The focus of Master Meter’s entire management team during the last several weeks has been centered on the COVID19 pandemic. Together we’ve made many policy changes to protect our people, safely serve our customers, and mitigate potential disruption. In the spirit of transparency to our community, we want to share our measures taken so far and those which will evolve over the near term.
MANUFACTURING AND SUPPLY CHAIN
Master Meter recognizes that business continuity is of paramount importance to our customers and partners. Master Meter is part of the Arad Group – a global enterprise with operations across four continents. As part of our manufacturing plan for our Texas headquarters, we’ve built in redundancy in our multiple supply chains over the past decades. We can nevertheless expect some disruptions during this dynamically evolving crisis, but steps are actively being taken to address and mitigate hurdles as they develop.
Our Harmony MDM utility software platform is responsible for the data of millions of water meters. Harmony is cloud-hosted on the highly secure Microsoft Azure platform and provides inherent data redundancy. We are able to securely monitor and manage remotely without disruption – to ensure our utility customers can continue to serve their citizens without disruption.
SOCIAL DISTANCING AND THE EVOLVING WORK ENVIRONMENT
1. Master Meter Corporate Offices are enabling remote work capabilities to the maximum degree. We are currently deferring social events, in-person meetings and leveraging technology to meet and manage remotely.
2. We’ve enabled full support to our customers on a remote basis while using a digital work environment. Customer Service teams have full VPN protected access to our Enterprise Resource Planning software and are fully enabled to take calls and work remotely to address the needs of our valued utility customers.
3. Master Meter personnel already cooperate using Microsoft Teams which supports fully functional remote collaboration with chat, video, and real-time data sharing capability.
4. Master Meter continues to provide information and promote best practices to all employees to prevent the possible spread of any illness. We’ve located hand sanitizer through all public areas and educated our workforce on limiting exposure and maintaining proper distances.
5. All non-essential business travel has been canceled. Previously planned participation in any remaining tradeshows is under review. We’re continuing to support essential onsite operational teams to ensure timely product delivery to our customers.
6. All sales professionals are digitally connected via email, laptop, corporate VPN, Salesforce, cell, FaceTime or Skype to serve our customers.
7. Weeks ago, we began screening all visitors to our offices, including mandatory temperature checks. We implemented mandatory screenings of employees who traveled regardless if the trip was business or personal. As noted above, all non-essential business travel has been canceled until further notice.
8. All of our employees have access to Teledoc health services to reduce the need for direct medical office visits while reducing the risk of spreading or catching an illness.
COMMUNICATIONS
1. We are continuously monitoring and reviewing evolving recommendations and policy guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), while communicating these to our internal teams.
2. We are coordinating continuous global and local communications with our customers, business partners and employees using email, social media, Skype, FaceTime, and other digital means.
WHAT TO EXPECT NEXT
This rapidly evolving, highly fluid situation is unprecedented in the lifetime of any company’s current workforce. Conditions demand vigilance, accurate communication, patience, and resolve. Master Meter Leadership will continue to meet the challenges and hurdles as they develop and work diligently with a focus on serving our valued customers and partners while limiting any disruption, and meet the needs of our Master Meter family.
