Strength through decentralisation

“We’re a highly decentralised organisation so a lot of operational decision-making is locally led,” explains Peter Morehead, Group Operations Director. “This has been a real advantage in a pandemic situation, allowing us to share effective safe practices from our sites. »

Pernod Ricard has focused on coordinating consistency, following the latest guidance from international and national health bodies through the different Covid-19 waves in China first, then Asia and Pacific, Europe. North America and Latin America. A taskforce was created to help affiliates implement the latest guidance, templates and best practices available. In India, where we have 28 plants, the entire supply chain was locked down for six weeks. However, through leveraging our partnerships with key strategic suppliers, we were well positioned when it was time to re‑open.

“Business continuity involves understanding the constraints of suppliers as well as our own operations in the wake of the crisis,” adds Peter. “The Group has shown its resilience in quickly adapting ways of working so that supply chains remain operational.”

Scotland: trust in local decision-making

The Kilmalid site north of Glasgow, Scotland, is the blending and bottling hub for a range of the Group’s whiskies and gins, producing more than 20 million cases a year. At a time when general advice was to ‘stay home’, local management decided that finding a way to operate safely was the best choice for the long-term stability of the plant, its people and the local ecosystem.

“Our focus was on the well-being of our teams. We paused operations for 24 hours and created volunteer teams to identify challenges and engineer our own solutions,” says Liam Donegan, Director of Manufacturing at Chivas Brothers.

Ninety safety protocols were put in place and reviewed weekly, enabling operations to ramp up in a controlled manner. The Kilmalid team also bottled over 50,000 litres of hand sanitiser, and delivered it directly to hundreds of care homes and charity organisations across Scotland. Communications played a key role in uniting internal teams and demonstrating to external stakeholders that Chivas Brothers was operating safely and responsibly, and in the best interests of its community.

Italy: mobilised to meet customer commitments

In the heart of Piedmont, Italy,  the Ramazzotti distillery makes a range of digestive and aperitif liqueurs. In early March, as a national lockdown was announced, Ramazzotti faced a peak in demand. Customers in Germany, its biggest market, requested April and May orders early to ensure future stocks.

The team of 26 employees agreed to work together to keep operations going. A business continuity plan was activated to mitigate the risk of having to stop production. Sanitary protocols were created using inputs from operators, unions, health and safety and management. Protocols were continuously strengthened in line with changing local regulations and staff improvement ideas. To manage everyone’s safety, Ramazzotti also held weekly calls with its transporters – both to reassure drivers and ensure deliveries could be made. In March 2020, Ramazzotti was producing around 120,000 bottles a day for a total of 2.5 million bottles, almost a quarter of its annual output. In addition, around 4,000 litres of hand sanitiser were produced and donated between March and April to the local municipality.

« Even though many other local industries closed down, our teams knew that we were mobilised to meet our commitments to customers as long as they were able to work safely, » said Tomas Volpin, Plant Director, Ramazzotti.

« Being open and communicating throughout the crisis has strengthened trust and created a sense of pride and ownership in our site, our solutions and what we can do together. »

Liam Donegan,
Director of Manufacturing, Chivas Brothers