PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2020

TOP TALK PETplanet Insider Vol. 21 No. 06/20 www.petpla.net 10 Interview with Vezio Bernardi, General Manager Sacmi Closures Containers PET QPC, on how to navigate a company through the Covid-19 crisis “When the emergency is over, we’ll all have to learn to live and work differently” by Gabriele Kosmehl The north is the region of Italy where the country’s engineering companies are located, and the north of Italy is also the fi rst region in Europe where the coronavirus has struck fully. We would like to thank Vezio Bernardi for giving us a picture of the mood at the middle of May about Sacmi’s handling of the crisis situation, market developments and an outlook to the time after the crisis. PETplanet: First of all, where are you talking to us from right now? From your of fi ce desk or your home of fi ce? Bernardi: At the moment I’m work- ing from home and just going into the of fi ce to deal with essential paperwork. Many national governments, including Italy’s, have imposed severe social dis- tancing measures. These have, during this fi rst phase, played an essential part in stemming the spread of a worldwide virus that is having inevitable repercus- sions on the way we live and work. Nonetheless, we’ve shown - by combining the advantages of IT with personal commitment - that it’s pos- sible to carry on working at the high- est level, keep in touch with custom- ers and safeguard the ef fi ciency and professionalism of our services as we await the time when we can get back to nurturing relationships directly with all our partners”. PETplanet: Northern Italy, where the headquarters of your company is located, was the fi rst region after China that had to fi ght the coronavi- rus, and is still doing so. When did you realise that the virus could have a major impact and what measures did you take in response? Bernardi: At this stage, Sacmi’s motto was ‘Let’s move forward. Together’. Let’s take, for a moment, a closer look at what that means. True, Northern Italy, especially Lombardy, was where the virus hit hardest, with many people falling victim to it, espe- cially among the most vulnerable. For- tunately, Italy is a developed nation with the ability to come together and deal with what is an epochal crisis, one that has, in fact, affected the country’s different regions in different ways. In this regard, I wish to point out that in Imola, a town of 70,000 inhabit- ants that’s home to Sacmi’s parent company, the situation has always been under the full control of the health authorities, with limited conta- gion and even more limited fatalities. Nonetheless, right from the earliest stages the Sacmi Group’s policy was one of scrupulous compliance with all the instructions issued by the health authorities, the government guide- lines and, of course, common sense. Sacmi is already geared up for the re- opening, also because the government immediately categorised the work done by Closures-Beverage as part of the ‘essential’ supply chains, so production was unaffected by stoppages”. PETplanet: What does this “gearing up” look like, what protec- tive measures are currently still being implemented at your sites? Bernardi: As I said, our supply chain has not undergone any interrup- tion. But the most important thing is that Sacmi as a whole - which works in various industries - immediately began to seek a way forward that would, fi rst and foremost, protect our staff, suppliers, customers and part- ners’ health while allowing production and assistance services to continue. This is why it was essential for some workers to start working from home. At the same time, for personnel who still needed to come in to the com- pany, we adopted every possible precaution, from PPE to sanitisation of premises, all under the daily control of a task force, speci fi cally put together to cope with the emergency. PETplanet: Do you think that concepts like working from home will be fi rmly established on a larger scale at Sacmi even after the coronavirus crisis? Bernardi: I think this situation has accelerated what was already an ongoing process, often slowed more by bias and consolidated habit than