It’s now official: After weeks of discussions and negotiations, last Monday the government issued the new Decree Law establishing which enterprises must close until April 3 (extendible date) and which should remain open.
As for MICROingranaggi, we will stay open, although at a reduced level to guarantee the necessary safety to our operators. This is because
our company is part of a supply chain including some essential businesses who have requested us to continue working
(sending the appropriate formal notice to the Prefecture), so as to complete the delivery of urgent materials. At which point – when the emergency has been abated – we will shutdown too, like our fellow enterprises.
The measure launched by the government is temporary and we hope once again that this further lockdown will generate the desired results.
That said, I would nevertheless like to share some considerations on aspects that are of interest to so many individuals:
“everything has to go into lockdown to safeguard health”.
Let’s say that this is not really the case. What I mean is this, a measure such as that launched last Monday for a limited time only, is one thing. A prolonged extension of this measure may raise a problem.
But not only an economic problem for individual enterprises, workers and the country as a whole.
A problem linked to the supply chain, the operational aspects of which are perhaps not clear to everyone. Not at least, to those who minimize the issue declaring that “everything has to go into lockdown to safeguard health”.
Let’s look at the food chain for instance. Fruit, vegetables, pasta, bread, water, flour, milk, eggs and so forth are considered basic necessities and as such must be available in the shops and supermarkets. But, to do so, they must be packaged in suitable packaging (boxes, bottles…) made of paper, glass, plastic; so now packaging and raw material supply enterprises are to be considered as essential parts of these primary activities and therefore must remain open. Just as the transport enterprises must not shutdown, as they have to deliver the goods to the supermarkets.
Technically speaking this concept is flawless and clear to all (or nearly all). And it may also be extended to the health sector, to the energy sector and so on.
But where does that leave mechanical enterprises such as MICROingranaggi?
It is more difficult to associate a business such as ours to something essential, because apparently gears and gearboxes in themselves are clearly not.
Exactly, apparently.
Because if it is perfectly possible for a certain period of time to go without buying a car, a robot, the motorization of a gate, a household appliance, a valve and so forth, it is a hugely different matter for other industrial sectors.
There are, in fact, many sectors adopting the application of solutions designed by companies like MICROingranaggi, that also involve food grade machinery for the packaging and bottling activities we talked about before. And the same applies to the medical sector.
We have customers who, for example, manufacture infusion pumps for the care of patients with thalassaemia, Parkinsons Disease and primitive and secondary immunodeficiencies such as tumours; or medical equipment for X-rays, ultrasound, CT scans, magnetic resonances, scintigraphy and even machinery for medical analysis.
And, unfortunately, in addition to Covid-19, every day people die of other pathologies. People, however, who in many cases can be cured.
And we must not forget that.
Then there is the aeronautical industry, another area in which MICROingranaggi and other companies like ours operate in. The civil aircraft division, for example, deals with the construction of the helicopters also used by emergency services and by the civil protection.
So
when we talk about supply chains, we must remember that it is a very complex subject. Companies are almost always connected to each other, and when we say “health is the only important thing and so we have to go into complete lockdown”, we should first reflect on the true meaning of this sentence very carefully.
I think I should wrap up this post by thanking all the workers, technicians, warehouse staff, hauliers working for all those companies which, even at such difficult times, continue to operate to ensure the ongoing operation of the country and of supplies. Without them, not only supermarkets, but also the entire health system which we all need would come to a halt.
