Northwood Investments, parent company to both La Grande, Ore.-based RV manufacturers, Northwood Manufacturing and Outdoors RV, plans to resume initial production Monday, May 18.
NW and ORV have formulated a three-phase plan for the reopening. Phase 1 included forming and implementing a series of safety steps and precautions to give their employees the safest work environment possible. These steps included: preparing to take each employee’s temperature with a touchless, thermal thermometer; the implementation of a daily employee safety survey; and the availability of various Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including face masks, disposable gloves, disinfectant and hand sanitizer.
“Through this entire ordeal, our employees’ health and safety has been and will continue to be our number one priority here,” said CEO Craig Orton. “We want to be sure to protect all our team members while they are at work as well as our community as a whole.”
With the appropriate safety measures now in place, NW and ORV will began Phase 2 on Tuesday, May 12, with production managers reaching out to employees via phone and an employee text alert app to recall the first wave of workers to re-start the manufacturing lines. When asked about resuming production, Orton said, “Given everything we have all been through the past few weeks and months, it just feels great to simply say, ‘We’re Back!’”
Phase 3, the return of the balance of the work force, is expected to come within the next few weeks. Northwood Investments CFO Cerise Smallwood said, “It is our intention and desire to get everyone back to work as soon possible. We are a family here and we truly miss every single person.”