To all employees, we hope that you and your families are staying safe through these trying times.
Below you will find the latest updates from RSL’s President – Ron Lewkowitz and Novatech’s President and CEO Harold Savard. (Past messages are available for your convenience.) Also, there are helpful resources pertaining to COVID-19 found below. Please ensure that you take proper precautions in your day-to-day actions in order to assist in flattening the curve.
June 29, 2021
Hi everyone,
I hope you had a nice weekend. The We Move Together Challenge was a great success in June. I am impressed with the creativity of our people who came up with original team names. All participants are winners. The important thing is to keep moving and it helps our hamster to pedal in the right direction. It simply makes us crave for more. Congratulations to our Canadiens for reaching the Stanley cup final. What a great example of team work. Go Habs go!
It is also moving with the great large-scale projects that we have, including this one at 175 Millway, in Vaughan, Ontario. It consists of two towers of 47 and 52 floors which represents 82,000 sq. ft. of glass to be produced by our team in Laurier-Station team. Construction will start in July 2021 to be completed in May 2022. The order books of all our divisions are very full.
I would like to acknowledge the work of our sales teams. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have had to deal with some unusual situations. I would say that we have often felt out of our comfort zone. Our representatives are on the front line and have to respond and do the necessary follow-ups with our customers. It is never pleasant to announce delivery delays and, afterwards, having to announce price increases that were inevitable for the sustainability of our organization to offset the rising cost of materials. Congrats and thank you for your professionalism.
Vaccination experts have confirmed that one week after receiving the 2nd dose of the vaccine, we are adequately protected against this nasty virus. It is therefore important to get it not only for the physical health of everyone, but also for our mental health. We are so looking forward to the return of a more normal life and being able to gather and celebrate all together.
For National Day on July 1st, our Canadian plants will be closed on Friday, July 2nd. And for Independence Day on July 4th, our United States facilities will be off on Monday, July 5th. Happy celebrations to all Canadians and Americans. Stay safe!
Thanks to all and have a good week.
Harold Savard, P. Eng.
President and CEO
April 29, 2021
Good afternoon,
As you know, we have begun to make corporate visits to customers in several territories. It feels safe and exciting to be on the road again, but strange after a year of being tied down with remote work. We encourage you to let us know where and when you need our support most. We are ready to help you solidify existing customers and present our many advantages to prospective customers.
Our industry continues to face three major challenges. Labor shortages, transportation delays and raw material shortages are seriously affecting steel door and doorglass production in NJ, Ohio and Canada. U.S. government unemployment benefits, extended into September, are causing many workers to stay home. To compete for workers, we have increased starting wages, significantly increased pay to retain existing workers and offered generous recruitment strategies(see attached). We anticipate that labor shortages will remain for the balance of 2021. Transportation delays are equally serious. Containers are being delayed several weeks at ports in China, several weeks at U.S. ports, and then further delays to get containers delivered by railcar. RSL has even resorted to air freighting heavy crates of decorative glass, only to find those lead times extended by several weeks as well. These transportation delays are expected to worsen this summer as driver shortages continue, Additionally, raw material shortages continue to drive prices up dramatically. The 4% doorglass and 9% steel door price increases were not enough to cover the continuing increases for labor, transportation and raw materials. Resin increases will require a significant new increase for open injection molded frames that we will announce next week. Whew, that was an unpleasant paragraph.
RSL’s corporate office will remain working remotely, mostly due to the fact that we are operating so efficiently. If you have not met Crystal Acevedo yet, she has recently joined our customer service team and is doing a nice job entering orders for your customers. Our move to a new facility in Austintown, OH continues to be delayed by landlord delays in getting a Certificate of Occupancy. Our leadtimes in Ohio for blinds, decorative and commodity have increased to 14-16 days(mostly due to labor shortages). In NJ, leadtimes are 2 weeks for wood products, and 4 weeks for Impact & non-Impact vinyl. We continue to work OT to keep up with orders. We are concerned that ODL has begun to gain BBG market share with aggressively low pricing. Please stay in contact with all customers and if we need to sharpen pricing to retain BBG sales, let Kevin, Heather, Drew and I know immediately. This is an important product category and we want to keep gaining sales, not lose any…
In Canada, production of steel doors is still challenged by continuing resin shortages for polyurethane foamed insulation. Our production teams are doing all that they can to keep up with orders and meet allocation commitments. Orders now can include all door models. Starting May 10, we can accept June steel door orders for the same allocation quantities offered in May. Our goal next week is to improve communication of when open orders will ship. We recognize that it has been difficult to get updates on steel door orders and we promise to improve that process. We appreciate your patience and need your support to keep customers informed.
The challenges presented in this update are unprecedented in our industry. I remain impressed with the determination and dedication of our teams. We are working hard to give as much stability and service to our customers as possible. We appreciate your help to get feedback from customers, to convey RSL’s determination to provide the best service that we can, and to stay in close contact with us and our customers. When challenges like these rock our industry, there are always opportunities to improve and gain new customers. Stay hungry for new business!
Best regards,
Sincerely,
Ron Lewkowitz
President, RSL LLC
Covid-19 Safety Rules
General Rules: March 27, 2020 Safety Procedures: Covid-19
Covid-19 Saftey Rules in Excel Spreadsheet
Thank You Letter from Ron
In order to protect the health of employees and those visiting the workplace, we must:
- Respect the safety and hygiene procedures in place “Wash Hands Hourly and Log”
- Check the communications board every day
- Social distancing: 3 to 6 feet between workers at all times
- If you have symptoms, do not come to the plant; phone your supervisor
If you have been in contact with anyone who is contaminated or who is awaiting testing:
- 14 days of preventive isolation
- No meetings / gatherings
- One employee at a time in the wash rooms
- Lunches must remain in designated areas
- No access to the cafeteria before a shift begins
- Drink from water bottles only or provided disposable cups
- Go directly to your work station after punching / checking in
- Maintain social distancing at break and lunch times 6 feet minumum
- Only (1)- Employee allowed in office at a time
- Stay in the established work areas – do not wander from building to building
- Punch time-machine-card and go directly to work station.
- Keep your PPE with you at all times “Be Responsible”
- Whenever possible, leave doors open
- Return to your home / practice social isolation
Hygiene Rules: March 27, 2020
In order to protect the health of employees and those visiting the workplace, we must:
-
- Respect the safety and hygiene procedures in place
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with your hands
- Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds
- One person at a time in the washrooms
- Should you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth and nose with your arm to reduce the spread of germs
- Avoid contact with anyone showing symptoms such as fever and cough
- Use an alcohol based disinfectant if you don’t have access to soap and water
- If you use a paper facial tissue, throw it away as soon as possible after use and then wash your hands
- Make sure you clean your work station and frequently touched objects “Minumum of TWICE daily”on a regular basis
- Wash your hands as often as you can
- Cough or sneeze into your elbow or a facial tissue
- Don’t shake hands when greeting someone, and avoid hugging
Shipping & Receiving
Establish best practices to be followed to ensure the health and safety of the carrier in the plant.
-
- Access points to the plant are closed, and will open only on request by calling the plant manager.
- A sign with instructions is placed at all entry points. Points (2-6) are explained to the person arriving.
- Circulation inside the plant is prohibited for the external carriers beyond the unloading zone, even to use the washrooms.
- Always keep a distance of at least 6 feet between people in proximity, if proximity is necessary, use proper PPE.
- After backing up to loading-dock, DO NOT REMAIN ON THE LOADING PLATFORM; please return to the cab of your truck.
- In exceptional cases, the documents associated with the shipping/reception will not be signed.
- Shippers are not expected to move any cargo already in the trucks of external carriers.
- Any goods received must be quarantined for 48 hours or cleaned with a suitable product.
- Potential contamination points are disinfected on a regular basis (handles, handling equipment, etc.)
- The operators will notify the driver when all the merchandise has been loaded or unloaded.
Thank you for your cooperation!
Preventive Isolation
Objective: Novatech Group must ensure the health and safety of its employees.
With this goal in mind, management has established strict precautionary measures, such as isolation at home for 14 days, even when no symptoms are evident.
- Stay at home, unless you have a medical appointment
- Avoid any contact with family members
- Wash your hands frequently and use alcohol-based hand sanitizers
- Actively monitor your temperature and watch for the appearance of any symptoms (fever, cough, difficulty breathing)
- Contact the Human Resources Department by email or phone every 3 days to notify them of your state of health
- Should any symptoms arise during the voluntary isolation period, the person affected must call 1-800 222-1222 immediately
- Do not use public transport (e.g., bus, metro, taxis)
- Have your provisions delivered to your home instead of going to the store yourself, if possible
- Contact the Human Resources Department at Fernwood 609-645-9770 on the Thursday morning before you return to work to confirm this return
Arrival on Site
Anyone showing compatible symptoms and who meets the criteria for exposure.
This person is instructed to self-isolate at home until lab results overturning the diagnosis have been received; if he has close contacts at high risk for contamination, he must continue to self-isolate even if his own result is negative.
NAME
Week
Checked by: Monday – Tuesday – Wednesday – Thursday – Friday
- Entrance by the authorized door
- Employee Temperature upon arrival
- Hand washing obligatory in accordance with established method
- Assess the state of health/questionnaire
- Assess the state of health of the family
- Review the employee’s movements morning and night
- Review the movements of family members (care of a relative)
- One employee at a time in the rest room
- Lunches must be kept in the lockers (Ice pack)
- No Gathering at the time clock -maintain social distencing 6-ft
- Go directly to the work station after punching in
- Take a look to the communication board
Worker selection
Anyone showing compatible symptoms and who meets the criteria for exposure.
This person is instructed to self-isolate at home until lab results overturning the diagnosis have been received; if he has close contacts at high risk for contamination, he must continue to self-isolate even if his own result is negative.
NAME
Date
Recalled by:
The return to work is voluntary
- Has not travelled since March 15, 2020
- No symptoms: cough, fever, difficulty breathing
- Check for other symptoms (runny nose, headache)
- No symptoms in the family
- Check whether any family members are at high risk for contamination (physician, nurse, etc.)
- Does not have an immunodeficient medical condition or family member with this condition
- Validation of possible exposure: Family visit, no stops en route
- Supervisor’s comments:
Covid-19 Resources
All RSL employees have access to TELADOC. TELADOC doctors can answer questions about the disease, evaluate your risk, and provide support by a phone or video call to help relieve symptoms for affected patients, addressing both physical and mental health needs. Please click the links below for more information
Protect Yourself and Your Family
Covid-19 Qué necesita saber
Coronavirus Flu or Cold Info Flyer.pdf
Center for Disease Control and Prevention – CDC- COVID-19
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides valuable information and resources regarding COVID-19. Click the link below to visit the CDC’s website.
(https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html)
Employee Rights
Click the link below to find information on employee rights under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA)
Employee Rights (https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WHD/Pandemic/FFCRA-Employee_Paid_Leave_Rights.pdf)
Stress and Coping
COVID-19 has upended daily life and routines for everyone. Below is a great resource which offers tips to help cope with the stress that this pandemic has brought on.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/managing-stress-anxiety.html