Retooling in the time of COVID-19
Agility is an important resilience indicator for businesses of all kinds.
How Atlantic Canadian businesses adapt to emergencies like COVID-19 will foreshadow how ably we’ll rise to meet future challenges.
One of the great recent examples of Atlantic Canadian agility is our distilleries. We are very pleased to see distilleries around Atlantic Canada move quickly to reshape their product offerings to adapt to a decline in sales due to the closure of bars and restaurants, and to address shortages of hand sanitizer in their communities. It’s the perfect win-win.
Irving Oil has recently announced that it will be retooling its blending and packaging facility in Saint John, NB to add hand sanitizer to the production line. While Stanfield's factory in Truro, NS is pivoting from producing underwear to manufacturing medical gowns to shore up Canadian supply. These are just some of the many companies across the country that are stepping up to help our health care system in the fight against COVID-19.
A pivot like this doesn’t happen overnight. For instance, selling or distributing an alcohol-based product requires permits, and many companies have sought out the approved recipe and manufacturing guidelines offered by the World Health Organization.
A number of funding opportunities have been announced recently, to support companies in their retooling efforts.
For example, Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen), the organization managing Canada’s Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster on behalf of the Government of Canada, will invest $50 million to support companies as they prepare to produce critically needed technologies, equipment, and medical products to aid in the fight against COVID-19. These funds will go towards the rapid production of items that are in short supply for health-care workers – test kits, gloves, gowns, masks, ventilators and sterilization equipment. The funding will be available for companies across Canada. For links to apply for this support and for more information, read the full press release from NGen here.
The National Research Council of Canada has also responded to calls for action by introducing three new programs to encourage businesses to manufacture products that are needed in the health care industry; announcing funding for research into the detection, diagnosis and vaccine development; and then further funding to enable the production of the vaccine. Find the details of these programs on the NRC’s website.
Stay safe and healthy and please follow the mandated guidelines in your province. These are tough times, but they will not last forever. #flattenthecurve
Sheri Somerville, CEO - Atlantic Chamber of Commerce