Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | April 13, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 17 You are safe with us. Get in touch with us today: (508) 890-9087 _ businessloans@baystatesaÓings.com Visit our Lending Center: baystatesaÓingsban .com/business/lending/ For information on financial assistance: baystatesaÓingsban .com/coronaÓirus-health-and-safety/ Our staff is here to he£¹ your business navigate through the i©¹act of coronavirus *COVID-19). At Bay State, your deposits are protected and insured by the FDIC and DIF. Fu££ coverage guaranteed, at no cost! M A N U F A C T U R I N G F O C U S be on-site in order for production to continue. is includes social distancing, as well as increased handwashing, and banning travel between FLEXcon's various campuses, as well as between buildings, he said. "We look at it as, if we're going to stay in operation for our customers producing [essential equipment], we have to make sure that we can stay in operation," McDonough said. e FLEXcon head thanked his lucky stars the company has had little to no supplier issues in the face of the coronavirus crisis, highlighting that most of its suppliers are based in the U.S. and remain operational – but even more so that the manufacturer has been able to stay open at all. Unlike the service industry or the public sector, he and his employees don't have to interact with the general public and be scared every day. "ere are sectors of the economy much more difficult than manufacturing right now," he said. The long-term impact on manufacturing As for how he thought the pandemic might impact FLEXcon's operations in the long term, McDonough pointed to, among other things, potentially superfluous travel. Before the pandemic, Top manufacturing subsectors in North County Manufacturing earnings in the North Central region totaled $1.5 billion in 2018, accounting for 5% of manufacturing earnings statewide. Source: North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce Percentage of North County manufacturing jobs by subsector Rubber and plastics Computer and electronic Fabricated metal Machinery Chemical 21% 15% 14% 12% 12% he said, he estimated he was traveling 50% of the time. Now, he's considering what and how work can get done without planes and hotel rooms. "It's going to effect how people approach business in the future, and in some very positive ways," he said. Looking forward to a time when the coronavirus crisis subsidies, Mahoney from MassMEP expressed optimism about the future of the state's manufacturing industry. "is is me personally: I think what's going to happen is that, I think, overall, the manufacturing economy is going to be stronger because of this," Mahoney said. "What's going to happen on the other side of it is that there's going to be a demand to make more in the United States and not be reliant on overseas production." At the end of the day, she thinks the state government is handling the crisis in stride, and she urged manufacturing leaders to defer the bulk of their questions to the government's COVID-19 portal. With all of the state and federal resources available for companies impacted by the crisis, she said, manufacturers who have closed will hopefully have their operations back up expediently, when all is said and done. PHOTO/MONICA BUSCH W

• Cover