June 2020
Which was the challenge for Termoplast during the period of health emergency?
Challenges have been many. Perhaps the most difficult one has been keeping cool and transferring serenity on to all our employees. When it all started, a panic situation inevitably arose, which has been difficult to manage even for us as property. However, we have taken the problem head-on and thanks to the relationships with our collaborators we have adopted in a very short time all the precautions to allow them to work in total safety, without fear.
Another challenge, not of secondary importance, was to guarantee all our customers their supplies which in the food, pharma and medical fields, have grown exponentially compared to normal. Facing huge requests suffering from reduced personnel forces was a truly demanding organizational and human challenge.
Which are the problems you mostly had to work on?
Providing all precautions and safety systems to the personnel in the shortest possible time. We immediately implemented a crisis management by organizing shifts and working areas in order to guarantee total safety. We also thought it was appropriate to grant a salary increase to all those which offered maximum availability and dedication to the job. The job on our side has been to make them feel protected as at home.
Which is the characteristic that allowed you to win the challenge?
We certainly do not want to be overly presumptuous but the fact of having a virtuous and solid structure and a good reputation on the market has allowed us not to suffer from any lack of raw materials, due to the extraordinary situation of crude oil that led to the shortage on the market of ethylene, precisely its derivative, used in the production of the polymers we use.
However, I would like to thank our internal organization which has made it possible to accommodate all customer requests without penalizing any of them, even with extraordinary working hours, clearly in regard to personal health, while always respecting our high quality standards.
How is Termoplast convinced to have given its customers the right support?
We believe that having organized alternative and / or exceptional transport systems, without financially weighing on our customers for the often doubled costs, it’s been a plus. Obviously, some delays were not missing, but we believe we have fulfilled our tasks in the best possible way for our partners.
Which are the most critical issues highlighted by the crisis?
Well, we can go from the defaults of our political, bureaucratic, banking system ... but what really matters is that systemic problems have emerged affecting many entrepreneurial realities, leaving them isolated and in the worst case, forcing them to close. Still today, most of them have not yet received the promised aid and risk to be unable to rise up again.
What did you learn from this experience?
Surely how "alone" we are fragile and how interconnected we are, how much we need each other, in terms of work and on personal level. We have also learned the value of the daily details that create contacts always took for granted: now more than ever we realize how important, even at the conclusion of a contract or for a banal greeting, is a simple and human handshake.
