Keeping the wheels turning in the time of corona - Update (USA)
12/14/2020
In some parts of the world the COVID-19 situation has calmed down a bit but in other areas, the situation has worsened. Sunfab Hydraulics AB has taken measures to protect our employees, our customers and suppliers while we do our best to meet our customers' needs and deliveries. We have asked our employees how the pandemic crisis is affecting their daily work in these dire times. Here is an update from Sunfabs subsidiaries. Kjell Nyman, you are our Senior Sales Manager at Sunfab Hydraulics Inc. in USA.
How is your local market doing under the current situation with restrictions based on the impact of the pandemic with limited opportunities to meet your customers?
“We have been fortunate enough to stay pretty much right on our target throughout the year. Our distributors are doing a great job for us. From what we can tell the ag and construction markets are doing quite well considering everything that’s going on.”
What new ways of working have you made during this period to keep contacts and proactively follow-up service to customers and support customers business since travels and visits went restricted?
“I have not travelled anywhere since March of this year. I didn’t think I would ever say this but I actually wish I was packing my bag heading for the airport to go fly somewhere… I’m trying my best to keep in touch with everyone via phone and email in order to provide good customer service and also to reach out to potentially new customers. We are also using Teams, Zoom and Skype quite a bit which is something I had not done much of prior to this year.”
What is the common view from our customers on their business due to the pandemic crisis and do they feel that Sunfab is supporting them?
“There is a lot of uncertainty among our customers. Right now, it looks like we are headed for more restrictions due to an increase in Covid-19 cases in many of our states. Just today the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Pfizer vaccine for mass distribution here in the US so supposedly they’ll begin vaccinating people next week.
Based on the feedback we are receiving, our customers seems to be happy with our support. We try as a team to process every quote request and other inquiries as quickly as humanly possible. We strive to be a company that’s easy to do business with.”
The fact that the production and office in Sweden have been up and running during this whole crisis, any feedback from market?
“Due to a no-lock down in Sweden helped a lot to keep our deliveries on schedule to our customers. We should be in a good position to be able to ramp up and service our customers once things get back to “normal” again. We have only received positive feedback regarding the fact that our production remained up and running through this ordeal.”
Do you have any success story or a happy story from your customer engagements during this period that you have got positive feedback on from customer?
“There has been several occasions where we have been able to help out a customer in a bind and they reply with “Great tech support”, “Great customer support” or “Sunfab is a pleasure to do business with”. That’s what makes this job fun and exciting.”
Is your market recovering and what is going to happen in near future, your feeling of the development?
“Our market has been holding pretty steady, however, with the current uptick in Covid-19 cases and looming restrictions and possible lock downs I’m afraid we may see a bit of a slow down in the near future before things hopefully turns around and get back to something resembling “normal” again.”
Anything else you would like to say?
“I would like to take this opportunity to let all of our customers know that we at Sunfab appreciate your business during these difficult times. We look forward to working with all of you in 2021 and beyond.
Stay safe! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!”