Tbilisi, Georgia / Langenhagen, Germany, 16 March 2020 Dear valued client, as your trusted business partner, we would like to inform you about the effects of the coronavirus on our production and (service) delivery capabilities. Operations in our production facilities and warehouses in China resume gradually to a stabilized output level aiming to keep up with the backlog that was created due to the closing of these factories and other coronavirus-related effects (e.g. delays through suppliers). Other Konica Minolta Group Operations than China enable us and our European warehouses to meet certain demands of our customers in the foreseeable future. However, we cannot rule out that we will experience delays and shortages (depending on the product and/or service), even though we are working with high pressure to keep the impact on your business operations as small as possible. Operational activities and provided dates may vary and cause disruption in the coming weeks due to Supply & Logistics capacity shortages, upcoming Cargo and Labour restrictions affected by the dynamic development of the Coronavirus. For this, we are reviewing our supply and allocation policy permanently and try to leverage as much as possible on stock throughout the global Konica Minolta organisation. To get a better understanding of your specific order situation, please contact your local Konica Minolta Account Manager – he/she will be able to answer specific questions.
The availability of our services is heavily depending on Konica Minolta’s own field service force. We currently have over 2,500 engineers working across 35 countries in Europe. These engineers ensure the maintenance of products and execution of services. Since our workforce travels from client to client, our service model currently poses a potential risk for our clients as well as our employees. We will therefore implement changes to our services model by applying remote services as much as possible: Since most of the Konica Minolta products are designed as IOT devices, platforms or applications that allow remote connectivity, we will connect your device to Konica Minolta backend systems. Like this, your Konica Minolta products will be enabled to receive remote services. Any occurring incident should be solved remotely without intervention onsite. Only if we need to ensure connectivity or replace hardware, a service employee will visit you.
We encourage all employees (and we are updating them on a regular basis) to monitor their wellbeing and their social environment carefully and to take precautionary measures to minimize risks of infection, e.g. increased hygiene measures, cancellation of participation in larger events, moving meetings to virtual meetings, encourage – where possible – home office. Travel to or from regions at risks has been prohibited. In case of infection of an employee, we work according to the infection protection law and have put measures in place to minimize the risk of infecting others as much as possible (quarantine). In this case – just as much as with other illnesses or during vacation – we can resort to other trained service employees in order to reduce the impact of your business.
We have set up a Coronavirus taskforce that monitors the situation and current developments in China, Europe and elsewhere closely and is also planning measures to ensure the availability of systems and services in the future. Additionally, Konica Minolta has set up a global business continuity plan that involves regular factory screenings, evaluation of alternative suppliers etc. to ensure a smoothly running supply chain. Should anything change in these circumstances, we will inform you at short notice. For specific questions on your situation, please contact your local Konica Minolta Account Manager.
Best regards, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Georgia Team