Face Masks， Arrived on Time

Face Masks， Arrived on Time

As face masks were at a premium overnight recently, a shortage of them has gripped the whole country and the whole world!

Envy us these cartons of masks leaning against the wall? You will marvel at how hard they have got here from afar.

Originated from Germany, the cargo, with the love and sympathy of Avaya colleagues, has traveled across the oceans to Avaya’s China offices.

When the novel coronavirus first broke out, Lily Fu, Managing Director of Avaya Greater China, had sent an email to Avaya's global offices asking for face masks worldwide, which immediately touched the hearts of Avaya colleagues in the United States, Dubai, Europe and other countries. They acted promptly to search for masks high and low, only to find they were in short supply everywhere.  Numerous rounds of inquiries finally spotted a stock of masks at a German mask manufacturer, a customer of Avaya’s. An order of more than 10,000 masks was quickly placed with the manufacturer.

Even though supplies were secured, transportation posed a big challenge.  During the epidemic, customs clearance was difficult for face masks, now emergency goods. The difficulty was compounded by the epidemic’s adverse impact on the operations of forwarders.  While the Avaya headquarters paid three times the cost of ordinary international express services to dispatch the goods from Germany, Avaya's leadership in Greater China coordinated all resources available, with the advice and help of our partners, to overcome every obstacle on route, get them through Turkey and finally ship them into China.  Over the past few weeks, everyone was closely watching the progress of the delivery. Despite some minor setbacks, all masks arrived safely at all our offices and partners in China as scheduled before work was resumed.

Hurrah! All exclaimed.

And all Avaya WeChat groups were filled with profuse joy and gratitude.

Molly Han in Beijing

Long customs clearance times abroad plus highway closures in China presented unusual challenges.  When the masks finally arrived at our office, everyone uttered a sigh of relief.

Waiting for customs clearance

In transport

A Colleague in Dalian

This is the best gift for Valentine's Day!  Employees are always our core assets!  Every 3M 8822 mask for our employees at a time like this, imbued with the kindness of the whole company, had been transported from Germany, via Istanbul, Hong Kong and Shenzhen to Dalian.  Love is more than just talk. Welcome to the Avaya family and feel the love together!

A Colleague in Hong Kong

At a time when a face mask is hard to come by, receiving a bundle of them is like receiving wages for the day!  The feeling of being loved by the company is warm.

Stephanie in Beijing

I didn’t know how lucky I was until I sparked envy from friends by saying casually that each employee at Avaya would be given free 3M masks purchased in Germany.  Show me your blessings!

A colleague in Shanghai

Finally, the face masks arrived in Shanghai after a long journey across the oceans. Many thanks for the gifts for resumption of work!

Mr. Yao from Avaya Partner Waycom

My friends joke that anyone who would give you face masks as Lunar New Year’s gifts must be a sworn friend. Today, I received face masks from Avaya Greater China.

What is more precious than this when you are about to return to work?

Thank the executives of Avaya Greater China for their foresight. As early as nearly a week leading up to the quarantine of Wuhan, they began arranging purchases of face masks from abroad. A few days later, masks would become hard to find all over the world.

Thank Avaya International, especially Avaya Germany, for helping Avaya China scoop all 3M FFP2 masks (equivalent to N95 masks) they could find on the market.

Thank Avaya for their high efficiency in shipping the masks at the first opportunity, though they took several times more time than usual, due to the suspension of services by foreign airlines, to arrive at Hong Kong via Istanbul. Otherwise, their arrival in China would have been endlessly delayed, even if you could get some overseas.

Thank the colleagues of Avaya Greater China for their kindness of sharing precious masks with us in these difficult circumstances.

Thank Lisa for giving out masks to us on the cold rainy street as soon as she received them.

Let's put on masks and get back to work. Waycom and Avaya are always together.

Mr. Jia from Avaya Partner ESUNET

Yesterday, I received face masks given by Avaya. I am very grateful to the Avaya team for their efforts and selfless help. I felt the warmth of team support during this cold epidemic period.  I wish you all good health, peace and success and good luck in your work.

Small as they aqre, these masks help muster strength from all parties, and every trace of love will turn into morning sunshine, which will eventually dissipate the predawn dark.