The company behind the perspex screens that are set to become a staple in all the shops that will remain open during the four-week lockdown period says business has increased tenfold.
Auckland-based Onform Signs, which manufactures signs for commercial use, has experienced a surge in demand for perhaps its most simple signs: clear perspex screens, designed to create a protective barrier between retail staff and customers.
/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/UVHCHQDMJWAY3IEXPXLSK6WX5Y.jpg)
READ MORE:
• Premium - Auckland firm creates platform to self-assess Covid-19 risks
• Coronavirus: Up to 10,000 retail jobs at risk over next few months: Retail NZ
• Coronavirus: How the outbreak is impacting New Zealand's hospitality sector
• Premium - Small business sighs with relief over Government's rescue package
Jared Percival, sales director at Onform Signs, says the Onehunga-based firm has manufactured over thousands of screens for Chemist Warehouse, Unichem, Foodstuffs.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.Other clients it has made the screens for include doctors' surgeries, Countdown, and some independent fuel stations.
As of noon, it has manufactured 3500 screens today.
Percival anticipates a further surge in orders to come from dairies and petrol stations who in addition to supermarkets and pharmacies have been deemed essential and will remain open during the lockdown following the escalation to Covid-19 Alert Level 4.
/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/ESHVY5DX5E2AXAKFHZD4VQTBLY.jpg)
"Sales have gone up drastically since the Level 4 announcement, but we are keeping up with supply with a one- to two-day turn around time from raw material to finished product installed New Zealand wide," Percival told the Herald.
"We normally made acrylic letters along with other signs for businesses, but have pivoted our company to help fight CV-19 and stop the spread."
/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/WJ5U4I6L3BS7PJA6OA6S3CURZA.jpg)
Percival said the company had been flooded with orders from essential retailers and had enough orders to keep its team of 20 busy manufacturing for the next 48 hours.
"We currently have two teams of ten each time working at two factories to fulfil orders. We are no longer offering an installation service, and are relying on couriers and trucks to get goods around New Zealand. We have even given some of our vehicles to customers so their management can drive the goods to their stores around NZ as soon as possible."
/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/7TD6ARN3QUJCCBTV3XQ675SH4U.jpg)
Onform Signs sells its screens on Trade Me for $195 or $385 for a 3D verison with a side panel.