Q&A: Leominster furniture maker has overhauled operations
Photo/Matt Wright
Bruce Platzman, AIS president, CEO and co-founder
Bruce Platzman, president & CEO of Leominster office furniture manufacturer, has told WBJ his company has made a number of adjustments as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, from how the company makes goods to donating time and supplies for the pandemic fight to anticipated changes in the office layouts of the future.
How have your operations changed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic?
We can look at this in a couple of ways.
Our orders. The impact the virus has had on our economy has impacted many businesses, including AIS. With many states essentially closed, so much of the daily commercial business has stopped too. While our regular commercial orders have slowed down, we are seeing more interest and orders from hospitals, local, state, and federal governments, and a variety of organizations preparing to serve first responders and needing furniture quickly.
Our teams. With everyone but the most essential employees now working from home, we’re all working through the new challenges. We’ve got plenty of video meetings scheduled, and we’re leveraging technology more than ever. For the most part it’s working out for us. Back in the factory, we’re doing all things possible to keep our onsite employee as safe as possible. We’ve implemented many practices and policies to help protect the teams, all in accordance with Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and World Health Organization guidelines:
Corporate employee protocols:
- Non-essential travel has been halted.
- Non-essential employees in Leominster and around the country are working from home.
- No face-to-face meetings are being held with groups.
- Use of tele-conferencing technology to service customers and sales requests.
- Social distancing practices are in place.
- Ill employees are required to stay home.
Operations and manufacturing:
- Rigorous and regular cleaning in factory and office is ongoing.
- Temperature checks for onsite personnel entering the facility.
- Hand sanitizer has been placed across our facility and safe hygiene tips have been shared.
- Advanced air ventilation system exchanges fresh air in the factory frequently.
- Onsite employees are offered face masks or face shields to help prevent the spread of the virus.
- AIS will soon be producing divider screens for use in the factory to allow greater isolation
- of workers. These are currently in development.
- National showrooms are all closed, in compliance with local and state requirements.
- Visitors are allowed by appointment into our facility – and only in small groups of 10 or less.
What has the impact been on the office furniture market?
As you might expect, demand has softened as most businesses in many states are not up and running in the normal way right now. Some orders have gone on hold, as we all wait to see how long this lasts.
However, the orders we see today are often needing higher panels, more screens between people. We’re seeing many inquiries for more highly cleanable materials (vinyl, antimicrobial, laminate, etc.). Often we’re up against tight lead times as timing is urgent – and that’s an area AIS has always been very good at.
Our average order size has increased, too. We are seeing more large orders from critical customers.
The AIS team worked swiftly to rapidly develop a series of solutions specifically designed to respond to COVID-19. Many of these products were not part of our offering a month ago and today, we’re getting calls and orders for them as the marketplace gears up to fight the pandemic. We never had personal protective equipment in our offering and it’s there now.
We’ve also started manufacturing and donating high quality facemasks to first responders. We’ve taken our second shift of sewers, who typically are sewing upholstery for seating, and they are now sewing facemasks. We’ve donated masks to hospitals, police and fire departments all over the state and beyond.
What do you believe the impact on the market will be moving forward?
We’re seeing and hearing a lot of projections around what the workplace will look like post COVID-19. No doubt when everyone returns to the office, it won’t be business as usual – at least not for the first few months.
We’re anticipating the workstation design will shift or require modifications. Many workers won’t necessarily want to be working at low-benching stations with co-workers nearby and no barriers between them. We believe higher panels will become popular again – along with more + higher screens to give workers those boundaries and barriers that will be important. Social distancing will likely playout in the workplace, and we’ll be there to help with this.
Interest in materials repelling moisture and antimicrobials is growing and demand will likely increase quickly.
We also anticipate cleaning practices becoming much more rigorous and frequent in the workplace. The materials throughout an office will be evaluated to ensure they can withstand repeated disinfecting without breaking down.
Of course, once we have good treatments or a vaccine in place, that may change things quickly. Some of the changes may stay with us, some may linger for a while and go away, and others may go away quickly. Our goal is to be there for our customers, listening to their needs and working to best support them.
Do you think office layouts will change? Any new or emerging furniture?
Yes. Designers will be looking at the floorplate with an eye on social workplace distancing, and we believe this will impact many aspects of the work environment:
- Density of workers will be explored to ensure this is balanced to prevent clustering too closely. Individual office space may increase slightly.
- User orientation (which way workers face ... avoiding working face-to-face with
- colleagues moving forward)
- And again, higher panels, more screens + enhanced materials
Are you considered an essential manufacturer during the coronavirus shutdown?
Yes, we are. Gov. Charlie Baker’s office has designated AIS an essential employer. As we are manufacturing and shipping office furniture to hospitals, medical suppliers, biotech firms, local, state, and federal agencies, IT firms and other critical providers working to fight this virus.
We have projects for local and regional customers such as:
- Brigham and Women’s Hospital
- Beth Israel Pharmacy
- Cardinal Cushing Centers
- Reliant Medical Office Group
- Thermo Fisher Scientific
- AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals
- Organogenesis
- Mass General Hospital
- South Shore Hospital
Have you changed your production at all to help make essential coronavirus materials?
Yes, the new office layout offering is now in production.
And as mentioned above, facemasks sewing is now part of our production process as we donate these to frontline workers.
How difficult was the switch?
It’s all manufacturing, and AIS has one of the best leadership teams around. Our operations, purchasing, and engineering teams worked collaboratively and urgently to respond to the crisis and create plans. While few things are ever easy, this team knew how to execute efficiently. The biggest challenge for us was likely sourcing. Everyone is trying to get their hands on certain materials right now like lexan and plexiglass, for example.
Also, because certain states have more/less locked down, we’re having to readily monitor our supply chain to ensure materials can be provided. It’s tricky because our valued partners across the country are struggling, too.
Anything else to add?
We’re all in this together, and it’s new territory for everyone – employees, business leaders, families, business owners. AIS is doing our best to keep our team as safe as possible while we proudly work to support the real heroes out there, the doctors, nurses, EMT workers – and all those in the medical field facing the virus every day.
This interview was conducted and edited for length and clarity by WBJ Editor Brad Kane.
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