Phil Jones MBE, Managing Director Brother UK on Friday released notes about Brother’s initiatives and plans and its global supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his statement, Jones said that the company is focusing on three key things, the safety and wellbeing of its people whilst keeping our business moving; secure the supply chain and helping those who are helping others to keep UK communities and the economy moving.
The UK office is currently operating on a skeleton staff to maintain operations with all remaining colleagues working from home. All elements of its business processes are running with this model and we do not anticipate any major interruption to our operations, Jones added.
The global supply chain environment is shifting very quickly, with local governments updating their policies and guidance for dealing with the COVID-19 situation on a daily basis in countries where Brother has component suppliers or manufacturing bases.
Jones said: “We are monitoring our stocks each day across the entire supply chain and will advise our channel partners if specific lines go into allocation. It’s important to note that going into allocation does not mean there is immediate shortage but simply to prevent bulk buying and commercial speculation in the short term.
“We recognise that many of our products, such as consumable items, are critical to key workers in areas like GP surgeries, hospitals and pharmacies, who will be providing care for communities and those affected by the coronavirus outbreak. As such, we’re making the availability of supply to these groups our number one priority.
“We are the largest provider of printing devices to the GP community in the UK and we know many will be worried about items like obtaining repeat prescriptions if in self-isolation, so we think it’s the right thing to do to keep those essential public services operational and focused on the most vulnerable in our communities.”
Brother UK’s technical support platforms are resourced by a mixture of third-party providers and its own people. Its own technical support specialists remain available however the company has been experiencing some service level issues with its outsourced partners as many of their contact centres are large and in other countries who have high cases of the COVID-19 outbreak and staff self-isolating.
Jones added: “I want you to know that – right now – our hearts at Brother UK go out to all those people being directly impacted through job losses or the loss of business for the self-employed and freelancers/contractors who are the backbone of the economy.”
Short-term initiatives by Brother UK include all invoices are being paid quickly to all suppliers and the company is prepared to pre-pay any freelancers who work for Brother UK who are experiencing hardship due to cancellations in other contracts.
