Ducati Is Back In Action, Piaggio Will Follow Suit

Update, April 27, 2020: Production has officially resumed in Borgo Panigale as a number of Ducati employees are back in the factory to restart the production line. Of course, the decision to allow people back at work comes with a list of stringent sanitary measures to ensure everyone's safety.

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To make sure that there are as few people as possible working at the same time, instead of having all the employees working a regular eight-hour shift, employees are separated into two seven-shifts. As for office workers, like for many other companies, they are encouraged to continue working remotely. 

For Aprilia and Moto Guzzi, activities are expected to resume on May 4, 2020, the day the national lockdown decree will expire. According to the Italian media, the facilities have already been thoroughly sanitized and production should restart soon. 

Original story follows. 

The world has been idled for a little over a month now. While lockdowns and safety measures remain in place in a number of countries, others are gradually planning to restart their economy. Italy has been one of the hardest hit countries both in number of cases and in death toll and peaked early on during the pandemic.  

Early in March, 2020, Italian authorities put the entire country on lockdown to try and limit the damage. Fast-forward five weeks or so and Italy is about to gradually slowly reopen its economy. "Non-essential” companies are soon expected to be able to resume their activities—with appropriate safety measures in place, of course. Ducati, Piaggio, MV Agusta, and Energica are on the list of companies eager to kickstart production.  

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With the situation finally stabilizing in Italy and the country gradually relaxing its lockdown regulations, it’s no surprise that motorcycle manufacturers are itching to start making bikes again. After an understandably catastrophic month of March on the sales front, some of the industry’s biggest names already have a plan to restart their activities and are only waiting for the green light. 

Energica CEO Livia Cevolini and MV Agusta CEO Timur Sardarov both confirmed that their respective companies are ready to hit the ground running with recovery plans and stringent internal safety measures in place. Their goal is to ensure that their employees’ return to work is both safe and efficient. Piaggio is also ready to get back to work after signing an understanding protocol with its Pontedera workers’ trade union that will allow production to resume.  

For Ducati, part of the reopening strategy focuses on its dealers with the launch of the “Ducati Cares” program meant to incite customers to return to the showrooms and make them feel safe doing it. The program provides dealers with clear guidelines on how to ensure theirs and their visitors’ safety.  

While no official date has been confirmed yet, companies could be allowed to reopen as early as April 27, 2020, according to the Italian media.  

Sources: La Stampa, Reuters, Ultimate Motorcycling, Bloomberg, DriveMag, OmniMoto, AutoMotori News