5 lessons we've learned from lockdown
Back in March 2020, who would have thought that Covid would have impacted our lives for over a year? As we reflect on our collective loss and look to a more hopeful future, as a business which serves all types of manufacturing companies we have tried to find some positive trends. We would like to share these lessons with you and hope that some of what we’ve learned may be useful.
1. Health & Safety is paramount but doesn’t mean you can’t get your compressor serviced
Having a strong Health & Safety culture meant that we could add extra safety practices and risk assessment processes quickly, allowing us to keep our customers and our own employees safe. We haven’t had any problems with our service engineers being allowed on site, as we can comply to all health & safety requirements
2. Energy savings became even more of a priority than they were before
With the initial uncertainty and restrictions, businesses looked to reduce their production costs. Many customers decided that lockdown was a good time to book a leak detection test, finally fix those pesky air leaks and reduce their energy consumption going forward.
3. More compressor users opted for a service contract with connectivity included
During the early Covid period, moving away from ad hoc or in-house servicing. This makes sense, as a Service Plan offers stability and uptime, with all costs included in the proposal - taking away any worries about the compressed air system whilst the manufacturer can focus on what they do best. And the connectivity allowed them to see the status of their compressor installation without even leaving their house!
4. A little technical advice goes a long way
Many manufacturers needed to shut down their compressors due to reduced or halted production and then restart them once it increased. Where this was not done correctly some were faced with condensation issues in the element or even seizures. If you’re ready to ramp up production, please first read our advice on safely restarting your compressors and reconnecting them to the control system.
5. We survived Brexit after all
Economic trends are showing that the manufacturing sector’s confidence has increased and output has turned positive for the first time in a year. All the extra Brexit admin (although it caused our logistics team some headaches) didn’t affect our compressor customers. We are still able to deliver parts and products to site without passing on any additional cost or import duties.
Please rest assured that as the UK finally starts to ease out of lockdown, the Atlas Copco Compressors team is at full capacity and ready to support you.