Stahl COVID-19 update

The COVID-19 (commonly called Coronavirus) pandemic is affecting everyone. The situation is evolving rapidly and it is not easy to accurately predict how it will affect people’s lives and business activity in the future.

Our first priority is to ensure the health and safety of our employees. We are also committed to the continued supply of our products and services during the virus outbreak, even if this service may temporary be interrupted. At the same time we will continue to follow guidance from national and international health authorities with respect to preventing the spread of the virus. To date we have been able to continue to deliver orders without major disruptions, in spite of the continuously changing developments. We are managing the situation on a daily basis, guided by our global COVID-19 crisis team.

Stahl has taken measures to prevent unnecessary direct contact with visitors, business partners and between colleagues. Some employees are still working from home, but where possible under local regulations most of our employees returned in a controlled way back to their normal work places in labs, offices and sites. We have a specific instruction in place to safely travel and pay visits to our customers respecting local regulation and guidance. The same applies for visitors to Stahl sites.

In addition, Stahl has established an operational platform in which preventive measures are discussed and implemented, with the goal of avoiding interruptions in service. Specifically:

• For road transport processes and precautionary measures are in place to safely load and unload the trucks.
• Containers and transports have been pre-ordered and we have been able to meet demand as needed.
• Sites, offices and laboratories are running normally to the extent possible within the constraints of the relevant local authorities. All Stahl sites are operational.
• Some materials can be produced at more than one manufacturing site - this is being managed on a case-by-case basis.
• Raw material supplies are being secured continuously by our procurement and planning teams.
• Desk/office employees are working in rotation if a safe work place in the office cannot be realized. They rotate between on-site and remote locations, in order to minimize the spread of the virus while continuing operations.
•  We are keeping our customers informed on order deliveries on a daily basis through our Customer Service and business teams.

Stahl has contingency plans in place in the event the situation changes, for example if lockdowns would be extended or revitalized:

• To assure a safe shutdown of sites as needed, and an adequate secure inventory of chemicals at our sites and in warehouses,
• To relocate manufacturing whenever possible,
• To fill stock if we temporarily cannot transport and to be ready for supply as soon as restrictions are lifted,
• To have a daily communication structure in place and to restart operations as soon as possible again.

The net effect of all this is that Stahl is capable of delivering its products and services, if with some restrictions for travel and visits and transport delays at country borders.

The strength of Stahl is its service driven business model. Though in many countries we are not able to meet you in person, we have enabled our sales and technical service staff to service you remotely, either from home office, with smart working and through our digital channels on social media, through instruction video’s and Teams events. This means that your normal contacts in the commercial and customer service teams are still available to help you with any queries or questions. Stahl is working together as a team to manage the situation, day by day, inspired by our motto “If it can be imagined it can be created”.