Category: About Us

03/16/2020 

Please find below some temporary changes to our policies, all changes are effective immediate and until further notice.

Guidance on social distancing to maintain a healthy workplace;

·       Employee breaks will be staggered to minimize the number of employees in the breakroom at one time.  Office employees should respect this policy by avoiding lunch rooms during traditional “peak hours”.

·       Employees will be allowed to take their break at their workstation including eating and drinking.  This also applies for shop floor employees.

·       Some of our smaller conference rooms will be closed until further notice, these will be marked with signs.  PLEASE RESPECT THESE SIGNS.

o   Small conference rooms can still be used for single occupancy use.

·       All production meetings will be temporarily suspended.  Supervisors will need organize and manage topics one-one-one with employees.

o   Daily huddles; including production and office.

o   SQDC Meetings.

o   Shift handover meetings.

o   Launch meetings.

·       **In general all in-person meetings should be limited and only held in larger spaces with absolutely necessary employees.

Our local management team is in daily communication.  Now more than ever, the well-being of our employees is our primary focus. 

We will continue to distribute information as it becomes available.

03/12/2020 

Effectively immediately and until further notice, BILSTEIN is implementing a temporary work from home policy to help avoid the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the office.  Sr. Department Managers (OE – Kirchen; AM – Baumgarten; Logistics – Cecere; SPV/Sales – Albieri; Program Management – Williams; Engineering – Fisher; IT – Helcher; CAR – Guthridge; Quality – Adams; Purchasing – Hiti) are to determine within their departments who should work from home and at what frequency.  A schedule is to be established between managers, at-home employees and supported departments to ensure that communication concerning daily decisions and events in the plant are maintained.

Managers – when deciding the priority who can work from home, please consider the following:

·       Any employees that are an increased risk from the virus (immune compromised, pregnant, etc.)

·       Employees with care giver obligations

In preparation, please be sure that those working from home have a minimal setup in place:

·       Laptop plus charger

·       Mobile phone with shared contact information

·       Operable VPN access/setup and tested. 

·       Wireless keyboard and mouse if needed.

·       Monitors are not to be taken home.  Docking stations are okay to travel if you need them to charge your laptop.

·       Check Microsoft Outlook contact card to ensure contact information including mobile phone number is updated.

Employees working from home need to be available to receive calls at any time. 

And as a final thought, please keep in mind all of the employees that are not able to work from home.    

03/12/2020 

The point system for hourly employees as part of the Attendance Policy will be modified effective immediately, to temporarily accommodate emergency situations as it relates to the the COVID-19 pandemic:

1.     Employees that are medically diagnosed with COVID-19 will be provided with 10 working days (aligned with their schedule) of company paid time off.  Additionally short term disability is available after the initial 10 paid working days.  No points will be given.

a.     Employees that are required by state or federal government to serve a mandated quarantine will be provided 10 working days (aligned with their schedule) of company paid time off. No points will be given.

2.     Employees that exhibit flu like systems are not to come to work.  In these cases time off will be assessed against employee PTO.  PTO loans will be granted and tracked in cases where sufficient PTO is not yet accrued to cover the absence. No points will be given for unscheduled absences if the employee calls in to the Call Off Line per our Attendance Policy.   

3.     Employees who are unable to find suitable coverage for their children due to school closure due to virus are to use PTO for the time out of the office.  PTO loans will be granted and tracked in cases where sufficient PTO is not yet accrued to cover the absence. No points will be given for unscheduled absences if the employee calls in to the Call Off Line per our Attendance Policy.   

If you have any concerns or specific situations related to this topic, please reach out to any member of the Human Resources team.

03/12/2020 

Effective immediately, all domestic and international business travel is suspended until further notice.  This is valid for air and car travel to anywhere.  Exceptions can be requested by a senior department manager for documented reasons and requires approval of two of the following – Fabian Schmahl, Drew Guthridge or John Thompson.

Also effective immediately, we are suspending all non-business essential visitors to the plant.  This includes but is not limited to vendors, customers, contactors, etc.  Any visitors deemed business essential will first need to be reviewed and approved by the department manager with a secondary approval by one of the following – Fabian Schmahl, Drew Guthridge or John Thompson.

If you have currently visitors scheduled please either cancel the visit(s) or gain approval from your sr. department manager.

These actions are intended to reduce business interruption and continue to support production while keeping our employees and families safe.

Every year, thyssenkrupp recognizes select locations throughout the world who go above and beyond when it comes to employee safety through the “we care” award. This award is their form of recognition for outstanding achievements for Occupational Safety and Health practices throughout thyssenkrupp AG. I am pleased to announce that Plant Hamilton has been recognized as one of three plants for our “Near Miss Reporting App”, and will be taking home the 3rd place award for the 2019 “we can” awards!!

I would personally like to congratulate and recognize our OPX and Health and Safety team for their creativity and dedication to keeping our Bilsteiners safe. The way we are able to use modern technologies to reduce our accident count is a monumental step in our industry, and very very important to me. I encourage our Bilsteiners to keep reporting those near misses and continue to keep safety as our #1 priority!