MAS Holdings sets precedent for post-COVID manufacturing

During the pandemic, the company continuously supported its employees both financially as well as emotionally with a dedicated hotline for grievances and continuous engagement through multiple channels of communication.

As an employee-centred company, MAS prioritised the health and safety of its 99,000 team members across the globe by immediately implementing layout changes across manufacturing floors with a strict one metre shoulder-to-shoulder social distancing protocol for all employees. Stringent sanitisation practices were also implemented with reduced number of touch points across manufacturing cycles, with all production equipment and surfaces fully disinfected following each production shift.

Moreover, employee lifecycles were mapped onto standard operating procedures, including all employee functions between pick-up and drop-off; this covered transportation, cafeteria layouts, hygiene and healthcare facilities, also extending to lodging if located at offshore MAS facilities, the Sri Lanka-headquartered company said in a statement.

Mandatory temperature checks are being carried out across each of the 53 MAS facilities in 16 countries, and data is being gathered on third-party staff and visitors upon entering any MAS premises. Interactions between team members belonging to different shifts are restricted and production meetings are made remote wherever possible.

MAS also places all raw material sourced from external suppliers in quarantine for 24 hours to eliminate any possibilities of virus transmission from material surfaces.

While implementing safety protocols across all MAS facilities, production capacity was increased gradually to clear out order backlogs. Starting from around 20 per cent and going to 50 per cent capacity in keeping with local health and safety regulations, it was finally increased to 100 per cent capacity following relaxed lockdown restrictions in the respective countries. Furthermore, having over 30 years of manufacturing excellence, MAS has now added new capabilities in medical apparel to its product offering, with a range of personal protective equipment (PPE) and face masks that fuse function with design to ensure protection and comfort, the statement said.

"MAS has also maintained open, transparent communication channels with its partners as well as customers, keeping all parties well informed of the company’s progress and operational changes during the pandemic to date, efforts that have been appreciated and commended by key stakeholders worldwide," the company said.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)