Manufacturing Mindfulness: 7 Lessons From the Pandemic

An employee at Polar Shades, a family-owned business that manufactures interior and exterior window shades, makes surgical masks to help health care workers and first responders during the pandemic in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 14, 2020. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

As 2021 draws to a close, manufacturers are reflecting on how far they’ve come during the last year and a half. After halting production, reducing operations, or shifting to different products at the start of the pandemic, companies are now looking to climb out of the decline—and in some cases, are working harder than ever to keep up with demand.

Here, manufacturers look at what they’ve learned during the pandemic, and how those lessons will shape their plans for the years ahead.

1. The Benefits of High Safety Standards

COVID-19 created the need to introduce more contactless procedures in factories, along with safety gear for workers and fewer employees on site at a time.