At Luxe Packaging Insight, we’ve been polling suppliers to track the impact of the coronavirus on their business as the crisis unfolds. Etienne Gruyez, ceo of Stoelzle Masnières, a high-end fragrance and cosmetics glassworks in France, gives us an update on how his business is affected.
What are your most pressing challenges today in the face of the crisis?
First of all to ensure the safety of the personnel still present on site in order to respect the hygiene measures. The second difficulty is the lack of clarity regarding the various measures put in place by the government, but this is understandable given the current state of the crisis.
How has your production capacity been impacted?
Our production lines at Masnières (France) are a standstill both when it comes to glass production and decoration. The furnace is kept going in closed circuit. I'm afraid don’t have a forecast of how this will evolve in the coming weeks as everything is hinging on the government's decisions regarding confinement and it’s also difficult to make any predictions given that the vast majority of our customers have closed.
How have things changed vis-a-vis your clients?
We are all in the same boat, so there is not much feedback. Everyone wants to make sure everyone is OK. Clearly, the vast majority of our customers have shut down, as have our subcontractors, so we have had to close down as well. It is still too early to determine the full impact of this crisis. As of March 20, all of Stoelzle’s sites were operating apart from our French factory.
