Greetings Blackbriar business partners,

These very challenging times have led many of our contract manufacturing clients to reach out to us at BRS seeking assurances of our preparedness related to continuity of supply. Rest assured, we fully appreciate the trust you have placed in us and do not take our commitments to you lightly. We are taking all reasonable steps to proactively address the recognized and controllable risks in order to absolutely minimize the likelihood of a supply disruption to you. As this situation is constantly changing, our team reviews these steps daily, and modifies and improves our plan as appropriate. As we recognize that these high-level statements of assurance are being made by most of your business partners, we felt that if might be helpful to provide information on some of the specific steps BRS is taking to minimize the chances of a supply disruption to our contract manufacturing clients of both nicotine and CBD products. We have strategically focused on risks to our people and risks with our supply chain, as follows:

Labor:

  • All salaried employees that aren’t required in the manufacturing facility to directly support production or distribution are working from home to minimize contact for them and the production team.
  • Our procedures and IT systems that support working remotely were tested well in advance of our work-from-home directive and have proven themselves to be robust and effective in keeping our team productive
  • We have balanced our shift staffing in order to ensure that we have reduced exposure on any particular shift
  • Day and evening shifts are staggered by 30-60 minutes, meaning they don’t interact with each other coming/going from the factory
  • We have implemented hourly full cleaning/sanitizing of breakrooms and restrooms
  • We have established multiple breakroom locations within the building to further separate our employees
  • Our cleanroom, warehouse/distribution center and analytical lab personnel do not interact directly and take separate breaks
  • Hand washing is required anytime an employee prepares to enter a work area (cleanroom, distribution center, lab)
  • All employees handling product prior to shipping are wearing face masks
  • Any employee who reports symptoms that could be related to corona are required to call-in (not come-in), and must have a doctor’s note prior to returning
  • In order to help ensure we don’t have employees working despite being sick, BRS is offering a sickpay benefit to hourly employees
  • Note that we have had several employees with cold/flu/allergies, but no corona cases

Procurement of Raw Materials and Production Supplies:

  • Several weeks ago, we started the process of stocking up on supplies that we could predict may become scarce (cleaning materials, bleach, face masks, gloves, alcohol, etc.)
  • We have increased safety stocks of PG/VG/MCT/CBD/nicotine/flavorings/bottles/boxes
  • We reach out frequently to key suppliers and shipping companies to validate their fulfillment situation and have had only one concern related to a European supplier, which was mitigated by working through their N. American sister company
  • It has been emphasized with all key suppliers of how critical it is that we get notice as far in advance as possible of any disruption potential

Please be assured that if we identify any reasonably likely disruption to your product supply, we will reach out to you “sooner than later” so that you have the best visibility we can provide. Additionally, our management team remains prepared to discuss concerns with each customer related to their specific product(s) at your convenience.

 

Russ Rogers

CEO