The sudden outbreak of the epidemic at the turn of the year has plunged many enterprises into operational difficulties, with the service industry, represented by catering, bearing the brunt. In recent days, Jia Guolong, a second-term student at Hupan, sparked widespread discussion and resonance with his remarks that "Xibei has over 20,000 employees idle, and even with loans to pay wages, it can only last three months."

Among Hupan's students, many come from traditional manufacturing, and their enterprises are typical labor-intensive businesses. However, with the severe epidemic prevention and control situation, the Spring Festival holiday has been extended, workers cannot return as scheduled, and enterprises face numerous difficulties in resuming work.

What impact does the epidemic have on them? How are they responding? With these questions, we spoke with Wang Peng, a fourth-term student at Hupan. His company, Synear Foods, is a food manufacturing enterprise established 23 years ago, with factories in multiple locations across the country and nearly 20,000 employees. It experienced the SARS outbreak in 2003.

We hope that through his account, we can offer a glimpse into the real situation a food manufacturing enterprise is facing under the epidemic. Wang Peng and Synear Foods may not represent the entire traditional manufacturing industry, but his views and practices may provide a different perspective.

The following is a transcript of his account:

On January 23, when I left the country, the domestic epidemic was already severe—Wuhan was under lockdown, and confirmed cases were rising rapidly—but it wasn't as panic-inducing as it is now.

However, I had a strong premonition that the situation would be grim. On the 25th, I convened a conference call with senior management and decided to immediately initiate daily temperature monitoring for all employees.

As a food manufacturing enterprise established 23 years ago, Synear has experienced similar events before, especially the SARS outbreak in 2003. At that time, we had no experience in dealing with epidemics, were very passive, and suffered many losses.

It was that experience that kept us calm when facing the COVID-19 pneumonia epidemic; many actions came to mind naturally. In fact, before I requested temperature monitoring for all employees, the quality assurance team had already started this work internally on January 23—that's the sensitivity honed during the SARS period.

-01- Three 'Essential Tasks' Before Resuming Work

Based on our past experience, when enterprises respond to an epidemic, especially those planning to resume work after the New Year, they need to pay special attention to three key points:

First, act early. Starting January 25, we required all employees to self-check their temperature and report it at fixed times daily.

All employees expected to return to work after the New Year were divided into small groups, each with about 20-30 people, at most 40-50, with the department director as group leader. Each member had to measure their temperature daily and send their location and a photo to the group leader, who would monitor and compile the data.

All personnel entering the factory area must undergo temperature checks.

Because employees are on holiday at home, many enterprises overlook the need for temperature monitoring. In reality, it is very important, especially for resuming work after the New Year. Once work resumes, the government will certainly check employees' health status. If you don't do basic daily monitoring in advance, there won't be enough time after they return, and with the required observation and quarantine periods, it will be nearly impossible to resume work on schedule, affecting normal production.

Therefore, it's essential to do these seemingly basic things in advance, especially for traditional manufacturing enterprises like ours. Because production methods are labor-intensive, this is even more important.

In fact, if temperature monitoring is maintained for a week or 10 days, you can have a fairly accurate grasp of employees' health. During the process, any abnormal temperature should be addressed promptly. In our daily monitoring, besides temperature, we also record details such as whether employees traveled during the New Year and where they went.

Second, care for employees. In my personal view, the core of all response measures when facing an epidemic is to care for people, because people are the biggest variable in an epidemic. If you pay enough attention to people, many things will fall into place.

Synear produces frozen food, and the Spring Festival period is the peak sales season, a good time for business. Although the epidemic is severe, our sales have not stopped. Thousands of promotional staff are in supermarkets and hypermarkets across cities, and some sales personnel are also working.

After the outbreak, I required these employees still working to purchase protective supplies like masks locally, with all expenses reimbursed by the company; for those who couldn't buy masks, the company distributed spare masks from its usual stock, and employees had to check each other to ensure protection; I also asked the procurement department to purchase a batch of masks specifically for employees.

The sole purpose of these actions is to protect employees. Synear alone has 2,000-3,000 promotional staff, and excluding sales, at least 2,000 employees need to return to work after the New Year. If you can't protect employee safety, there's no point talking about responding to the epidemic, let alone resuming work or production.

Third, maintain close contact with the government. Because we have branch factories in several places across the country and employees are scattered, after the outbreak, I repeatedly required supervisors of local offices and branches to pay close attention to local government notices on epidemic prevention and control, and to government requirements for factory epidemic prevention.

At this time, the company cannot issue unified instructions because conditions vary by location; we must delegate authority to local managers for autonomous decision-making. For example, regarding working hours, local leaders can decide when to start work or work from home based on the epidemic situation and government notices.

Additionally, enterprises should proactively communicate with the government. If you want to resume work, you must obtain government approval and permission; and after resuming, the government will certainly inspect and register employee information. You must proactively ask about and communicate all preparatory work clearly to ensure timely resumption without delays due to various details.

Take us as an example: most employees haven't resumed work yet, but our supply chain has already started early to prepare for production after resumption. Before resuming, we had already communicated with local government departments, prepared everything they required, and cooperated fully.

Resuming work is a hot topic for many manufacturing enterprises now. Due to epidemic prevention, the Spring Festival holiday has been extended everywhere, but enterprises urgently need to restart production to ensure market supply, so they are anxious.

The safest approach is to resume work in batches. For example, sales can start a few days later without much impact, but assembly line workers are different—if they don't work, production stops. Remember, if large-scale resumption isn't possible, prioritize resuming work for essential positions, and stagger other positions by time.

Take Synear as an example: our production is complex, and raw materials need to be prepared in advance, so the warehousing department resumed work first. Currently, our logistics and supply chain departments resumed work on the fourth and fifth days of the New Year, with about 100-200 people already back. According to our original plan, all employees would resume by the end of February, but now it would be good if we can achieve half of that plan.

Temperature monitoring points have been set up at all factory entrances and exits.

Enterprises also need to focus on what happens after resuming work. Before resuming, people may not have a sense of the impact of the epidemic on production and operations, but they will feel it after resuming.

The SARS outbreak in 2003 is still vivid in my memory; we consumed several hundred tons of disinfectant alcohol just for the factory area. It's not about the money spent, but the reduced production efficiency.

-02- Under the Epidemic, Manufacturing's Primary Concern Is Not Life or Death

These days, everyone is discussing the impact of the epidemic on enterprises. For manufacturing enterprises like ours, the epidemic will certainly bring some shocks.

Synear is special because we deal in food, so the epidemic's impact on market sales is not significant. However, some Hupan classmates from the manufacturing industry don't produce FMCG, so their sales will definitely be affected, as many consumer venues are closed except for large supermarkets.

For us, the biggest impact is on the production supply chain, especially logistics. The epidemic has affected a wide area, with various traffic control measures in different places, making cross-province or even cross-city logistics problematic, and drivers are afraid to go out due to fear. To ensure production, enterprises inevitably face higher costs than usual.

Because Spring Festival is the peak season for FMCG, and due to the holiday, we always increase production before the New Year, stock up in advance, and ensure supply lasts until after the New Year, basically storing products until the 15th day of the first lunar month.

After this outbreak, due to strict prevention measures, many people can't go out, and FMCG sales have been rising, with an average increase of 60% on some days. When Wuhan first locked down, it rose even more.

Now sales in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai are still rising, and market supply is already tight, with severe shortages. Our current inventory can only support 3-4 days, and future supply depends on production.

The problem is that the resumption date is being postponed, and only about one-third of the expected employees are arriving on time, so production capacity will be less than one-third of normal. If the epidemic lasts longer and resumption isn't ideal, coupled with supply chain disruptions, product shortages will become severe.

Previously, we didn't have major shortages. If this hadn't happened during Spring Festival, inventory would definitely be tight. In short, if the epidemic lasts longer, resumption isn't ideal, and the supply chain can't keep up, product supply will face major problems.

During the SARS outbreak in 2003, because the epidemic lasted long, raw material procurement was blocked, and finished product logistics were blocked, we were out of stock for two months, which had a significant impact on operations, with revenue at least 30% lower than a normal year.

This is not unique to one enterprise; it's a common phenomenon. Manufacturing processes are very complex, involving all aspects of the supply chain system. If any link has a problem, the entire production is affected.

If the epidemic lasts long, the most direct impact is a decline in consumer demand, especially for entertainment consumption. On one hand, strict prevention measures prevent consumption; on the other hand, residents' income may decline, further affecting their willingness to consume.

China is currently in an economic transition period, and the entire domestic manufacturing industry faces difficult transformation and upgrading. Times were already tough, and the epidemic may make things worse, causing concern among many manufacturing enterprises.

"When the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact." For some special industries, like catering and tourism, the impact of a prolonged epidemic is unimaginable, but most manufacturing enterprises in China have been around for years—decades at most, at least a decade—and have a certain ability to withstand risks. They won't collapse in a few months.

What we need to worry about is not survival, but how to reduce losses and ensure production during the epidemic; we have to endure. Excessive anxiety and panic are useless and don't solve problems. Sometimes, besides hard power like ensuring supply chain and production, boosting morale and confidence—soft power—is also crucial.

I strongly agree with the saying "Confidence is more important than gold," so we avoid empty talk and focus on practical matters: caring for frontline employees' health, leaders taking the lead to go out and explore markets, and making public welfare donations. These are the solid actions manufacturing enterprises like ours should take in this epidemic prevention battle.

Source: Hupan University (ID: hupansanbanfu)