With Brexit negotiations ongoing and no clear outcome apparent we feel it is important that we prepare ourselves for any eventuality, we have begun those preparations and we want to reassure our partners by sharing our thoughts.
Personnel retention is our main concern. All aspects of our business rely on highly skilled staff, a number of whom are European nationals, it is therefore imperative that we ensure that we can rely on their long term support and loyalty through Brexit and beyond.
To that end our management team have focused on ensuring our pay and conditions are not only as attractive as possible but also competitive and better than our local competition. More than ever our staff have been made to feel as respected and appreciated as possible. In addition all our European staff have been told that Midas will support them in any way possible through the inevitable change that is to come. We believe our European workforce is grateful for these commitments and we are sure that they will stand beside us as we navigate our way through Brexit.
Another concern is the potential risk of major backlogs at customs/border control for imports for a period of time after 29th March 2019.
We realise this is unpredictable and it could affect the supply of some of our raw materials and other consumable parts used within our manufacturing process, some sourced directly by Midas but others through our Supply Chain. In order to counter this risk, Midas has embarked on a 6 month investment plan that will increase our inventory/stock holding across critical lines to help insulate us from any immediate challenges that may occur during the course of next year.
We feel that if we work proactively with our suppliers AND customers we can minimise the impact of the unknown effects of the UK’s Brexit transition, but we must work together.
In order to assist the Midas production team with forward planning, it would be beneficial if all our customers could review their sales forecasting, planning requirements and possible stock holding so that they can provide any increased order cover they deem necessary to uplift stock holding and therefore provide an uninterrupted supply to their customers.
This increased vision and forward planning will help keep our production process and lead-times as controlled as possible so we can continue to offer a reliable service throughout these potentially challenging times. If any oversights do occur we will do our best to help resolve them but it would be very wise to place buffer orders now rather than in February/March 2019.
If you have specific questions that relate to your projects and orders or would like to sit down and discuss how best to avoid potential problems, please contact our team on sales@midas-pattern.co.uk in the first instance.
Midas Pattern Co. Ltd
September 2018