In mid April ICG members were adapting to the “new normal” in many ways.
In the very early days of the current health crisis the Independent Carton Group (ICG) met in Park City Utah for its Spring Meeting. On March 11th and 12th, while members discussed how empty their flights were and what the status of drupa 20 might be, their spirits were high and that “can do” attitude, which is in the DNA of all ICG member leadership, was already evident. At this time the state of Ohio was just banning gatherings of more than 1000 people and US cases of the virus were at 1,100 with just a hand full of deaths reported. As a matter of fact, March 11th was when the World Health Organization first declared the Corona Virus outbreak a pandemic.
While the group was treated to a fantastic plant tour of All Packaging’s plant in Salt Lake City the country and the world were moving to much broader shut down measures. Talks among members were focused on how they would cope and push through any challenges that would arise. Discussions included how companies managed following 911 and an attitude of “we will get through this too” was the prominent buzz in discussions around the dinner table that evening. As the meeting concluded on the 12th and members began their travels home, it was obvious that everyone had been in contact with those at home and at work and that plans were in the works for how their companies were going to cope with whatever was to come.
In mid April ICG members were adapting to the “new normal” in many ways. By this time it was readily apparent that their businesses were critical for a functional society during the COVID-19 crisis and deemed by the government as “essential businesses” allowing workers to travel empty streets and report to work. Some had to shut down for 24 to 48 hours to sanitize their facilities and get reentry plans in place which included taking employee’s temperatures prior to their entry into the building through a new, one way, traffic pattern. Staggered shifts were implemented to keep passing contact at a minimum and working compartments were designated with break rooms for each compartment, again to minimize contact and many office workers were shifted to working from home.
As the country began hitting its stride adjusting to the challenges of working in various stages of social distancing and quarantine, ICG members were busy serving the needs of their customers, many of which are supplying critical medical and food products. At Outlook Group in Neenah WI they were focused on meeting the spike in demand to deliver packaging for critical customers producing food for our homes and medical products such as thermometers for our healthcare workers. “We have added hourly workers, most of whom were laid off from local businesses, and added overtime to our schedules to meet the needs of critical customers.” said Jim Woller, Market Development Manager for Outlook Group. “As well, we’ve taken on first priority business from companies converting to the production of hand sanitizing products in our flexible packaging and folding carton categories” Woller continues.
