Adapting through COVID-19

Dear Valued Customer,

Despite much of the negative news we see today, there is significant positive news. It has become evident that the areas in which the virus first propagated are becoming more and more stable, and new illnesses are diminishing. Together we should feel confident that we can defeat COVID-19.

The COVID-19 situation has been impacting our personal and professional lives rapidly over the last few weeks, and by now its effects are felt in almost in every country and company. We would therefore like to give you a brief update on the actions we have taken at Sputtering Components to protect our employees and customers and to secure the supply of components and parts.
 
Our measures to protect employees and customers

Fortunately, none of SCI’s employees worldwide have been infected by COVID-19. At the same time, we have implement several measures to avoid the spread of the virus.

A certain number of our employees are working normally in our office and factory, while others have embraced remote or at-home operations. We are introducing flexible work models to accommodate family obligations and the regulations set by local authorities in order to maintain our operational readiness.

We have temporarily halted international business travel from the SCI Owatonna office. Fortunately, we are leveraged through our global channel partner network with the ability to support our customers in many different regions of the world. At the same time, we must respect that certain regions and customers have restrictions in place minimizing human contact as we address COVID-19.

The situation in our manufacturing plants and service centers

Our factory in Owatonna MN (USA) is running at normal operations. It is also good to share that our parent company, Bühler, continues to operate in good standing and is ready to support its customers with its reach of 100 service stations, globally.

As of now, the COVID-19 situation in the US has not caused any serious issues with our ability to keep our factory running at capacity.; While we do not see major set-backs in our ability to ship product to our customers, we recognize that some of our sub-suppliers may undertake unforeseen delays.  We are working with each of our critical vendors to ensure the delivery of supplies to SCI, and under some certain situations, we have enacted the use of our back-up suppliers to ensure we continue to meet our customer’s demands.

Since the situation is changing daily, we will continue to keep you informed of any major changes. If you have questions regarding the delivery time of a particular order, please contact our customer service team, or local channel partner.

We would like to thank you for your business, your understanding and cooperation in this COVID-19 situation. Please, call or e-mail us any questions. We are here to support you.

With best regards and best wishes for your health and business,

Andy Britt
General Manager