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inTOUCH
LOOKING BACK
WE WANT TO LOOK BACK AT SOME OF THE THINGS THAT YOU, OUR MEMBERS, DID AND ARE
CONTINUING TO DO, TO HELP DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS.
members' stories PHILLIPS DIRECT DIRECTS ITS
EFFORTS TO PROTECTING PEOPLE
When the coronavirus started
processes and repurpose
shops to salons to offices.
to impact the UK, Phillips
inexpensive but really long-
materials normally used
We’ve even made one that
Direct decided to shift its all kinds of businesses, from in filter, which is not only had to adapt our designs and
lasting.
focus to creating products can be installed between the In another effort to assist for stock items. Despite the
that would support both front and back seats of a taxi. with the return to work, challenges, it’s been great
individuals and businesses in All of our products are made we’ve made a range of hand to be able to use our skills
protecting themselves. in the UK, so we can usually sanitiser holders, including and experience to provide
We pride ourselves on our produce screens with custom small wall-mounted models solutions that have helped
ability to design and produce dimensions within a few and large, free-standing people through this difficult
new products quickly, and days. ones that can be used in big time.
as we work primarily with Another popular item has commercial venues. These
plastics we were able to come been our face shields. They can also be personalised www.phillipsdirect.com
up with a whole range of offer a great alternative to with branding or with hand
items in a fairly short period face masks, especially for sanitising instructions.
of time. workers who are client- In the past few months,
First up were our protective facing, and who have to the demand for plastic
screens. Our bespoke wear a face covering for materials has been at an
approach to projects has long periods of time. We’ve all-time high, and this has
meant that we’ve been able to recently come up with a led to worldwide material
provide protective screens for clear face mask, with a built shortages. At times, we’ve
PRIME GROUP SOME MUCH APPRECIATED
MEMBER FEEDBACK
TO THE RESCUE
Prime Group Director, Jon Tolley, got a call from ‘During the COVID -19 pandemic, our Platinum
his wife, who works for the NHS, asking for help membership with the BPIF proved invaluable as
because she was running out of PPE. Jon picked the scope of the information available was current,
up a visor that had been cleaned and made safe to detailed and vast. We used their letter templates
take away, and re-engineered it over the course of to engage with staff, both on furlough leave and in
that night. By 6am the next morning, Prime Group work. We followed the COVID route plan to ensure we
had created a prototype, which was then sent to the hospital for had the appropriate measures and risk assessments
testing. By that evening, they had manufactured their first batch in place. We adapted quickly to new products and
services and stayed open, and I feel that being
of visors. involved with the BPIF helped us to do this.’
The company then re-purposed to manufacturing PPE, and
before long it was inundated with requests for visors from trusts Juliette Brown, Managing Director, Design Xpress
and hospitals all over the country.
Prime Group spent the next couple of months delivering as
many visors as they could, free of charge, to trusts and hospitals
around the country. Meanwhile, they tried to figure out how to
scale up operations. But the business was struggling to find
raw material stock. When they finally managed to get hold
of a large amount, they were uncertain that what they were
creating was needed at that volume. The company was about
to export the raw materials when national news picked up on
the story. Subsequently, the Government informed them that ‘Jo Haigh has been amazing throughout. It has been
they absolutely needed it. The raw materials were retained, and so reassuring to know that I can email any HR queries
helped to keep front line key workers going. and have a prompt response. It would definitely have
Prime Group ended up with a contract from the Government been a lot more stressful without the BPIF!’
to provide visors for the country, and this will be something Carol Collings, Accounts Manager, Calf Hey Group
that they do long-term.
www.primegroup.co.uk
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