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"Cost reductions driving down-sizing, causing loss of skills from the business, meaning a slower response when demand starts to return, resulting in loss of potential business, hence more cost reductions, etc... whilst admin functions are socially distanced off site."
Andy Hares
"The way our business operates Covid-19 will have minimal long-term impact on our office operations other than greater distance between our workstations. Our shopfloor operation long term will see a change in staggered breaks and potentially staggered working hours if our workforce levels increase. Our site installation works will be the most impacted with many companies introducing additional safety measures on sites for contractors."
Tom Doyle
"I think there are increasingly questions on office-based roles remote working. The virus has illustrated that modern engineering does need to be conducted on site in all cases. I think industry really needs to review the necessity for on-site attendance against the benefits of remote working for work-life balance and the environment."
Ashley Kingston
"It is difficult to tell what the impact will be in the long term but I hope that lessons will be learnt about supply chains that stretch across the globe and are thus more vulnerable to global events than more regional supplies. An effect of this could be that more manufacturing is brought back to the UK, which would be positive for my activities in special-purpose machinery. At the moment, I don’t expect a lot of change to my ways of working as there are no alternatives when you have to work hands-on on a piece of manufacturing or test equipment."
Joachim Neff
"More home working is clearly going to become the norm! But there are many times when the camaraderie of the office and the coffee machine generate innovative answers. This will be missed. But this is happening for all industries. The automotive sector will see increasing pressure to provide individual transport as the use of public transport declines."
Matthew
"I work in the aerospace sector, so it is easy to be having apocalyptic thoughts. However I have firm belief that humans have an amazing capacity in falling back on old habits so within two years I expect that it’ll be almost back to normal. Hopefully a few things will stick like more working from home to help reduce the effects of road traffic."
Chris Elliott
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.