Magazin | News
17.03.2020

How W&H is handling the COVID-19 pandemic

The Corona virus is spreading worldwide. As an international company, we are doing everything we can to protect our employees and customers with extensive preventative measures. We extended our digital remote services to support our customers through this difficult situation. Here you can find an overview of measures being taken at W&H.

Precautionary Measures at W&H

W&H created a Corona Prevention Task Force at the end of February. The precautionary measures listed below have been in effect at all of our worldwide locations since the virus began to spread. These range from using new platforms for digital meetings to avoiding travel to increased information about hygiene to keeping daily contact logs.

Click here to read more about all implemented precautionary measures worldwide

  • Establishment of a task force to coordinate all measures surrounding the Corona-Virus
  • Travel has been limited to urgent business only
  • Travel to areas of risk (according to the Robert-Koch-Institut) and visits from these regions has been prohibited
  • A travel history is required from all visitors
  • Participation in large events such as symposiums, annual meetings, etc. is not allowed
  • Cancellation of trade shows in risk areas or those with several participants and exhibitors from risk areas
  • Internal and external meetings conducted primarily via video conference
  • Closure of the company canteen; food service delivery provided to employees
  • Daily contact log required from all W&H employees
  • Communication about proper hygiene and availability of disinfectants
  • Temporary Home Office / voluntary self-quarantine rules in place for possible cases
  • Updates published daily to ensure all employees are up-to-date on the situation

Essential Business Classification

The W&H Group, including the subsidiaries Garant and AVENTUS, has been classified as an Essential Business by the relevant German authorities. "Our primary goal is to support our customers worldwide in keeping their production up and running. With the classification as an essential business, we are making sure that we will be able to continue this support even in the event of more rigorous measures", says CTO Falco Paepenmüller.

Service

With the increasing number of travel restrictions, we are offering our digital service tools as a way to access the expertise of our service technicians. Our ultimate goal is to help keep our customers’ machinery in production in these exceptional circumstances. We have increased the capacity of our Information and Diagnostics Center. In addition, we are temporarily offering the VISUAL ASSISTANCE app to all Remote-Service customers free of charge. Installations and commissioning of new machines will be arranged is close collaboration with the respective customers.

More about Visual Assistance FREE-OF-CHARGE

Delivery of Spare Parts

Supporting our customers’ ability to remain in production is our top priority. Our spare parts department is prepared. 85% of the original spare parts are available as inventory. Due to closed borders and longer waiting times, in some cases we will coordinate with customers to determine the quickest way for ordered parts to reach them.

Production and Supply Chain

Production in our Lengerich and Prostějov facilities is operating normally while employees adhere to the imposed precautions. Our purchasing department is currently evaluating the global supply chain in order to identify potential shortages early. Currently all supply chains for W&H are functioning.

Cancellation of Trade Fairs and W&H EXPO

W&H has cancelled participation in trade fairs for the time being. We fully support the decision made by Messe Düsseldorf to cancel the major industry shows, interpack and drupa. Our EXPO, which was scheduled to run during drupa, will also be postponed. We will inform you of the new dates soon. We look forward to presenting our newest products in person to an international crowd in 2021. In the meantime, we will inform you of new products and developments on the market in our monthly E-Newsletter.

Read the W&H E-Newsletter

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You can contact us

All W&H offices worldwide are open and operational. In badly affected regions such as Italy, our colleagues are working from their home offices. To enable "face-to-face" meetings without travel, we are using modern chat and video conferencing tools. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your local W&H representative.

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Contacts worldwide
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