Lippert Components employees will gradually return to work starting next week, under new protocols and with the potential to manufacture new products.
LCI recently confirmed its plans to resume manufacturing operations at the start of May, and outlined new safety measures and other changes to its production. Jarod Lippert, Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations, said the company’s production plants will gradually return to normal operations in the next month.
“Officially we are gradually, gradually resuming operations,” Lippert said. “We are coming back in layers, not all at once, to support our customers in critical infrastructure sectors, including transportation and logistics. Our companies view us as an essential business to maintain their supply chains, and that’s why we’re coming back.”
He said LCI created a “playbook” for safely resuming operations that he hopes the company will soon be able to share publicly. The company’s strategy is centered on making sure employees are safe at work and safe when they go home.
Lippert said many of the company’s engineers have been busy working from home under stay-at-home orders, designing or developing early ideas for new aftermarket products.
“One of the interesting things is that as we all kind of had to go home, everyone had to take their workstations and go home,” Lippert said. “We’re moving on as many as ten new products that we still want to launch in 2020 for marine and RV.”
The parts manufacturer has also explored producing personal protective equipment or hand sanitizer in the coming weeks, Lippert said. He said some of the company’s Italian facilities have already begun making face shields for the Italian government in response to the pandemic.
“We’re not exporting those to the states because of the Italian laws, but we are looking at making those face shields here locally at one of our facilities in Elkhart,” Lippert said.
He said the company is “firing on all cylinders” and that LCI is looking forward to showcasing new developments at virtual or in-person trade shows later this year.
As LCI employees return to work this month, they will follow new company protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Lippert said the company intends to take all necessary precautions.
“We’ve put COVID-19 protocols into all of our manufacturing facilities, as well as our corporate offices in the event when we return on May 4,” Lippert said.
Employees will wear company-provided facemasks in all manufacturing spaces, as well as practice social distancing protocols whenever possible. LCI will restrict access to certain areas of its plants, provide hand sanitization stations at the workplace and ensure regular disinfecting.
“Everyone really believes there’s an end to this thing, so we’re no stopping things from a development standpoint,” Lippert said. “That’s what keeps me going every day.”
