TEADIT COVID-19 WEEKLY UPDATES
May 4:
We expect, for the near future, that an update from TNA, unless something changes in the situation in Houston, will look very similar now week to week. So we will provide updates from this point as the need dictates.
For now, and looking forward, our production capacity is complete with all areas of the plant able to fulfill all customer expectations. Emergency services (Callouts and expedites) are operating smoothly. Office operations continues with a hybrid approach with ½ of our staff working in the office and ½ of the staff working from home. We have seen no issues in the communications with the plant and will continue this format until we feel the safety of our employees is not at risk by bringing everyone back together under one roof. Our true focus continues to be maintaining the integrity of the operations, while assuring the safety and well-being of our employees and their families!
Please take care, stay safe and stay healthy!
April 27:
Teadit North America remains healthy and safe. Our employees, those working at the plant and those from home, are steadfast in following the recommendations of the CDC and now the local government mandate of “Full-Time Mask Utilization”. We understand the sensitivity of the mask mandate and find it to be a critical point in our defense as the city, state and country try to “open up” again. To date, we have seen no disruption in our capabilities or capacity. We appreciate all of your well wishes and concerns and want to make sure you know those sentiments are echoed by our staff to you, your families and to your teams across North America and beyond. Please take care, stay safe and stay healthy!April 20:
The complete staff of Teadit North America is healthy and safe. The last employee on quarantine was tested and the results were negative and they have returned to work.
As the plan to “Open Up America” comes further to light, Teadit North America will continue to be cautious with our plant environment and maintain the safety precautions that have protected us to this point. As we have stayed open through this, our procedures do not need to change and will not until we are confident that having everyone in the same proximity is safe for them. Based on the responses to our surveys and calls regarding our service levels, our ability to handle the workload has been acceptable and transparent and I'd like to thank you all for your feedback. Our goal is for you to see the same level of response, service and delivery throughout this pandemic as you saw previous to it.We are driven to support our customers and assist you in maintaining your customer service levels as well as our own. We will honor your wishes as they pertain to site visits but maintain communications via phones, emails and texts. As you need us present, we will be there.
Please take care, stay safe and stay healthy!
April 13:
All Operations for Teadit North America remain at normal capacity with no operational effects from the virus. At this point, we have one employee on quarantine waiting for results from a test, but there was no direct interactions between him and others in the plant. The body temperature scans are permanent at the entrances, and we are continuing our requirements for masks to be used in the plant, regardless of it being an employee or a visitor. All people entering must sanitize their hands upon entrance and additional sanitizer spray bottles are next to work stations. We remain ever vigilant to new opportunities to further protect our employees and their families.
We will continue our efforts in communicating any changes that may occur due to Covid 19. We want to thank you for your continued support and business and for the kind wishes and comments that have been extended to our Teadit family. Please take care, stay safe and stay healthy!
April 6:
The report for the Teadit North America Operation and the people supporting the company continues to echo the previous updates in as much as:
- The Plant is operating – All product lines are unaffected and we have experienced no roadblocks in shipping or receiving.
- Order Entry and Office operations are working as transparent as possible with all Inside Sales, and 90% of all other office personnel, working from home.
As we move further into this extraordinary period in history, we are continuing to find more ways to secure our team from the infiltration of this virus, making every possible effort to protect them, their families and our abilities to supply you product. Along with the continued 100% body temp scans that have been in place for the last 4 weeks, We have 100% utilization of masks by all personnel in the plant. Extreme measures for cleaning and hygiene are critical with our distribution of Spray Hand Sanitizers to work stations and continuous Janitorial services in place during working hours. We are not allowing visitors to the plant. All truck drivers and delivery people needing access to our facility and our people are required to submit to the Body Temp Scans, wear masks and either wear gloves or apply spray hand sanitizing disinfectant prior to taking a step into the plant. We have seen a very strong acceptance and appreciation of our safety measures put in place and I want to thank all of those working with our team for adhering to these safety measures. We want our people to be safe and you to be confident that Teadit is doing everything we can to protect your access to essential products needed.
With all of these procedures quickly becoming the “New Normal” and the potential that this pandemic may threaten us for a much longer period of time, we all must challenge ourselves to strategize as to how this becomes viable long term. We must work to further distance or isolate departments and individuals within those departments.Teadit will do its part, and has, with isolated entrances, scheduled employee arrivals, separated activity schedules in the movement of products from Warehouse to Production, and Isolated/protected shifts. We are preparing the operation to make this “New Normal” our standard. Our phone answering will continue with 24 hour coverage as in the past with only a slight adjustment having our receptionist directly responding from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central time and the automated service taking on the remainder of the coverage.
As always, we will continue to update you as the situation surrounding COVID-19 develops further. We wish you only the best of Health and Safety as we all do our part to “Flatten The Curve”!!
March 30:
As we enter the another week under these extraordinary circumstances and here in Pasadena, the second week under "shelter at home" we are very happy to report that Teadit remains open with full capacity from a Production, Sales and Engineering perspective as we are "Essential Critical Infrastructure." “We cannot shut down and we will not shut down” has become our rally cry. All of our families here have been able to remain healthy and that continues to be our number one goal! The body temp scans, additional cleaning and hygiene actions that we have implemented along with a strict adherence to the social distancing” goal of the CDC, have allowed us to keep the facility “virus free” thus far. The one employee we had on the “self-imposed” quarantine has rejoined the Production Team, so we are running full strength. All positions in Inside Sales, Engineering and Admin have been successfully transitioned to remote positions with no disruptions. Our IT team has proven to be invaluable in keeping the communications and operating systems running as needed. Shipping and Receiving are operating as usual with only the minor inconveniences of having to have the truck drivers submit to the Temp Scans prior to being allowed access inside our building. We have seen no slow down or delays in incoming shipments of stock goods and raw materials from our other sites around the world so, at this point, we are operating normally with full capacity for all product lines. Our incredibly proud and dedicated team is in place and continues to take care of our customers in light of the complicating issues that this virus and the “Stay Home – Work Safe” order brings to bear. We will continue to update you as the situation surrounding COVID-19 develops. We wish you only the best of health and safety as we all do our part to “Flatten The Curve”!March 24, 2020:
As assumed in our previous update, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo has issued a “Stay Home – Work Safe” order for all of Harris County effective midnight tonight running through April 3rd. Harris County is where our Teadit North America facility resides. We want to remind our customers and business partners that Teadit North America has been established as an essential business. This means that with a “Stay Home – Work Safe” order, our operation will continue to process orders as normal with customer service fully functional – some internal and some from remote locations. Please note that when you call into our office you may be met with an automated system, this is not a voicemail but a directory from which you can choose a staff member and be connected. Our system has been tested and we are capable of supporting all usual business activities. We are dedicated to doing our part by fulfilling customer requests and orders during this unprecedented time. While remaining open to serve our customers, we will continue to honor the requests of our government officials and place the wellbeing of our co-workers and neighbors at the top of our list of priorities. Therefore, in addition to deploying remote operations, we have adopted all health and safety guidelines and best practices as defined by the CDC, local, state, and federal authorities, including social distancing, rigorous cleaning and disinfecting, daily temperature monitoring of all employees and delivery drivers, and ongoing communications regarding COVID-19 related updates. We are grateful for the dedicated employees at Teadit who have altered their schedules to ensure that the critical sealing needs of our nation’s manufacturing facilities are taken care of and are doing so in a way that helps prevent the spread of this virus. On behalf of your team at Teadit North America, we wish you good health and safety as we overcome this challenge together.March 23, 2020:
With mandates in different states for people to “Shelter in Home” or “Shelter in Place” it was very clear that we needed to understand, not just what the mandate was but also, what was defined as an “Essential Critical Infrastructure” dictating the need to remain open for this type of business.
The link below from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) provides definitions from a Federal level that confirm Teadit, along with most of our Distribution and OEM Partners, to meet this definition of “Essential Critical Infrastructure” which will allow us to remain open if a “Shelter in Home/Place” mandate was put forth for our area.
https://www.cisa.gov/publication/guidance-essential-critical-infrastructure-workforce
Our first concern is to protect our employees and their families, then to acknowledge that our products and services that we provide are critical to many industries that are not able to shut down at all during these trying times. With this recognition, Teadit is deeply committed to supporting our End User, OEM and Distribution Partners in maintaining safe, efficient, and environmentally effective operations.
As stated, should the order come down to “Shelter at Home/Place”, Teadit North America will maintain our ability to provide all the products that you have grown accustomed to receiving from us. We will maintain our ability to provide all the technical support that you have grown accustomed to receiving from us. We will maintain our ability to accept, manufacture and ship emergency orders as needed by you. Our Team will stand ready to continue to provide what is needed and deliver when it is needed.
Our contact program will remain the same with Inside Sales and Engineering handling all the inbound calls remote to the plant while our Operations and Production Teams operate within the plant under very closely monitored settings, providing them a safe and secure workplace. While continuing to monitor the body temperature of all people that enter the plant, we have increased the resources needed to provide a clean environment with additional cleaning agents and disinfectants available at workstations, as well as additional janitorial support throughout the day. Social Distancing continues to be a focus and is followed by all Teams. We were fortunate to put many of these safeguards in place prior to much of the buildup and have the operations running relatively smoothly despite the additional steps needed in the day to day activities.
We will continue to monitor the situation as it revolves around Covid-19 and hope to see the “Flattening of the Curve” that we are all desperately looking for. As this is a very fluid situation, we will report back any changes to our programs that are needed. If questions remain, please feel free to contact us via email at customercare@teadit.com.
We thank you for patience, you concern and your business. We wish the best for all of you out there and pray that you stay safe and healthy!!!
MARCH 16, 2020:
Teadit North America will be providing you weekly updates on any impact that the Covid-19 Virus or any related City Mandates dictating activity restrictions are having regarding our ability to fulfill order commitments. Since implementing the new Protocols for all employees at our site in Houston, we have successfully installed the “Work From Home” initiative for ½ staff in all office responsibilities including Engineering, Inside Sales, Accounting, Purchasing and Scheduling. We are very happy to report that our Production Team is still completely intact and in full swing with business as usual. The Operations Management Team is also at full staff ensuring that we are able to fill and ship out all orders as promised. Quick Statistical Update: Since the new Access Protocol to our site was put in place on Wednesday, March 11th, to date, no one has been turned away with a fever.- Number of employees out sick – 0
- Production Capacity – 100%
- One person in self-quarantine because of trip taken outside of the U.S. – Their quarantine will end Friday with no signs of issues to this point.
MARCH 11, 2020:
Teadit North America puts the health and safety of their employees as a number one priority, and while the precautionary measures laid out below may seem extreme to others in the industry, for President Chris Day he would, “rather be proactive than reactive.”
Starting Thursday, March 12th, the plan is as follows: Teadit will institute a "Work from Home Policy" for 1/2 of the staff - Inside Sales, Purchasing, Scheduling, Engineering, and Admin. This will be done in 2 week rotations.
For All employees working at the Teadit North America Site or anyone visiting the site for any reason – For admittance into the Teadit Building – There will be a Medical Assistant (M.A.) stationed at the one central entrance into the building and they will be taking temperatures of all people entering the plant. If anyone registers a temperature above 99.6, they will not be allowed into the building. They will be required to go to a local clinic for review and must be given a “Work Release” from the Doctor before they will be allowed back in. If a “Non-Employee” registers a Temperature >99.6, they will be asked to leave immediately, not given access to the plant or to our employees.
For employees registering a Temperature >99.6 and asked to leave, they will be given a “Free” or Additional Sick Day. This will not cost our employees in any way. Their time away will be fully compensated. If they are later diagnosed with the Coronavirus, they will immediately be put on special sick leave that is in addition to what they already have. We will grant any employee diagnosed with Coronavirus enough sick leave to recover fully. This will not count against their standard sick time or vacation time, but it has to include a Formal/written notification from their doctor. In summary, Teadit will be granting an additional Sick Day to anyone who has a fever and additional time to those who are diagnosed with the Coronavirus. We want to provide our employees incentives for recovering completely and not push them to come back prematurely, which would endanger themselves and our other employees.
Teadit North America will be monitoring this developing situation closely and adjusting the previously stated precautions as needed based upon the advice of federal agencies, health organizations, and other experts.