Reeb Bethlehem PA Facility Update
Monday, March 23, 2020
Dear Customers,
In Pennsylvania the Governor strayed from the definition of Essential versus non-Essential and moved to Life Sustaining versus non-Life Sustaining. This is different from other States like New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. Since we sell to companies in Pennsylvania that are Life Sustaining (Building and Material Dealers), it is important to be able to keep the supply of material flowing. The appropriate legal documents are submitted. As a result, we are changing our status from “partially open” to “open”.
Reeb is very concerned about the seriousness of the coronavirus and we are very concerned about our employees. We are putting processes in place to further mitigate spread of any contagion. We respect our employees’ personal concerns about their own safety and will not force anyone to come to work. The steps necessary to reduce chances of the spread of the virus will have some impact on our production. For example, in a production environment, it is difficult sometimes to maintain a 6 foot distance between people. Because of this, we expect some changes in throughput as we refine processes.
In following the governor’s edict, with some clarifications that were released this weekend, we furloughed our PA operations employees that have to work in the Bethlehem facility. We had to do this until we could confirm our ability to fully open. We will be contacting employees this morning (3/23) to let them know we are restoring production and ask them to come back to work. Therefore, we will not have production running for a day or so but will get things back to a semblance of normal as soon as possible.
Please note that due to a backlog of orders, we will be prioritizing the heaviest areas of demand. We will focus on standard interior door production and standard exterior door production as we get our facility back up to full production. We will fulfill all orders, but lead times may vary based on complexity of production. Our TSM’s will help define this for you.
Our office building will remain closed with many of our office people working remotely. To be clear, we are accepting orders. We are transferring products between locations. 2g is available 24 hours a day for placing orders, for quoting, and for product knowledge. Our 2g team is working on some enhancements in 2g to help you give access of your iteration of 2g to your customers and help them in their product needs and selections without some of the confusion that can happen over the phone. When this enhancement is functional, we will offer training on how to use.
We also suggest using our learning center for any “down time” that might occur to improve product knowledge and overall education. Our marketing and product teams have done an excellent job in creating content.
We ask for patience as we navigate this very dynamic and fluid environment. Our TSM’s are working from their home offices for the time being. They will be contacting you to keep you current with our operations. They will also be scheduling training for a variety of topics. We all share in the essential business that improves people’s lives and is a critical part of our economy – the building industry.
Reeb Millwork Corporation