Leadership Interview - A.C. Marchionne

We have lived with COVID for over a year now. When COVID started to impact the country, what were the first steps you took to prepare Greiner Bio-One for what may happen and determine how Greiner Bio-One could help?

As we are a company that works closely with bioscience institutions, we do have some internal expertise related to the field. So, our first steps were to understand the virus and making sure that our employees were safe. Safety was our number one priority. However, we had to keep in mind that we need to produce and supply life-saving and life-impacting products. That was an enormous challenge. Because on the one hand, you want to make sure that your team is safe and you want to maintain high hygiene and viral control. But on the other hand, we needed to step up and ensure that our products were getting to our customers because they were used to diagnose the virus and ensure the health of others. Those were our first steps and the team transitioned into this role very well. We were able to prevent outbreaks of the virus, unlike other companies in our area.

What were the challenges when COVID hit the first time, and how did we overcome them as a company?

As said before, we had to ensure that our team members are safe. Hence, we established a couple of concrete measures, including taking temperatures when entering the site, mandatory face masks, hand washing and disinfecting policies, etc. We already had technology in place that enabled our staff to work from home. So, we were encouraging people to work from home. At first, every two weeks because of the virus's two-week incubation period, once it started to spread more quickly and nationally, we sent people home indefinitely. For those who had to remain on-site, we established distancing guidelines and a strict cleaning protocol.  

We have now talked about measures on-site. However, you are not only the president of the company but more specific the president of sales. In this role, many of your team members are working remotely anyway and visiting customers on a daily basis. So, from a commercial point of view: What did change? How did we try to resume business? How did we adapt?

We implemented virtual technologies. They were very much needed because customers demanded support but did not allow us on site. So we were happy to have platforms as teams to share with our customers. One of our biggest successes, however, is our G.O.L.D. (Greiner Bio-One On-Demand Learning for our Devices) product specialist training. Our technical teams were able to conduct virtual evaluations and demonstrations of our products for our customers from their homes. That encompassed multiple cameras, Greiner Bio-One pull-up backgrounds, and online training platforms. Our product specialists prepared that program and created a virtual engagement that was exceptionally well received. And by doing so, we were able to keep our staff safe and on a side note reduce our travel expenditure. 

Also, our sales teams that would usually tour existing and potential customers got highly creative. They started using the online environment and platforms like LinkedIn to start to reach out to potential customers and also leveraged existing customer relationships to get in touch with people that needed our products at the time. Additionally, our online shop became more and more popular. We could reach out to customers who were buying one or two Greiner Bio-One products and strengthen our relationship with them. Of course, our increased success with our online shop is a consequence of our intensified engagement in online activities and social media. So not only did we do an excellent job at finding our customers, but also our customers did a great job at finding us. 

What chances and opportunities did we take as a company during the COVID time?

The biggest chance we took during this pandemic was creating a Virus Stabilization Tube when the market needed one in order to conduct high-volume testing. Greiner Bio-One was one of the very few companies that was able to provide a high-quality solution. We took a risk in developing it and eventually it was a big success. At one point, more than 60% of nasopharyngeal swab tests were conducted in conjunction with our Virus Stabilization Tube. But it was a big project for us because of the investments that had to be made first. We had a big project team and we had to act quickly and expeditiously. 

COVID seems to come close to an end in the US (while other parts of the world still struggle massively). What is your outlook on the following months?

Greiner Bio-One’s business looks extremely strong. The demand for our products is extremely high because of research conducted on COVID-19 and also because of the need for medical care within our Preanalytics business. And I could see the demand for our products remaining high for numerous reasons. We will still have variants of the virus that we need to research and we have grants to conduct research. Also, we have the same demand for blood collection in an aging population with a constant number of illnesses. Furthermore, we are continuously launching new products, which will be highly successful and lead to a higher demand for our products and our system; one of these products is EVOPROTECT. Our goal is to deliver the highest quality and highest safety so our products can improve the lives of others. 

What learnings and takeaways do we get from the COVID pandemic? How will it change the way Greiner Bio-One does business in the future (incl. concrete measures)?

There are a couple of things that have been impacted. When it comes to supply chain activities, we have learned how easily a global supply chain can be affected. We have learned it is smart to have multiple vendors and suppliers validated and ready to go. It is also interesting how digitalization had become very important when not many people were not able to leave their homes but still needed products. Also, the flexibility and adaptability, as well as the loyalty, passion, and commitment of our teams to the company and to producing products, was overwhelming.

Do you think that we will continue working remotely?

I think that the pandemic has changed the landscape of the office. I believe that we will eventually be having flexible time schedules. People might be spending a certain amount of time in the office and a certain amount working from home if they choose to.

How have the challenges of the COVID pandemic affected the leadership style of Greiner Bio-One for the better, and how will that translate to better servicing our customers? 

This pandemic has changed our leadership style for the better because we have learned that change is inevitable; that it is okay to try new things. It has reinforced our understanding that our people are number one with keeping our business growing. Without our teams, we cannot do anything. I think our leadership recognizes the importance of our people and that change is okay. It is okay to work from home, it is okay to change processes, and it is okay to react to the market. I think coming out of this pandemic, our company is a bit less conservative than we used to be. I think the pandemic has brought our teams more closely together because we had to collaborate from afar and work more closely together at the same time. 

Is there something you would like to add?

It is an amazing feeling to work for a company that has such a great and positive impact on the pandemic. We are passionate about what we do, and that is clearly seen in what we were able to do in 2020 with our Virus Stabilization Tubes and all the different products. And I am proud of that. And I know that many team members are proud of it as well.