Titan International, Inc. is announcing its commitment to keeping its U.S. manufacturing facilities operating as normal in order to support the food and agriculture industry, which the federal government has deemed critical to the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The decision to remain in operation comes with great responsibility to protect the company’s employees. In addition to practicing social distancing and preventative measures to reduce the spread of germs within its facilities, the company remains dedicated to upholding its own internal safety and cleanliness protocols. Titan is taking additional precautions as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO) and local governments.

On March 19, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued guidelines on workers who should keep normal schedules because they are in a “critical infrastructure industry” affecting public health and safety, the economy and national security.

That includes “employees engaged in the manufacture and maintenance of equipment and other infrastructure necessary to agricultural production and distribution,” according to the guidance. These as well as other provisions of the guidance and of the recent Executive Order issued by the Governor of the State of Illinois – where Titan is headquartered and maintains a substantial manufacturing presence – support the continued operation of its U.S. manufacturing facilities.

Paul Reitz, Titan President and CEO said:

“Titan is proud of our role in the nation’s food supply chain, especially in challenging times like this with the coronavirus pandemic now hitting most communities across the U.S. The tires and wheels we manufacture are on many types of equipment that farmers use to plant, maintain and harvest crops.”

The Titan facilities maintaining normal operations are in Des Moines, Iowa; Freeport and Quincy, Illinois; Bryan, Ohio; Jefferson, Georgia; and Union City, Tennessee.

Reitz said:

“At this point we are more thankful than ever to be a company that produces American engineered, American manufactured tires and wheels. Currently, we are not experiencing infrastructure or supply chain issues that could impact the fulfillment of customer orders in the United States. We continue to monitor this extremely fluid and unprecedented situation and will keep our customers and dealers informed of any updates or changes.”

“Titan’s leadership team is meeting continuously to appropriately respond to this pandemic as it evolves, and our COVID-19 response team is meeting multiple times a day to monitor the situation and execute plans that will continue to keep our employees safe and help our teams adjust accordingly without impacting production plans,”

Reitz said.

Source: Titan International

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Topcon Positioning Systems is headquartered in Alameda County (Livermore), California, USA and has offices and resellers globally. Topcon is primarily engaged in the business of developing, manufacturing and distributing construction, geopositioning, survey and precision agriculture equipment and solutions. Further, Topcon is an essential supplier to equipment manufacturers in these critical areas of commerce around the world.

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, many state and local governments in the United States have issued orders restricting businesses operations; always subject to exemptions for essential businesses.  In defining essential businesses, the state authorities usually rely on a U.S. federal government list of 16 critical infrastructure sectors whose assets, systems, and networks are considered so vital to the U.S. that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, economic security public health or safety (https://www.cisa.gov/publication/guidance-essential-critical-infrastructure-workforce). These sectors include Critical Manufacturing, Food and Agriculture, Transportation and Energy.

Topcon and its suppliers and customers operate in these critical infrastructure sectors and thus, are entitled to continue operations under most state and local orders. In some cases, OEM customers are advising that, as a member of the critical infrastructure supply chain, Topcon is expected to continue to supply them.

Of course, Topcon operates with a primary goal of the health and safety of its employees, customers and suppliers and in accordance with applicable state and local orders, including social distancing requirements. To this end, we provide on-going guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Center for Disease Control (CDC) to our employees to support their health in these critical times.

Topcon suppliers and customers should review and comply with applicable governmental orders concerning their ability to continue to operate, with the understanding of Topcon’s role as part of the critical infrastructure supply chain.

We are dedicated to supporting our customers at this critical time and with our exemption in place, Topcon is able to have specific teams working to meet your needs to the best of our ability. Please contact Topcon Operations or your Business Development Representative with any questions or special requests you may have.

Our relationships with our customers and partners are important to us. Topcon strives to work closely together with our partners to protect the industries we serve and accelerate the economic recovery needed in light of the current world crisis. Together we can serve as a beacon of cooperation and commitment to successfully weather these unusual times.

Sincerely,

Jamie Williamson
Executive Vice President & Group General Manager

Source: TopCon

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Throughout this event, Vermeer has kept one goal in mind: Keep team members healthy and well while maintaining productivity to meet our customers’ needs. Leaning on information from the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), Vermeer is taking a number of actions out of caution for our team members and the people we serve. These actions include:

• Forming a response team dedicated to following COVID-19, the trends around it and the best practices to navigate through it. We are guided by our goal to take care of those around us while staying focused on delivering Vermeer yellow iron and parts to those who need them.
• Limiting most travel for Vermeer team members, restricting visitors and focusing on keeping team members well. This includes limiting our physical participation in key industry events through at least mid-April.
• Re-enforcing or enhancing our standard operating procedures for the cleaning and care of our Vermeer facilities.
• Promoting individual self-awareness, including the practice of proper hygiene such as frequent hand washing, reducing physical greetings and being aware of social distance.
• Working closely with our supply chain and logistics partners to align on best practices as shipments move in and out of our facilities to limit exposure and avoid any potential disruption to our parts and equipment deliveries our customers depend on.

As we apply these steps, we are working closely with our dealers as we together help our people stay well and ensure our customers get the equipment, parts and support they need to make a positive impact in their communities in a healthy and productive way.

Source: Vermeer

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