Page 17 - BusinessWest August 17, 2020

Vince Simonds says a pandemic-related surge in the game of golf has helped take the sting out of being shut down for two months this past spring, Callaway’s busiest time for making golf balls.
there are so many variables.
“Normally, when you run into these challenges
in business, you can at least do some research
or talk to some people who have been through it before to get a gauge for what was successful,” he went on. “With this, there is none of that.”
Parts of the Whole
Flashing back to early March, Carlson noted that, at least in one respect, the company was ready for what was coming.
“We had just put in a very large order for toi- let paper and other supplies from Staples,” she recalled, adding that, soon thereafter, such essen- tials were certainly hard to come by. “I was telling everyone that I had something like 180 single rolls of toilet paper ... so if you guys can’t find any, we’ll sell it to you for cost.”
But beyond that, there was little way to antici- pate, let alone prepare for, the pandemic and the many ways it was going to change the landscape for all businesses, and especially manufactur- ers. And for many, there was uncertainty about whether the doors would remain open as the state began to shut down businesses to help slow the spread of the virus.
Fortunately, for many, this uncertainty was short-lived.
“We’re the largest medical and surgical manu- facturer in the country, and we also do a lot of work for government agencies and the military with gun-cleaning products,” said Borsari, add- ing that Sanderson MacLeod was able to get the green light from the state and the town of Palmer to remain open for business.
“Getting deemed essential was important for us,” he recalled. “One of the concerns for the peo-
ple was whether they’d have a job; they were see- ing all these companies shut down around them, and that was the biggest concern they had from the beginning — whether we would be allowed to stay open.”
The company has been fortunate in other ways as well, he said, noting it had undertaken catastrophic planning and redundant sourcing before the pandemic, so there were few if any supply-chain issues once COVID struck. And its supply needs are relatively simple.
“Some of these companies are putting together
“One of the concerns for the people was whether they’d have a job; they were seeing all these companies shut down around them.”
computers with 4,000 parts,” he explained. “We’re really working with wire fiber and attachment components; it’s not nearly a deep a supply issue as other companies had.”
Meanwhile, demand for many of the products made by the company, especially those in the gun-cleaning realm, has actually grown, again because of the growing levels of turmoil in the world.
Manufacturers
Continued on page 60
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