Keeping the wheels turning in the time of corona - Update (Asia)
11/2/2020
In some parts of the world the COVID-19 situation has calmed down a bit but in other areas, the situation has worsened. Sunfab Hydraulics AB has taken measures to protect our employees, our customers and suppliers while we do our best to meet our customers' needs and deliveries. We have asked our employees how the pandemic crisis is affecting their daily work in these dire times. Here is an update from Sunfabs subsidiaries. Fredrik Johansson, you are our Sales Manager at Sunfab Malaysia in Penang.
How is your local market doing under the current situation with restrictions based on the impact of the pandemic with limited opportunities to meet your customers?
“Many of the Asian markets more or less came to a total stand-still during the spring and early summer due to the nation-wide lock downs. However, we do see an increase in order intake the past three months or so. Hopefully this increase will continue despite the fact that Covid-19 cases right now are raising sharply in many countries.”
What new ways of working have you made during this period to keep contacts and proactively follow-up service to customers and support customers business since travels and visits went restricted?
“Increased number of phone calls, WhatsApp and contact via email. I think we have managed to give good support during this period, but of course it is essential start up regular customer/distributor visits on-site as soon as it is possible again. Entering new markets and boost sales together with newly started up distributors is hard to do without visiting on a regular basis. I believe it is essential to work closely together with newly appointed distributors, perform joint end user visits etc to increase the footprint on a market.”
What is the common view from our customers on their business due to the pandemic crisis and do they feel that Sunfab is supporting them?
“I think and hope that they find us very supportive. I have so far only heard positive feedback.”
The fact that the production and office in Sweden have been up and running during this whole crisis, any feedback from market?
“I have got positive feedback that we have been open this whole period. Not only that, but we also have managed to keep good lead times for our products in general.”
Do you have any success story or a happy story from your customer engagements during this period that you have got positive feedback on from customer?
“I think the main “success story” is that we have not lost business to competitors during the crisis. We see that our old customers are coming back to us now when they more and more are able to open up their operation again.”
Is your market recovering and what is going to happen in near future, your feeling of the development?
“Like I mentioned above the order intake overall has increased the past months. Some markets are still lagging behind due to political and economic reasons.”
Anything else you would like to say?
“I cannot wait to pack my suitcase and “hit the road” again. It will be great to visit our distributors and their end customers as soon as it is possible. We have lots of joint business planning to do in order to make 2021 a successful year!”