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MAY 19, 2020
In April 2020, Hayes Group Consulting reached out to economic development leaders in higher education, on Main Street, and in local and regional roles to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and how it’s impacting their work. We asked them to share strategies and techniques that are helping them during this crisis and to look into their crystal balls to tell us what they believe some lasting impacts could be.
A celebrity chef and her highly in-demand restaurant. A hippie-vibe brewery. A fully restored 1960s motor lodge. These might be the first things that come to mind when you think of Lenoir County. And, yes, Vivian Howard, Chef and The Farmer, Boiler Room, Mother Earth Brewing and the Mother Earth Motor Lodge have shined a massive spotlight on Kinston, North Carolina. But with 26% of the employment pie, manufacturing that plays a key role in the economic well-being of Lenoir County.
Keely Koonce is the interim interim executive director of Lenoir County Economic Development. We spoke recently with Koonce to find out how COVID-19 is affecting her county and how she is using her position for its highest and best use to help her constituents as they navigate this new world.
For starters, Koonce’s organization had several recruiting and expansion projects in the works prior to the pandemic. All of the projects, which were at different stages, have all been put on pause. None are outright closed, but as several feature foreign investors, the pause button has been hit on each of them. She remains in constant contact with them, ensuring things could pick right back up when a new normal arises.
As for her current businesses, all, but one manufacturing facilities are still running (Lenox China, with 175 employees, is shuttering) though plenty had changed and employers are finding themselves navigating obstacles brought on by COVID-19. Some of Lenoir County’s manufacturers, such as Crown Equipment, started making essential items. Crown Equipment specializes in lift trucks and materials handling equipment, and now they are also manufacturing masks for their employees.
In order to continue manufacturing forklifts and PPE items, however, Crown Equipment, and every other manufacturer in Lenoir County, are facing new challenges and having to come up with creative solutions. According to Koonce, the number one obstacle employers are facing is childcare. Some employers, such as Crown Equipment, have given forty hours to their employees to help this crisis. As the pandemic continues, however, working parents have likely already used up this time. Other employers are scheduling on a rotation basis with employees alternating between working on-site and working from home.
The efforts to keep their doors open and plants operating has put an additional burden on already-strained healthcare facilities. Employers, trying to maintain healthy work environments and comply with standards, are requiring doctor’s notes attesting to the health and well-being of employees. This has not only overwhelmed doctor’s offices and urgent care practices, but it’s potentially exposed the employees to COVID-19 patients.
Crown Manufacturing’s booth at Lenoir County’s National Manufacturing Day activities.
The National Association of Manufacturer’s (NAM) conducted a survey in early March to guide them as they prepared their American Renewal Action Plan—their official recommendations on the response, recovery and renewal of manufacturing during and after this crisis.
The survey found that 35.5% of respondents were facing supply chain disruptions. Truly, supply chain disruptions could have quite an impact on the future of globalization with experts weighing in that this crisis, which Tamin Bayoumi of the International Monetary Fund says is three or four times the size of the financial crisis of 2008, will likely cause a critical look at the current extreme forms of globalization, with some of that production coming back from overseas.
Fifty-three of survey respondents anticipate a change in their operations over the coming months due to slowdowns and less customer demand. These operational changes could impact everything from scheduling to employee travel, sanitation and limiting face-to-face interactions.
According to several sources, manufacturing facilities will likely embrace remote work capabilities, quickly ramping up digital efforts and collaborative tools to enable their workforce to work more from home. A so-called “digital shift” to join those employees physically on site. We could possibly even see the rise of virtual trade shows.
The safety of employees will also be a key element in manufacturing response, with the implementation of new safety procedures, protocols and more understanding sick leave policies. Experts agree that all manufacturers should be looking at all the ways data, and the ever-improving technology that supports real-time, accurate data, can become a strategic resource in their operations. After all, according to The Economist in 2017, data is the most valuable resource we have.
Keely Koonce serves as interim executive director for Lenoir County Economic Development.
Several times in our interview, Koonce referred to Lenoir County’s manufacturer’s association. It was clear this association was her biggest and best resource to help her deal with the pandemic. “Right now, our main task is to provide comfort and facts,” said Koonce.
Truly she is providing plenty of knowledge to her manufacturers, mostly via their association. She credits a revamping of the organization in 2018 with strengthening the relationships in Lenoir’s manufacturing community. Members are relying on and supporting one another and Koonce believes those relationships will be key in seeing them through this crisis.
Koonce regularly participates in webinars with elected officials to stay abreast of the current situation. She fields phone calls from manufacturers who call her with rumors. She takes all the information available, filters fact from fiction, and then disseminates it to the forty organizations, made up of manufacturers, businesses, and community partners, who are members of the association.
She’s even used her contacts and her role as liaison to help procure needed medical supplies for manufacturers. When they were finding it difficult to locate needed items such as thermometers, she was able to reach out to her contacts and get those supplies.
Associations can play a major role in assisting businesses and organizations during this crisis. A quick search found FiscalNote.com’s list of ten strategies for associations during the pandemic. First on their list? “ Be a source of information, truth, and support to your members.” This is exactly how Koonce is using her position to maintain an atmosphere of trust, support and level-headedness amongst Lenoir’s manufacturing community. She had already done the work of creating a strong association and her members came to see her as a reliable source. When rumors abound, they call her for the facts rather than spread panic and worry.
And remember that one plant they are losing? Lenox China? When the announcement came, some of the manufacturers began working with those employees to offer jobs. “Again, thankful for the connections brought by the manufacturers association,” said Koonce.
https://fiscalnote.com/blog/10-strategies-trade-associations-are-implementing-during-covid-19
https://www.nam.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/v9-NAM-American-Renewal-Action-Plan.pdf
https://www.nam.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/NAM-SPECIAL-CORONA-SURVEY.pdf
https://today.duke.edu/2020/04/covid-19-and-global-supply-chains-disruptions-and-restructuring
https://www.wipfli.com/insights/articles/mad-covid-life-after-covid-19-manufacturing-changes
Keely Koonce has been interim executive director for Lenoir County Economic Development since 2018. Koonce is a graduate of N.C. State University with a degree in Agriculture Business Management.
MAY 19, 2020
In April 2020, Hayes Group Consulting reached out to economic development leaders in higher education, on Main Street, and in local and regional roles to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and how it’s impacting their work. We asked them to share strategies and techniques that are helping them during this crisis and to look into their crystal balls to tell us what they believe some lasting impacts could be.
A celebrity chef and her highly in-demand restaurant. A hippie-vibe brewery. A fully restored 1960s motor lodge. These might be the first things that come to mind when you think of Lenoir County. And, yes, Vivian Howard, Chef and The Farmer, Boiler Room, Mother Earth Brewing and the Mother Earth Motor Lodge have shined a massive spotlight on Kinston, North Carolina. But with 26% of the employment pie, manufacturing that plays a key role in the economic well-being of Lenoir County.
Keely Koonce is the interim interim executive director of Lenoir County Economic Development. We spoke recently with Koonce to find out how COVID-19 is affecting her county and how she is using her position for its highest and best use to help her constituents as they navigate this new world.
For starters, Koonce’s organization had several recruiting and expansion projects in the works prior to the pandemic. All of the projects, which were at different stages, have all been put on pause. None are outright closed, but as several feature foreign investors, the pause button has been hit on each of them. She remains in constant contact with them, ensuring things could pick right back up when a new normal arises.
As for her current businesses, all, but one manufacturing facilities are still running (Lenox China, with 175 employees, is shuttering) though plenty had changed and employers are finding themselves navigating obstacles brought on by COVID-19. Some of Lenoir County’s manufacturers, such as Crown Equipment, started making essential items. Crown Equipment specializes in lift trucks and materials handling equipment, and now they are also manufacturing masks for their employees.
In order to continue manufacturing forklifts and PPE items, however, Crown Equipment, and every other manufacturer in Lenoir County, are facing new challenges and having to come up with creative solutions. According to Koonce, the number one obstacle employers are facing is childcare. Some employers, such as Crown Equipment, have given forty hours to their employees to help this crisis. As the pandemic continues, however, working parents have likely already used up this time. Other employers are scheduling on a rotation basis with employees alternating between working on-site and working from home.
The efforts to keep their doors open and plants operating has put an additional burden on already-strained healthcare facilities. Employers, trying to maintain healthy work environments and comply with standards, are requiring doctor’s notes attesting to the health and well-being of employees. This has not only overwhelmed doctor’s offices and urgent care practices, but it’s potentially exposed the employees to COVID-19 patients.
Crown Manufacturing’s booth at Lenoir County’s National Manufacturing Day activities.
The National Association of Manufacturer’s (NAM) conducted a survey in early March to guide them as they prepared their American Renewal Action Plan—their official recommendations on the response, recovery and renewal of manufacturing during and after this crisis.
The survey found that 35.5% of respondents were facing supply chain disruptions. Truly, supply chain disruptions could have quite an impact on the future of globalization with experts weighing in that this crisis, which Tamin Bayoumi of the International Monetary Fund says is three or four times the size of the financial crisis of 2008, will likely cause a critical look at the current extreme forms of globalization, with some of that production coming back from overseas.
Fifty-three of survey respondents anticipate a change in their operations over the coming months due to slowdowns and less customer demand. These operational changes could impact everything from scheduling to employee travel, sanitation and limiting face-to-face interactions.
According to several sources, manufacturing facilities will likely embrace remote work capabilities, quickly ramping up digital efforts and collaborative tools to enable their workforce to work more from home. A so-called “digital shift” to join those employees physically on site. We could possibly even see the rise of virtual trade shows.
The safety of employees will also be a key element in manufacturing response, with the implementation of new safety procedures, protocols and more understanding sick leave policies. Experts agree that all manufacturers should be looking at all the ways data, and the ever-improving technology that supports real-time, accurate data, can become a strategic resource in their operations. After all, according to The Economist in 2017, data is the most valuable resource we have.
Keely Koonce serves as interim executive director for Lenoir County Economic Development.
Several times in our interview, Koonce referred to Lenoir County’s manufacturer’s association. It was clear this association was her biggest and best resource to help her deal with the pandemic. “Right now, our main task is to provide comfort and facts,” said Koonce.
Truly she is providing plenty of knowledge to her manufacturers, mostly via their association. She credits a revamping of the organization in 2018 with strengthening the relationships in Lenoir’s manufacturing community. Members are relying on and supporting one another and Koonce believes those relationships will be key in seeing them through this crisis.
Koonce regularly participates in webinars with elected officials to stay abreast of the current situation. She fields phone calls from manufacturers who call her with rumors. She takes all the information available, filters fact from fiction, and then disseminates it to the forty organizations, made up of manufacturers, businesses, and community partners, who are members of the association.
She’s even used her contacts and her role as liaison to help procure needed medical supplies for manufacturers. When they were finding it difficult to locate needed items such as thermometers, she was able to reach out to her contacts and get those supplies.
Associations can play a major role in assisting businesses and organizations during this crisis. A quick search found FiscalNote.com’s list of ten strategies for associations during the pandemic. First on their list? “ Be a source of information, truth, and support to your members.” This is exactly how Koonce is using her position to maintain an atmosphere of trust, support and level-headedness amongst Lenoir’s manufacturing community. She had already done the work of creating a strong association and her members came to see her as a reliable source. When rumors abound, they call her for the facts rather than spread panic and worry.
And remember that one plant they are losing? Lenox China? When the announcement came, some of the manufacturers began working with those employees to offer jobs. “Again, thankful for the connections brought by the manufacturers association,” said Koonce.
https://fiscalnote.com/blog/10-strategies-trade-associations-are-implementing-during-covid-19
https://www.nam.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/v9-NAM-American-Renewal-Action-Plan.pdf
https://www.nam.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/NAM-SPECIAL-CORONA-SURVEY.pdf
https://today.duke.edu/2020/04/covid-19-and-global-supply-chains-disruptions-and-restructuring
https://www.wipfli.com/insights/articles/mad-covid-life-after-covid-19-manufacturing-changes
Keely Koonce has been interim executive director for Lenoir County Economic Development since 2018. Koonce is a graduate of N.C. State University with a degree in Agriculture Business Management.
Hayes Group Consulting LLC are economic and community development strategists dedicated to helping governments, non-profits, and entire communities thrive in a changing, competitive environment.
©2024 Hayes Group Consulting. All rights reserved.
©2024 Hayes Group Consulting. All rights reserved.
