AVL’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
As you may be aware, COVID-19 has become a global pandemic disease that is now found across the world. As the number of cases identified in the United States continues to rise and the probability of community spread increases, we must acknowledge the rapidly evolving nature of the situation and be ready to safeguard everyone’s health while simultaneously managing business continuity. Last night the governor of California issued a “stay at home” executive order. This order closes all non-essential businesses until lifted.
The leadership team at AVL has established precautionary measures designed to reduce the impact of the stay at home orders on our operations. Please know we care for our customers, value your business and are working hard to minimize the interruption in service for you.
Starting immediately, AVL personnel whose functions can be accomplished remotely will be working from home, including sales and technical support. If you are calling our main line of 530-893-4915, please leave a message at the 233 extension. We will be checking frequently and responding accordingly. Email will be your quickest way to reach AVL. Our eShop will remain open for business, though due to the temporary closure of our production activities expect a delay in order fulfillment. If you have a pending order, please consider this a short pause. As soon as we are allowed to return to the AVL facility, we will be begin in earnest to regain the lost time in production.
We are so very grateful for your continued concern and support. I promise to keep you at the forefront of our thoughts as we make our way through these uncertain times. We will get through this together.
Sincerely,
Bob Kruger
President, AVL Looms
Here’s a quick message to discuss how AVL is keeping its customers and employees save during the COVID-19 pandemic. After the outbreak of the pandemic in March, AVL put in place specific safety protocols in accordance with California law and general best practices, including:
• All employees and visitors are required to wear face coverings to prevent airborne expelling of the virus.
• Maintaining 6’ spacing between people who are wearing face coverings. If one party (i.e. a delivery person is not wearing a face covering, the spacing must be 20’ or greater.
• Frequent hand washing with soap and water.
• Disinfecting common surfaces and deep cleaning more frequently.
• Increased airflow through out the building.
• Quarantining of incoming deliveries.
• Staggered work shifts, breaks and seating to reduce personnel density within the building.
To date, we have had no employee or visitor diagnosed with COVID-19! Let’s hope it stays this way.
I have some amazing news! Earlier this week, I learned that AVL qualified for the federal loan program called the PPP. This is big news as it helps defray some of the heavy financial burden we’ve incurred due to the coronavirus shutdown. But wait – more good news! California and more specifically our county (Butte) are opening up again. We are entering phase 2, which a gradual transition allowing for retail curbside pickup, and most importantly for us, manufacturing businesses to reopen with modified work environments. We have put our COVID-19 safety plan in place and will official reopen on Monday, May 11!
What this means to our loyal customers…
We will be ramping up production activities starting from Monday. There may be some residual delays, but you can expect that AVL will be back on the job and shipping looms shortly!
I want to thank you all for your patience during this difficult time. We love our customers, and we love all the amazing things you weave on our looms. I so look forward to continuing this partnership in creativity.
Two weeks have past with us staying/working from home. The reports are that California seems to be flattening the curve. This is truly good news, though with over 15,000 infected and over 350 dead in our state the loss is difficult to bear. I have read that California’s peak is expected to occur around April 25th. I hope this is true, but I take these predictions with a grain of salt considering the state is still rationing testing and doesn’t have a clear picture of the infections numbers.
There is some potentially good news. We believe that Congress passing the CARES act will ease situation for the AVL team considerably. Now we just have to wait for the banks and SBA to respond. Otherwise, nothing much has changed for us.
We love our customers, so please stay safe and healthy!
As I support the business closures that affect all of our lives we do feel the repercussions.
I placed my order on January 6th and would like to know where in the production process my order lies.
I would appreciate an update at your earliest convenience.
Is it possible to ship what is ready?