enabled the shift from logging in at reception to using 3D barcodes on phones, meaning that visitors could login before they were in the building, and nothing was now physically involved.
In addition, digital fingerprinting remained key to logging into work, but with the new emphasis on wiping down the scanner after every use. Each and every team member recognised their part in keeping colleagues safe.
Delightful Diversions
“Everybody needed a bit of fun too,” says Susan. “It’s been a very strange world (…) traumatic. So, you’ve got to include the people that are supporting the team: their crew at home.”
We capitalised on the big holidays of Easter and Christmas as moments to ‘take a breath’, as Susan describes it.
Usually at Christmas, the team and their families would be invited to finish the day early and to visit the site to look around and find out what mum or dad produce. Unfortunately, this couldn’t now happen. However, everyone received their famous ‘everything except the vegetables (and less of the alcohol)’ Christmas hampers brimming with treats for all tastes.
This really cheered up everybody who had worked so hard, and plans went underway to re-think the Easter celebration. Rather than the traditional OPM egg hunt, everybody had a huge present of 14 eggs and a hunt pack to create in their own homes, as well as another fantastic hamper to eat away the weekend: hot cross buns, pork pies, and all the goodies.
Susan’s marketing also took a new approach, considering the fact that OPM still had to do business in a time when ‘you don’t want to upset people unable to market their business, open their business, or do what they love on the day-to-day.’
‘Spend the afternoon with us’ became the new enticement and OPM TV showcased virtual tours around the world. With the help of digital agency partner Forty4Three, a virtual tour for clients, students and guests was created to book onto and see the factory, including the company’s new digital presses.
COVID Cases – Christmas 2020
The lengths and efforts gone to, to make sure that everybody was supported and safe at the height of the pandemic, have been proven as effective. Throughout the period and at the time of writing (September 21), only a handful of staff have contracted COVID – and, thankfully, these happened during the Christmas period. The factory was closed for long enough to have the virus dissipate naturally, and importantly, to show that the issue was taken seriously, a Rentokil spray down was also completed to ensure further safety.
Changed for good
The use of mobile units created space and new opportunities for OPM; one is now a meeting room another is a new training hub.
COVID became a real catalyst for change at our company. The clients that the sales team had been encouraging to switch to virtual video calls came around. Suddenly the need to see people and their facial expressions became vital – emails just weren’t as good. Susan Ellison connects this with recognising ‘the strength of talking to someone and looking them in the eyes’ and has seen a wonderful unity develop through the acceptance of this new communication method.
So, today – virtually – all our clients have now had face-to-face conversations with an internal member of the OPM team – whether they’ve been in a car park or a waiting area or in their home offices.
“I think we’re much more accepting of one another’s appearances and the setting we take our video calls in now,’ finally reflects Susan.
Thank you!
At OPM, we would like to extend our thanks to our incredible suppliers, clients, and partners and most importantly, all of our teams and their families behind them at home, without whom none of this would have been possible.
Thank you to everyone.
