“Everybody kept working because they saw a lot of their neighbors and friends laid off and going on unemployment. [At Acme], the pandemic kept people in place.” —Bob Cohen, president, Acme Corrugated Box
• How you’re taking care of your employees—customers care bout that! • That you’re there to meet their needs and that their concerns are important to you. At Acme, “we knew we had to keep producing so we could keep providing boxes to the food service industry,” Kochie says. Acme communicated quickly and often to keep customers informed and up to date on what was happening with the company.
48
BOXSCORE November/December 2021
Addressing Company Needs Addressing company needs relates to issues such as how you will communicate with employees, customers, and others, how you will ensure that data and other employer resources are kept safe, how you will ensure continuous business operations, and, closely related, how you will project your bottom line. Addressing Community Needs Different types of organizations impact the community in different ways. Health
care organizations, for example, have an obvious impact on the community and those in it. Manufacturing companies also have community impacts, though. This might include such things as potential environmental impacts related to a disaster and how they are being addressed, economic impact if the company has to reduce staff or operations, or philanthropic contributions and participation in community-related corporate social responsibility initiatives. In each of the above areas—employees, customers, company, and community —manufacturing organizations should consider: • Areas where they face risk. What types of impacts could threaten the viability of your company? • Critical business functions that need to be able to operate no matter what. • Identify areas where you can proactively purchase and put in
