OTTAWA — One of the world’s largest video production OEM companies, Ross Video, announced today it is temporarily closing its manufacturing operations in Ontario, as a result of a provincial government mandate requiring the closure of non-essential businesses to help reduce the spread of Covid-19.
“Although Ross falls into the category of ‘essential business’ as defined by the Ontario government, we are electing to follow the mandate and suspend manufacturing operations for two weeks to both protect our staff and do our part to help reduce the spread of the virus. We believe that the two-week shutdown period will not place undue hardship on our clients,” says the company’s news release.
The factory closure means Ross will not be able to ship new product from March 25 until April 8 at the earliest.
“We would like to reassure our customers and business partners that we will do everything possible to support you through the weeks and months ahead and that we will be as proactive as possible in communicating product availability. Our order management staff will be contacting all customers with back orders in the days ahead to confirm expected shipment times,” reads the news release.
Technical support will continue with the majority of the company’s teams available as they work from home. Emergency spare parts are available from Ross’ global spares depots, the release says.
In addition, Ross sales staff, solution architects and demo artists continue to be available to answer questions, work on proposals and provide online presentations and demos. New product orders will continue to be accepted and delivered in priority sequence once Ross’ manufacturing operation resumes, the release says.
“We would like to thank our very dedicated staff, our customers and business partners for their support and understanding during this challenging period. Our thoughts go out to all those that have been and continue to be affected by Covid-19,” the release says.
In a follow-up email answering a question from Cartt.ca, Ross Video says it will top up government programs to make sure employees are still paid. “In terms of our manufacturing employees, we’ve been advised that the employees affected are eligible for 55% of their wage from the government because this is a mandated program. Ross is topping up the maximum allowed by law to 95%. The closure is two weeks but spans three weeks, and the government only does full weeks from Monday to Friday. We’re paying 100% for the partial first and third weeks and not asking the government for help. So, employees affected will make 98% of their pay overall. We’re doing our best to take care of our manufacturing team during this challenging time,” said a company spokesperson.
