Recapitulation of COVID-19 pandemic impact on Kayaku
After several months of production limitations, all processes are running and, currently, we are producing goods for our customers.
The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically changed the situation in the market. Automobile manufacturers were shut down for a long period of time and, even now, they are still not producing at the same level as they were before COVID-19 raised its head. The same applies to the supply chain. Uncertainty has an impact on consumers as well, which has resulted in a stoppage in purchases of luxury goods, one of which is automobiles. The manufacture of automobiles in Europe is at a level of 50% - 60% of the normal state; only in China and Japan is the situation better, however, the forecasts are not very optimistic. Our orders are far different than the numbers we had come to expect over previous years. Our company implemented a cutback program for more than 1 month ago:
- Investments are limited – only the projects that have been planned for a long time are to continue.
- Facilities under construction are being completed, technologies already ordered are being installed.
- Due to cutbacks, only essential items are to be purchased.
However, it is not possible to compensate for declines in sales revenues by taking these steps alone. In July, before the company holiday, another production cutback is planned and some operations will cease.
PLANNED SHUTDOWN IN JULY
7 - 19 July - limited production
20 - 31 July - company holiday
Another step is reducing our workforce. Although we do not plan mass redundancies, certain fixed-term contracts will not be prolonged and there will also be some lay-offs of permanent employees.
We believe that these precautions will be sufficient and will eliminate the negative effects of the pandemic in order to continue to remain a healthy and prosperous company.
