Tom Forsythe, Executive VP
KYZEN Corporation
Nashville, TN, USA

When your neighbors, your country and the world call, you answer!

There are many storylines from Hollywood, as well as authors that tell of crisis or cataclysmic events which imperil or change the community or an entire nation. These tales usually rely upon a hero or heroine to “rise above” and save everyone. We have all seen and read that plotline many, many times.

How unexpected that we would all – in every corner of the world – be living such a story
in 2020.

Today, our health care professionals have more in common with grocery clerks and delivery drivers than they do professors and theoreticians. They are truly manning (sorry for the gender affiliation on that one) the barricades, trying to save lives without the truly effective cures we have become accustomed to medical science providing. They have answered the call.

What about the rest of us? Well, we are seeing it every day.

On a personal level, there is so much less traffic the auto insurance companies have started announcing rebates ~ that is a first! Ordinary people are sewing masks and 3D printing face shields right in their homes. Everyday citizens becoming heroes to those around them by stocking grocery shelves and delivering everyday necessities to those who cannot pick up for themselves. People are keeping their social distance, washing their hands, and as we can all see in the numbers published daily that personal behavior makes a difference each one of us can and is making a difference. Our parents were right about something, after all, we individually can make a difference.

What about on the professional level?

Most of us are not medical professionals. We can’t evaluate, prescribe care or heal someone who is sick. However, the folks in our industries, the manufacturers of the world have time, talent and treasure at their disposal, and many of them are electing to answer the call like the heroes in the medical profession.

This week alone, nearly 10 companies that manufacture things from traditional automobiles to electric cars to electronic devices for more end uses than you can imagine have announced they have restructured their lines to make ventilators. These ventilators are one of the few things that can genuinely help people that are desperately ill with the virus, and these manufacturers are answering the call.

So how does a carmaker, in a few days, know how to make a ventilator?

That carmaker not only has lots of smart engineers, designers and talented staff that design, manufacture parts for and assemble those cars, they have a legion of suppliers with subject matter expertise to support that car guy turned ventilator maker.

KYZEN, for example, is known for its cleaning technology and process expertise. We work with companies all over the world. Each of those companies knows KYZEN for specialty cleaning technologies for their unique industry and the cleaning processes they use. Maybe they are electronics assembly experts and know us for cleaning flux and other residues from electronics assemblies. Maybe they make devices that are subassemblies on those electronic assemblies, and clean similar flux and other soils. Some of them make parts for cars and trucks, here we deal with grease and oils, often before a painting process.

Sometimes we work with people in the spaceship business. Not kidding, for many years we have had a variety of customers that make either part of or the whole darn rocket ship. Now rocket scientists are pretty smart people, yet even those talented people need sector expertise that a cleaning expert like KYZEN can provide. There are people that make medical devices and implants. They are often related to those rocket scientist folks ~ really smart, but they too need the deep expertise about cleaning that KYZEN can provide.

So, we have asked ourselves: What are WE doing to help?

First, we have taken steps to keep our staff and, to the best of our abilities, their families safe while maintaining our essential operations in support of our customers who are also keeping their essential operations running. We have lots of people working remotely, and some coming in to get things done, as there are things you cannot do remotely. Check! Job #1 is getting lots of attention.

But, what else can WE do?

We are reaching out to our customers to make sure they know we have expertise beyond the “normal” areas where we work together. If they are considering doing something new, in a hurry because of the life and death nature of the times we live in, we want them to know an already trusted advisor may be able to help even more.

That is the goal, helping our customer do extraordinary things. Using their time, talent and treasure to help their community, their nation and the world. They are using their expertise and that of their suppliers and colleagues to fill a gap, jump in the breach, simply do something that the world needs but is having a little trouble doing just now. Make the world a little bit better place, one piece at a time by organizing a team of employees and suppliers to do something new because it is the right thing to do.

We at KYZEN are ready to help with the full range of our expertise in the cleaning world that runs from removing greases and oil, cleaning pieces of laser and electronics to rocket ships and everything in between. If we can be of assistance, please reach out and let us know.