Published on March 4th, 2021

February was the best month after the start of Covid-19 in terms of orders received

Katsa released previous Covid-19 news on October 13, 2020.

 

Figure. Order backlog at Katsa between 31.3.2020-28.2.2021 shows that impact of Covid-19 was hardest in August 2020.

Since previous Katsa Covid-19 news many things have happened. At first we had a good sales month in October 2020 and orders received grew significantly, which can be seen also in the figure above. Towards the end of 2020 positive thinking clearly started to rise in the industry and that was supported with first approved vaccine approval in December 2020.

However, very quickly just before Christmas time news began to report about new virus variants and at least in Europe vaccination schedules became less optimistic. People started to understand that normal working people will not be vaccinated before summer 2021, which in the industry wiped out for instance already once postponed SMM2020 exhibition (Hamburg, February 2021), Intermat 2021 exhibition (Paris, April 2021) and Nor-Shipping 2021 (Oslo, June 2021).

At Katsa we lauched our LinkedIn account in December to support marketing and sales for new customers. More than earlier during Covid-19 we also started look for suitable webinars to present our new products.

After a weaker month with orders received in January, Katsa had a very good February. Net sales was better than a year ago, orders received was the best after the start of Covid-19 and order book is now almost at the level before Covid-19.

Total net sales in our fiscal year 2021 since beginning of October 2020 is now about 10% better than budgeted. Orders received in Febuary were +74% compared to February 2020 and especially new projects on the gearbox business are promising.

At Katsa we are working according to the improved procedures due to Covid-19. For instance the morning shift comes half an hour earlier to avoid any physical contact with the evening shift as one of those practises to be mentioned. Many of office people have continued their remote working. Sales is actively having Skype or Teams meeting with customers.

Some new customers have taken the benefit of available capacity at Katsa. We are now preparing ourselves to meet general improved customer demand. Please, be active and check the current delivery time from your Katsa contact person. Remember that Katsa is financially extremely solid and able to support you in case of contract manufacturing and manufacuring outsourcing.

We encourage our customers to contact us with any gear component and gearbox supply difficulties you may face globally. We are ready to help you. Consider your preparations for the coming spring and summer. Be pro-active with your actual ordering needs and possible inventory increase to be flexible to support your customers.

With matters or concerns, please contact katsagears@katsa.fi or your regular contact person at Katsa.