Production update
over 4 years ago
– Fri, Feb 21, 2020 at 01:06:49 AM
Hi Everyone,
Thank you for the positive responses to the last update!
I’m sure you have heard about the Coronavirus and the situation China is facing at the moment to try to contain its spread. This is a very unfortunate situation for everyone who has been affected by this disease, and also very unfortunate for the many millions of people in China who are currently having to live a totally disrupted lifestyle to try to contain it. Due to the containment efforts, it is also affecting factories across the country, including ours.
Initially the Chinese Government quarantined the city of Wuhan where the virus is thought to have originated. This is about 500 miles from where our factory is. As time went on and doctors realized that the virus was in fact in many cities (and now countries) far from Wuhan, their containment efforts also needed to spread. Public transportation stopped around the country, movie theaters, malls and public spaces closed down, China’s neighbors closed their borders, US flights to China stopped, and entire cities of millions of people have been forced to live under near house arrest.
So as you may have guessed, our factory is currently closed. It has not re-opened at all since the end of the Chinese New Year Holidays. It is closed for a few reasons, mainly being that the government had mandated their closures. The other reason is the closure of public transportation has left most of their employees who went home for the holidays unable to even return to begin work again. So at the moment the estimated opening date for the factory is a bit up in the air. The factory will probably begin working first at less than full capacity when the government gives them the OK, and increase production as more restrictions are lifted and public transportation becomes available again. Supposedly the virus spread is slowing now and people are optimistic.
Here is a video of the city closest to our factory. I was in this city in November and walked and drove down some of the streets in the video. The streets were packed with people walking around, and the highways had constant traffic when I was there. Now they are empty, because no one can go outside.
https://www.scmp.com/video/china/3049363/china-locks-down-hangzhou-mega-city-far-epicentre-coronavirus-outbreak
And an interesting article about the manufacturing situation in general:
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/idled-car-production-iphone-delays-china-s-factory-closures-mean-n1133966
We certainly could never have expected something like this to happen, but we are very sorry for the way things have gone with production! We also want to get the Canteens here as soon as possible. After our last setbacks, we were excited to get production rolling again and finish our first production run. However, at this point we are going to have to say that given the new circumstances, The Ice Cream Canteen will not arrive in March as estimated. With the factory closed, it is hard to say exactly when things will begin again and when the estimated arrival date will be. Our project manager in China is currently working from home and will keep in touch as things change. As soon as there is some progress or a more definitive estimate of The Ice Cream Canteen’s arrival date we will update you.
Thank you for the support!