As you will know, the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) is fast-moving and creating disruption to personal and business lives throughout the world. We wanted to reassure you at this time about the steps we are taking and to update you on our ability to supply.

Our products play a very important part in keeping our vulnerable community safe and secure and we have been working incredibly hard to ensure that we are able to supply and continue to support our customers.

We have been following advice from the World Health Organisation and from UK Government and are adopting new processes accordingly to ensure risk is mitigated and we are able to support our customer needs.

These are summarised as follows:

Workplace and Team

Our New Zealand office and manufacturing facility remains open with relevant advised country control and safety measures, and our UK office remains open for shipping and support purposes only. UK staff will be home working as standard and will be using the office environment in a reduced and controlled capacity.

Video conferencing is being used as standard through Teams, Zoom, BT Conferencing or Skype to suit customer IT requirements, and face to face meetings have been reduced for absolute critical purposes only.

Our global management team will meet online regularly to ensure we are taking appropriate and timely action as any new developments are reported.

Parts, Production and supply

We continue to keep a close eye on the parts supply for a number of components. While many factories are reopening in China, we are still experiencing a flow-on effect on lead times for some parts. There are shutdowns occurring in other countries, and we continue to look at the impact of this on our supply chain. We are in contact with a number of key suppliers on a weekly, if not daily basis, and will provide any updates on stock shortages as we become aware of them

Production capacity at Chiptech is not affected, we are still able to make products to order.

During these challenging times, the importance of community and the difficulties many people are facing, is something we are very aware of.  Loneliness is already a challenge for many people, and self-isolation with limited outside contact makes life very hard for some. We urge everyone to do what they can to ensure their neighbours and others who may be vulnerable, are checked up on and supported as much as possible.

Please be reassured that we are taking this situation very seriously and have implemented some early precautions to keep ourselves safe. Chiptech is absolutely committed to supporting our staff, customers, suppliers, industry colleagues and our community throughout these challenging times.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact us at support@chiptech.uk

Stay safe.

David Hammond

CEO. Chiptech UK

Further Links for guidance:

For General Public – https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-information-for-the-public

Residential Care Provision – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-residential-care-supported-living-and-home-care-guidance/covid-19-guidance-on-residential-care-provision

Supported Living Provision – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-residential-care-supported-living-and-home-care-guidance/covid-19-guidance-for-supported-living-provision

Home Care Provision – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-residential-care-supported-living-and-home-care-guidance/covid-19-guidance-on-home-care-provision

TSA Guidance – https://www.tsa-voice.org.uk/campaigns/guidance-on-corona-v/