At the start of the year, the Plant Services editors decided to take one final look back at the pandemic year, and take a snapshot of the new normal that is emerging from this moment of crisis.

Read the full article here: https://www.plantservices.com/articles/2021/the-impact-of-covid-19-whats-changed-for-maintenance-and-whats-stayed-the-same/

Here is my quick take on their tale of two surveys - one from June 2020 vs one from March 2021.

1. Operational changes: From almost 50% running at reduced capacity and reduced personnel to nearly 3 in 5 respondents saying they are back to their pre-COVID maintenance and headcount levels.
2. Changes in maintenance modes: 32% of respondents stated that the COVID-19 pandemic changed their normal maintenance mode, trending slightly away form preventive, with a slight rise reported for both reactive and more proactive modes.
3. Plant agility: The questions in this section were designed to evaluate the level of flexibility among plant teams during the pandemic and a very high level of resilience among plant workers was uncovered.
4. Pressing needs: The most revealing change of the pandemic is a trend toward building stronger partnerships with service providers.