Even before the pandemic became a serious matter back in the spring, Sur-Seal hit the ground running and never looked back.
And we’re still pushing forward.
In the beginning, it seemed many businesses transitioned into survival mode, trying to figure out how to stay in operation and not go under. But after living with the pandemic for several months, companies have realized they must focus on growth—or else.
Here’s how Sur-Seal is growing its business despite COVID-19 and why you can continue to count on us for all your gaskets, seals, and die-cut products.
The areas Sur-Seal has focused on to improve, expand, and grow during this crisis are hiring experts, upgrading equipment, and helping the community.
While many companies have been forced to reduce staff, Sur-Seal has continued to hire for crucial roles during the pandemic.
We’ve brought in a plant manager to make sure we’re as efficient and optimized as possible. We’ve also hired an enterprise resource planning (ERP) manager to give customers the best schedule with the best information.
“Those are massive investments in people,” said Pete Futia, general manager. “We keep putting more experienced people in technology in places to create a win-win scenario for our customers and our employees for the long term.”
‘We haven’t changed our marketing budget or our investment in people and machines,” added Billy Lipari, marketing manager. “That has stayed the course.
We have also implemented a new customer relationship management (CRM) system. This platform has allowed sales and marketing employees to better meet the needs of new and existing customers by delivering information and replying to requests almost instantaneously.
Because Sur-Seal was deemed an essential business at the start of the pandemic, our engineering and maintenance teams have been busy upgrading equipment and completing other plant priority projects.
Here is a list of tasks we’ve accomplished so far.
“We’re looking years out, not days out,” explained Futia.
Early on, Sur-Seal saw an immediate need for personal protective equipment (PPE). We quickly pivoted to make face shields for first responders and other entities that needed bulk orders of PPE.
We have donated our Pro Shield 1 face shields to several organizations in Charlotte, North Carolina, including:
A representative from St. Matthew said the clergy and ushers would put the shields to good use during Holy Mass.
Also, 5% of all proceeds from the sales of Pro Shield 1 are donated to Second Harvest Food Bank. So far, nearly $7,500 has been given to the charity. Fortunately, Sur-Seal has been able to remain socially-minded and give back to our community.
Now you know how Sur-Seal is growing its business despite COVID-19 and how we continue to be a leader in custom-cut services and navigating the pandemic.
By investing in new staff, our equipment, and the community, we are not only surviving this crisis—we’re thriving.
“We are so focused on tomorrow,” said Futia. “We doubled down on our investment of equipment, people, and systems to make sure we come out of this better than we went into it.”
Sur-Seal has a variety of capabilities and services for your prototyping and production needs. Tell us about your project and we’ll help you select from our available materials. Let’s chat!
