In light of recent events, The Rakem Group is taking all reasonable steps to meet its responsibilities and obligations during the Coronavirus outbreak.
The board and senior managers recently met to discuss the ongoing impact of COVID -19 on our staff, customers and suppliers and, following guidelines from further recent advice from the Government, we have decided that all our staff can return to work safely. This will be reassessed on the 1 October, unless we receive further information and instruction from the UK Government.
The manufacturing plant continues to run and, following significant investment in PPE (with helpful advice from the Health & Safety Executive), we believe that we have taken the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of all staff across all departments. We are working over two sites and limiting contact between individuals.
At the time of writing (August 20), we can confirm that we can deal with orders and transactions promptly. Our account managers continue to contact all customers to ensure we have their forecasted orders and can continue delivering orders. We are working together to try and anticipate potential issues that may arise as a consequence of the virus. We kindly ask that all of our customers and suppliers keep in communication with the relevant account managers; we do not want to encourage a mass panic buying situation within the industry.
All our office staff, should the need arise, have the ability to work from home and as such daily operations will never be affected. Please continue to place orders and pay invoices as normal. We do request that all clients pay the Rakem Group within the agreed terms. If you are going to have difficulty paying your invoices, please contact the finance team as a matter of urgency.
We continue to have ongoing discussions with our customers and principals regularly. We want to understand the pinch points they may be facing and we continue to have active dialogue with them.
In the event of an emergency shut down, the UK Government will be looking at manufacturing sites case by case. We will release another statement in this extreme case in due course.
In the meantime, we are working at full capacity to ensure all orders are fulfilled. As toll manufacturers, we may be able to help individuals/businesses who are struggling during this time. We are happy to take requests and review them case by case.
We hope that all of our staff, customers and suppliers remain safe, follow advice from the government and that families remain unaffected.
For any further questions please free to contact the team. Below is a list of key managers.
Steve Bunker – Group Operations Director
Jim Taylor – Logistics Manager
Amanda Clowes – Administration Manager
Jenni Byrne – Finance Director
Andy Bower – Production Manager
Kieran Rafferty – Managing Director (main sales contact)
Eugene Rafferty – Cemkem Managing Director
Andy Byrne – Technical Manager
