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Keeping Prysmian Group’s supply chain operations on track during coronavirus epidemic

With operations in Wuhan at the epicenter of the virus, Prysmian Group Chief Operating Officer Andrea Pirondini had a front-row seat to watch the deadly spread of Covid-19. That head start was crucial in helping the group guarantee safe conditions for staff and workers, and to continue to support clients around the globe. Geographical diversification is a key asset for logistics and production.

Prysmian Group supplying 600,000 masks to factories each month

The first time Prysmian Group Chief Operating Officer Andrea Pirondini heard about coronavirus was in early January, when he heard another top executive say he was cancelling a trip to Wuhan for a board meeting at Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable.  
“I’m not going,” the executive said. “There is some sort of strange flu epidemic there.”
Pirondini agreed it was better not to take the risk. On January 4 the BBC had reported a “mystery virus probed in Wuhan.”
The story moved quickly, and this head start helped the Prysmian Group team cope as it snowballed into a pandemic. The World Health Organization declared an emergency on January 30, and Prysmian put travel restrictions in place on February 5 for China and Southeast Asia. On February 13 the company banned travel and cancelled all group events. On February 24 it locked down its Milan headquarters, asking employees to work remotely -- two weeks ahead of the lockdown across Lombardy. 

“I realized just how serious it was after this decision made me start watching the numbers coming out of Wuhan and the steps the government was taking, and it didn’t add up – the steps were a lot worse than the numbers called for. Our 1,000 employees in China lived through a very serious lockdown. And this gave us a small head start with operations for the rest of the world.” 

Andrea Pirondini

Chief Operating Officer

 

That early head start means that headquarters was kept nearly free of contagion; Prysmian’s factory workers have been supplied with 600,000 masks per month as of mid-April; and that all key supply lines are under control, said Pirondini.
While the shift to smart working at Milan was relatively straightforward, making sure production continued where possible while keeping Prysmian’s 22,000 industrial workers safe in plants around the world required teamwork, constant communication, and flexibility. Not every government ordered plant closures, since Prysmian has been considered an “essential industry” in some countries because of its role in supporting energy utilities and telecoms operators to ward off any risk of blackouts or glitches. 
“You can’t implement emergency health measures at 100 factories by sending out a memo,” he said.

We have tremendous support from the Prysmian organization in the various regions. Along with safety for staff and workers, we have two other priorities in terms of operations: controlling cash flow, and supporting clients. Orders are being filled with a minimum of delays, or sometimes no delay at all, Pirondini said, because Prysmian’s global supply chain and presence across five continents means “we manage our factories in cluster in terms of different clients and product types, and this helps us reallocate and meet client demand.” 
Demand has slowed for some of Prysmian’s cables products, and picked up for others. Orders in the energy distribution sector have not seen strong slowdowns, he said. The telecoms sector demand has actually slightly accelerated because of extraordinary maintenance to the network -- which has become a vital asset for work and families in the U.S. and Europe during the lockdown. The construction sector is at a standstill.

In terms of logistics, the supply chain is monitored daily for all key suppliers and has resulted in zero production interruptions, said Pirondini, because the purchasing team has a high level of technical expertise and can manage switches in raw materials. Outgoing transport logistics is challenging as well, because an intercontinental imbalance in container supply is pushing up container prices. Shipping routes change frequently. And borders are closed, which complicates road shipping. 
“You have to monitor transport every day to find a solution,” he said. “And we have.” 
For the Operations staff, staying on top of the health emergency has called for dealing with new demands that go far beyond smart working.

“The picture changes continually, and we are learning to adopt a sort of high-frequency synchronicity in terms of planning. We are reasoning in terms of various scenarios rather than classic monthly, quarterly and yearly plans and most of all continuously adapting to an ever changing set of things”. 

Andrea Pirondini

Chief Operating Officer