The production of Vamptech company consists in the specialized manufacturing of flame-retarded thermoplastic compounds for special applications, intended for the injection moulding and the extrusion of products for the most different industrial sectors, such as – besides household appliances and the electric sector in general – also other important fields in this COVID-19 emergency phase, like medical, energy and public transports. The presence in these strategic manufacturing chains has allowed the company’s inclusion among those authorized to carry on their activity also during the emergency, going on working to contribute in the implementation, for instance, of portable respirators, uninterruptible power supplies used in mobile hospitals, especially in the United States, and analysis instruments. “Medical applications are not our main destination – Romeo De Castro, company’s marketing manager explains – but in this period we have registered a notable rise of orders in this ambit because in their turn our customers have witnessed an outstanding growth of their work volumes”.
Therefore, Vamptech activity has never stopped. The production organization in compliance with all safety indications was favoured by the choice made by Vamptech of hugely investing in automation already in the course of last years, with a noteworthy investment for a fully automated management system of raw materials. “This – De Castro confirms – has been very useful for us in this specific time because it has decreased the manual impact on compound processing, has improved productivity and has allowed us a remarkable rationalization of corporate spaces and the utmost reduction, in this time, of workers’ interaction”. Concerning the other moments of the life in the company, we have implemented various activities to diminish the contagion risk, arranging the smart working for all those who could work from remote, limiting the presence of the staff not strictly needed by the production, providing for the supply of masks and gloves to all and indicating precise rules about the use of common spaces, like canteens and changing rooms.
Operators’ collaboration is very important, too: “all colleagues have immediately reacted with high reliability and responsibility and this was one of the important factors to allow us to work in this emergency phase” De Castro confirms.
Despite the initial concerns concerning the delivery of raw materials from Far East, connected with China’s lockdowns, actually, thanks to its suppliers, Vamptech could always rely on the provisioning of materials. When the pandemic started affecting Italy more seriously, some criticalities instead occurred, connected with the difficulty of transporters, mainly foreign, in coming to Italy to collect goods.
This has never implied a delivery stop but instead a significant rise in costs, matter that still partly exists.
What about household appliances? “In April many companies stopped, in Italy owing to the lockdown and abroad to a principle of caution to make their productions safe, but abroad all have started again, like in Italy, although in jeopardized manner. These lockdowns have determined some order delays but without affecting production at present” De Castro explains.
To assess the real impact of this moment on economy, in the opinion of De Castro, we will have to wait and understand the scope of end users’ demand and purchasing power: “An optimistic approach affirms this lockdown has notably increased the use of household electric and electronic appliances, with their consequent wear, and then we imagine this might result in a demand rise. However, I think it is hard indeed to make forecasts in the medium/short term”.
Speaking of markets, anyway, at Vamptech they are aware of relying on a strategic organization and on an excellent ranking in foreign markets: “We supply global customers – De Castro in fact states – Italy is our most important market but it made up less than 50% of the turnover already in 2019; other outstanding markets are Germany, Poland and China, where we operate through our plant in Malaysia. Vamptech is a flexible company: we are ready to follow the market wherever it will be.”
