COVID-19 Update

Posted: March 23, 2020

Dear Valued Partners and Customers,

As our global, national and regional communities adjust to deal with the impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we wanted to provide an update to our business partners and customers. In accordance with our Governor’s proclamation on March 20^th that Illinois is under a Shelter-in-Place order through at least April 7^th, we have stressed the importance to our employees that they stay at home and follow “social distancing” guidelines. As part of the Shelter-in-Place order, the Governor has stated that certain businesses can, and should, continue to operate if they provide products that are critical to the supply chain. With that in mind, Bison plans to remain open and operational based on our best understanding of “Essential Operation”.

The US Department of Homeland Security has defined what it considers to be “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers during COVID-19 Response”. Basically, this is a list of jobs in industries that would be allowed, or in some cases required, to remain open. Bison manufactures products which serve many of these industries including, Healthcare/Public Health (blood testing equipment), Food & Agriculture (ice, beverage, food processing and sanitation services), Transportation & Logistics (railway, conveyor and distribution equipment), Information Technology (hospital communications) and Critical Manufacturing (machines used in the production medical systems and to support energy transmission).

Based on these guidelines Bison Gear & Engineering will remain open, continuing to design, manufacture and ship products. The safety, health and wellness of our employees, partners and customers remains our number one priority at Bison Gear & Engineering, and we continue to monitor the rapidly changing situation closely. We have established and implemented the following policies from our best judgement and public health organizations to maintain a safe work environment:

We have implemented a work from home policy, enabling a majority of our office staff to honor the stay-at-home order while still servicing their internal and external customers. Our customer facing teams are fully connected and functional whether working from our office or remotely. These actions reduce the population in the building, reducing the risks for those still in the building.
We have updated various office processes and procedures to ensure that they are robust and conducive to remotely located individuals, functions and teams.
We continue to monitor our supply chains, taking steps to enable an uninterrupted flow of material into our facility. Our current inventory levels and the stateside levels of our overseas suppliers is strong.
Business travel has been restricted for all Bison employees and visitors limited to mission critical only.
Anyone who has recently been to a level 2 or 3 country will not be allowed to enter the Bison facility for 15 days after they return from these restricted regions.
We are requiring alternative communication methods in lieu of face to face - use of phone and web options to conduct and manage meetings even if they take place within our Bison facility.
All community surfaces and high traffic areas are subjected to a daily deeper cleaning program.

We will keep you posted of any new developments that would change these plans. Thank you for your business and continued support; we will make it through this unprecedented situation together.

Health, Safety and Best Regards to all,

Andrew Kuester

Vice President of Marketing & Sales
Bison Gear & Engineering Corp.

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