How MEIKO is handling the coronavirus pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic is challenging society across the board and around the world. It is affecting our work, our families and our behaviour. We need only take a look at some of our customer groups to see the scale involved: the entire out-of-home market has been hit hard. Certain hospitals in many countries are overwhelmed. They lack resources, workforce and equipment. We are deeply concerned by all of this news. We feel we have a responsibility to people, to our customers, to our partners and to our employees. This is in keeping with the ethos of our foundation and our values-driven culture.
The virus the world is watching with bated breath
For now, business at MEIKO Group headquarters in Offenburg, Germany, is carrying on mostly as normal. Production and dispatch are still running to schedule. We expect to feel the effects in the medium term. Our main priority is the health of our 2,600 employees around the world. We are keeping business running and keeping our employees informed using a range of channels including e-mail, video broadcasts, online conferencing and our in-house MEIKO app. We are implementing social distancing measures everywhere in the world and have been working from home where possible for quite a while now. This is how we are helping to slow the spread of the virus.
We are always in contact with our customers, suppliers and local authorities so that we can respond to the rapidly changing conditions the pandemic is creating. A major reason why MEIKO is future proof is our business structure as a foundation. Our goal, even in such times as these, is to support our customers and partners as best we can.
Around the world
Our sales and service companies are affected by government-ordered shutdowns where these have been mandated, including in Italy, India, Malaysia and Austria. Even in these circumstances, a restricted operation remains in place so that we can carry out urgent servicing work, especially in hospitals, care homes and other medical facilities, and we can supply these institutions with cleaning and disinfection appliances or dishwashing machines. Assuring hygiene is a matter of preserving life where critically ill patients or the elderly are involved.
Normality is slowly returning to China. MEIKO production recommenced on 19 February. The MEIKO Service team can now move freely again within each province. And there are signs of hope: the first restaurants and hotels have already reopened.
Meiko hygiene expertise – how we can help
For MEIKO, uncompromising hygiene is our first priority. This has become especially important recently. Our decades of experience in disinfecting medical devices has turned us into hygiene specialists – and we are in demand. This also goes for our commercial warewashing technology, which is coronavirus free at the end of the washing or cleaning process. We therefore offer hygiene assurance – for care staff, patients, residents and guests. The effectiveness of MEIKO technology against the new pathogen has been confirmed in a specialist report by German test laboratory HYGCEN GmbH. Further information about the safety of our products in relation to coronavirus SARS CoV-2 and our certificates https://www.meiko-global.com/en/campaigns/the-coronavirus/
Hygiene at MEIKO Academy
We are maintaining increased provision of online hygiene training. This new pathogen is a huge challenge to all of us and is bringing to light the importance of hygiene. We aim to use clear communication and disseminate knowledge. In so doing, we hope to raise awareness among our customers, thus slowing the spread of the virus.