COVID-19 has changed the way a lot of businesses are run, and Mount Isa Mining Supplies is no different.
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Mount Isa Mining Supplies owner Brett Peterson,says the company is still pulling its weight despite the downturn in business due to the pandemic.
"We do mining supplies but there's a lot more to it than, we have over 10,000 line items and there is the rural sector and the retail sector as well," Mr Peterson said.
"We've seen a bit of a slowdown from the rural and mining sector but mostly it has been the retail that has slowed."
Mr Peterson said some of the way they have buffered the business and its staff of 10 from the economic turmoil was to take early action.
"I sat down with staff over a two month period to see what we could do, how we could do it and how we could do it better," he said.
"For those of us who work on site constantly that was going to be the biggest issue because we don't just work on one site we work on all sites."
Since COVID-19 all the company's account staff and sales staff work from home.
"We've put despatch on two shifts, one a day shift, one an afternoon shift so we are despatching from 7am to midnight. We've got staff crossover between the two," Mr Peterson.
"We came up with something that suited everybody but still allowed us to operate."
Getting supplies from US and China has been difficult too and they had had to adjust their ordering patterns though it helps they can track what they are selling on a minute by minute basis when it comes to re-ordering..
"In US they normally shut down a day off for Memorial Day this time they are shutting down for the week we just have to make sure we have stock to cover that," Mr Peterson said.
"As for gear we import from China, there were a few issues to work through. They are getting some of their materials from Korea so there was a flow-on effect but we've kept our stock levels so we've been able to supply in full."
Mr Peterson has seen some risk-averse behaviour with some clients deferring projects.
"But they are still going to go ahead in the future," he said.
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Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
