Kettle safety control giant Strix is working hard to rise to the challenges posed by coronavirus at its factory in China.

The Isle of Man-based company said it has been able to maintain production at the Guangzhou plant in the south of the country.

Among immediate measures taken, the firm set up a disinfection unit at the entrance of the factory which employs around 700 people.

Inside the unit an ’ultrasonic atomiser’ has been customised with the company-owned Halopure disinfection bromine resin beads. The beads are added to water, atomised into fine particles and used as a disinfectant over the whole body.

The factory has been open since it reopened following two weeks’ holiday for the Chinese New Year and a one-week closure as ordered by the Chinese authorities.

In an exclusive interview with Business News, chief executive Mark Bartlett spoke for the first time about the health crisis.

He said: ’Actually, from our point of view I think we have done a pretty good job to be honest. A lot if this revolves around being a case of doing what we can to protect our people.

’We have seen a return rate of 80% which is more than sufficient to fulfill short term customer demands.

’Typically around this time of the Chinese New Year period we always have some people who don’t come back from their home towns and typically we have a 90% return rate so to have 80% is very high given the circumstances in China.’

The firm had also established a referral incentive for staff to recommend close associates to join Strix which has seen nearly 40 people join the company.

Mr Bartlett praised the local management in China for the swift way they reacted to the crisis.

And of the staff he said: ’We are delighted by the resilience shown by our employees.

’This is mirrored by our supportive supplier base.

’We put in all sorts of precautions and segmemented the factory, for instance, into five or six different areas so people are not making contact unless they absolutely have to and we have set up the disinfection unit using what is effectively our own technology in Halopure.

’Certainly so far that has given employees confidence that we are doing all the right things. And obviously we have all the other measures such as masks and hand sanitisers.

’So far everything is going as well as I think we could expect and certainly we are quite confident of achieving our customers’ demands.

’One of the things we are hearing is that we are faring better than many others, there is no question of that.

’We only effectively had a week’s loss of full production, we had to delay our return by a week so overall we’ve not been hit too hard, quite honestly.’

Mr Bartlett said that social gatherings were being restricted which was standard practice in China at the moment.

He said he was not aware of any staff contracting the virus.

He said they had a small number of employees who were from Wuhan, which is where the whole crisis is understood to have begun, who have not been able to come back to work at the factory.

And anybody in the factory who shows any signs or symptoms of a cold is quarantined for 14 days through self-isolation. ’We are being very strict with measures such as temperature measurement. Employees are continually monitored for an increase in body temperature, whilst the buiding and company’s transport receive regular sterilisation measures,’ he said.

’We are doing all we can do to try and protect our employees.’

Mr Bartlett stressed that ’we are confident of meeting our customers’ demands. Orders are being received as normal’.

Mr Bartlett and other employees from outside China cannot travel to the factory. ’But there have been no issues about travelling back and forth to Hong Kong where Mr Bartlett spends a lot of time.

He spoke to Business News while on a business trip to Indonesia.

He said: ’We have a lot of video conferencing facilities and we have a very good communications network and we are still having daily meetings with China so have not had any real issues about maintaining our communications.’

Asked if he had any message or advice that we could follow here, he said: ’Everything you see and hear over here in Asia is all about hygiene, and making sure you are using hand sterilisers regularly, that you wash and clean and look after your personal hygiene.

’I do think they are more used to knowing how to deal with things like this, following the SARS and avian flu outbreaks.

’At Strix we are following very much the guidelines of the WHO (World Health Organisation) and also any advice handed down by the health authorities in the Isle of Man and the UK.

’We are monitoring things daily in management to see what recommendations are being made.’

Even at Forrest House, Ronaldsway, the Strix headquarters, he said a deep clean was taking place on a regular basis.

He said there had been no impact at the Ramsey factory where there was quite a good supply of stock brought from Europe and the US.

Talking about the way China reacted to the crisis Mr Bartlett said it had been ’very effective’.

He said: ’They recognised there was an issue here and they have taken appropriate action.’

Mr Bartlett agreed there had been an impact on the AIM-listed company’s share price - but ’when I compare our position with other companies listed on FTSE or on AIM we have not fared too badly.’

Asked if this has been the biggest challenge Strix has faced he said: ’It’s been the biggest challenge for our people to ensure that we get it right.’

Strix’s actions to take appropriate action in China has been commended for its ’fast and effective measures’ by the chairman of the local National People’s Congress Committee and the Epidemic and Prevention and Control Authority.