Posted on 13th March 2020

Dear Valued Customer,

Our staff at Bunzl Cleaning & Hygiene Supplies have a combined service of several thousand years, however, nobody can remember such a surge in demand to the extent of what we are currently experiencing. We can, therefore, say with some confidence that we are in a completely unprecedented period and ask for your support and understanding at this exceptional time.

The purpose of this short note is to further explain the current situation and outline some of the hard work that is being undertaken by our teams in very challenging circumstances.

Products

We are experiencing extraordinary level of orders, 3/4x our usual levels, even after some of the mitigating actions we have outlined below.

Our teams are working with our manufacturer partners to source and secure future stock. In most instances, we are our manufacturer partners biggest customers, and they are rightly prioritising deliveries to us as well as the NHS. However, we are experiencing some shortages in Coronavirus related stocks (hand gels, sanitisers etc.), due to the demand for which is more than 50x usual levels.

We have made several concrete actions to ensure we maintain supply for these Coronavirus related products:

• In many instances, our manufacturer partners have been instructed by the government to limit sales of Coronavirus related products to the NHS and first-line responders (police, ambulance and the fire service). If you are a customer which fits this profile, we will already be working to provide these products to you.
• As and when further product becomes available (and we have written assurances that we are second in the priority list after the NHS) we will start releasing this to non-NHS and front-line responders.
• We are having daily calls with our key manufacturer partners to discuss manufacturing capacity, demand and delivery timescales. This is, however, an incredibly fluid process, with the availability of Coronavirus related product stocks changing by the minute.
• We are sourcing alternative Coronavirus related products using our extensive global network of approved suppliers. We are sourcing these from within and outside of the UK, however, most of these products have longer lead times than usual (6-8 weeks is not uncommon).
• We have removed all Coronavirus related products from our public websites so they cannot be purchased by non-existing customers.
• We are not supplying non-existing customers with any Coronavirus related products.

We currently have no current manufacturer supply issues on non-coronavirus related products, however, to maintain product availability to all customers, we may need to reduce quantities in instances of obvious bulk buying, in particular where orders are over double the regular ordering run rates. We hope you understand that this measure is necessary for the continued stability of the supply chain.

Operations

We have implemented several measures of our well tested and comprehensive Business Continuity Plan to deal with the surge in orders that we are currently experiencing. We have outlined these below, and enclosed is a copy of our Coronavirus specific Business Continuity Plan as Appendix 1 to this document.

In addition to our extensive own fleet, we will be:

• Asking all staff to work additional hours over the next two weeks including weekends.
• Ensuring driver routing is to the maximum available hours.
• Recruiting temporary additional drivers and vehicles.
• Organising pallet carriers for large suitable orders so increasing capacity over and above our vehicle fleet.
• Moving all small suitable orders and customers onto a parcel delivery service so increasing capacity over and above our vehicle fleet.
• Recruiting temporary staff for picking and packing parcel deliveries.
• Asking which customers can take a night or weekend delivery (if this is of interest please talk to your account manager).

Thank you again for your continued business, your understanding and your support through this challenging period. There may be some delays in the current unprecedented period, however, all our staff are working tirelessly and in many cases around the clock to serve all customers as quickly as possible.

Yours Sincerely,



David Cousins
Managing Director
 

In light of the current circumstances around the recent CoronaVirus outbreak we have reviewed our Business Continuity plan and have concluded the following:

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Contingency / Continuity Plan:

The primary objectives of this policy are to:
A. Minimise the risk of Bunzl Cleaning & Hygiene Supplies (BCHS) staff contracting the virus
B. Support our customer’s, should there be an outbreak within their company
C. Maintain an acceptable level of customer service
D. Return to normal service as quickly as possible

Bunzl Cleaning & Hygiene Supplies Staff:

• An outbreak barrier pack consisting of alcohol wipes, anti-viral surface cleaner and hand sanitiser are being stored at all distribution points and will be distributed to BCHS staff in all areas of the business
• All drivers will be issued with relevant PPE such as masks, sanitisers, disposable gloves etc. to minimise their risk of contracting the infection when making deliveries
• Training provided to all employees on the correct PPE that is required and the extra steps to take such as increased hand washing, information leaflets and hygiene posters have been issued
• To minimise the risk of contracting the virus, we have reviewed what functions with our business need remote access. We have identified key functions that can work from home utilising the new implementation of the Microsoft teams software and existing virtual networks
• Restrictions have been placed on visits, or direct meetings, with customers or suppliers where these are thought to carry a high risk of infection
• Hygiene protocols have been implemented; this includes changes in cleaning regimes at all locations, extra time to be taken on touchpoints such as handles, doors, desks, counters, handrails, telephones, tables and chairs, taps, switches, sides/work surfaces, and the promotion of catch it, bin it, kill it principles
• Staff are encouraged to self-isolate if they feel they may have any symptoms, new sick pay regulations have been issued to all employees in light of this outbreak • In the event of a significant percentage of warehouse distribution employed staff being infected at the same time, contingencies have been prepared over the past weeks to enable the branch warehousing function to operate effectively whilst utilising large numbers of limited knowledge agency staff • Due to our unique branch structure, operating on a single ERP system, if a percentage of IT staff employed were to be infected at the same time, we can rely on our sister companies who share this ERP system, including shared IT resource across Bunzl UK Ltd

Communication and continuity of supply to our Customers:

• Contact will be made with all major customers explaining the current situation and initial measures being taken by BCHS advising key supplies are prioritised to the NHS
• Customers will be advised that limited face-to-face meetings may take place during this outbreak
• Customers will be asked to inform BCHS where any delivery site is deemed to be of high risk and alternative delivery points may be requested to minimise the risk to both BCHS and customer staff
• Should any our 19 BCHS branch locations be unable to maintain a satisfactory delivery service because of high numbers of infected staff, the other 18 BCHS branches or a third-party alternative (pallet carriers and courier companies), or both, will be put into operation to ensure there is no reduction in our commitment to the customers
• Internally we have 2 units of CLOROX T360 (proven to kill the COVID-19 virus), are on standby to deep clean any branch locations that may become infected. Deep cleaning utilising this machine can be completed in less than 1 hour
• In addition to our 19 locations, we have a substantial sized National Distribution Centre whereby we can dispatch directly to customer sites
• Should any BCHS site be unable to operate its administration because of high numbers of infected staff our IT systems will allow this to be done remotely at home or at another site that has not been affected
• Our communications systems will reroute calls to areas not affected so that there is no delay in customers’ orders reaching BCHS
• We have removed sanitiser lines off our website so they cannot be taken by non-existing customers
• Further updates will be issued as and when required including details of escalation or reduction of any current measures in place

Supplier communications

• Contact has been made all major UK and international suppliers/manufacturers to secure priority status to ensure a continuation of stock
• Back up suppliers/manufacturers for key supplies have been put in place to avoid out of stocks and extensive lead times
• Stocks and orders placed with our manufacturers are being monitored centrally by our purchasing team, supported by our stock controllers (locally based) to ensure we can provide a constant delivery service to all our customers
• Suppliers will be advised that limited face-to-face meetings will take place during the outbreak
• BCHS is sourcing alternative products to those currently available and these will be held at the National Distribution Centre allow access to all BCHS sites
• Further updates will be issued as and when required including details of when normal service levels have been resumed

Elements of our Business Continuity Plan of particular relevance to Coronavirus

• Through our national branch network, we have the capability to transfer stock internally across our network on a next-day basis if required
• Key contingency agreements in place with third-party logistics solutions for order fulfilment if required
• Our uniformed branch network is linked through one ERP system giving us operational capacity to execute all customer deliveries
• Outsourced servers to the Cloud for protection from all eventualities. The servers are hosted in a Primary and Backup server configuration housed in separate geographic locations. The Primary and Secondary servers are live linked and continuously backup between each other. Therefore, in the unlikely scenario of one Primary server failing the Secondary server automatically takes over, using live real-time data
• BCHS employs over 430 members of full-time and part-time staff and maintains long-standing relationships with local temporary staff agencies in order to fill any short term vacancies
• BCHS Buddy system allows key roles to be fulfilled at all times and for key functions to continue
• BCHS is part of the wider group Bunzl UK & Ireland, allowing the ability to tap into the infrastructure wider resources if required
 

 

Posted in Market news, Supplier news