Covid burst on the scene from end 2019 onwards as a great disruptor, upsetting every activity of human lives from personal to business & industry and more. Living and working have changed; its not going to be the same again. It has inflicted heavy damages in terms of lives lost, children orphaned and business revenues hit, including many SME businesses closed.
However, the never say die attitude of people, the indomitable spirit and human resilience to fight back has led to great efforts in combating the consequences of this pestilence, creating new normals in our living and working. Companies in India responded with a series of measures, rising up to the challenges and managing their business activities from services to manufacturing successfully.
Here is one account of how a leading company in the field of biotech and renewables coped with the situation. Chemical Industry Digest had an email interaction with Dr Sangeeta Srivastava, Executive Director of Godavari Biorefineries Ltd on how they faced the onslaught of covid.
Views of Dr Sangeeta Srivastava are presented here.
Chemical Industry Digest (CID): How did you cope and continue managing your business operations during the long periods of lockdown during covid? What are some of the key steps you took or new procedures you laid out that helped in facing up to the challenges during this period? Were you adversely impacted during the lockdown? Were business revenues hit?
Dr Sangeeta Srivastava (SS): AAs a manufacturing company we quickly adopted safety protocols and continued the production at both our sites. We managed the back-office operations through Work from Home (WFH) Mode. During the initial stage, we did not have a laptop for everyone. Thus, the first few laptops were purchased and distributed on a priority basis. Later, we provided laptops to all the employees who were working from home in a phase-wise manner. Business was affected when the pandemic hit, but we adapted to the new normal and continued to deliver our best.
CID: How did you manage your supply chain particularly in your manufacturing?
SS: For our sugar manufacturing we use locally procured sugarcane which is our main raw material. With help from farmers and our cane department, we retained the supply. With regards to other goods and machinery, we planned things ahead of time and had also looked into using the best resources available at our disposal. We also initiated weekly review meetings to track planning and production movements.
However, for the chemical business, we do use imported raw materials and that was disturbed for some time and at the end we could manage the operation with little more effort in coordination at the port and with transporters.
CID: Covid struck suddenly and out of the blue. It created huge uncertainties in overall management of business and industry. What were the key learnings in uncertainty management, and overall, from this pandemic? What has this pandemic taught you? What steps have you taken to meet such sudden massive eventualities like the pandemic, in case such disruptions happen in future?
SS: Yes, Covid struck suddenly and out of the blue. The key learnings from the pandemic range from personal and professional hygiene to personal and professional readiness. As a manufacturing company for essential goods, we had to run the manufacturing and manage the supply chain for smooth running. During the first wave, we stopped the chemical plant only for 7 days due to locals at the site and after convincing, we started the factory with the support of all the workers and the staff, some of whom stayed in the plant.
From a hygiene perspective, the learnings are in maintaining the Covid protocol of washing hands regularly, wearing masks, using sanitizer, maintaining social distancing. From a work perspective, we moved to a virtual working environment where all employees were working from home. We learned more about the technology and accepted the digital workspace. At our Research Lab at Mahape, Navi Mumbai – we continued working with segregated working hrs and maintaining the Covid protocol.
The importance of making quick decisions and planning came into action when the pandemic hit, and we had to adapt to a whole new different working normally for business. Things have been more systematic and traveling time has been reduced to a great length. We have also helped employees maintain a work-life balance when everyone is working from home.
CID: Two other major areas of business activity, include handling of one’s human resources (staff/manpower) and customers during the pandemic. Many of one’s staff could have been afflicted with covid; there was downsizing, loss of salaries, etc leading to depression, etc in staff. What communication and other strategies did you deploy to reassure your staff and customers? And how did your people respond in terms of support and cooperation?
SS: When the pandemic hit, we did not know how bad it’s going to affect the business and how long it’s going to stay. We had weekly meetings with employees to ensure they were doing fine. We did not have to downsize or cut down salaries. We as a company support our employees to the best we can, and we will continue to help in the future.
CID: It’s reported that digital technologies came as a great enabler during covid lockdown. How was the digital transformation in your company including the skilling required to handle digital technologies for your manpower? How much were you digitized prior to the pandemic and then during the pandemic and now? To what extent has it helped you?
SS: With work from home, we took the initiative to automate various processes and provide a safe working digital space for our employees. This has led to the initiation of Technology / Software enhancement as a strategic move for 25 to 30 projects across verticals. We plan to continue using these advancements and expand our digital footprint.
CID: How satisfying and productive were work from home (WFH) strategies for your company? Are your staff on WFH mode or hybrid model or are you back to total office working? What do you feel is the optimum strategy now?
SS: In case of exigency, Work from Home is the best way to move forward. However physical meetings and interactions are more efficient and productive. The optimum strategy is to enforce the hybrid model. It helps maintain the work-life balance and is flexible and interactive. The hybrid model will be seen as an alternative style of work.
