In our last communication to you on 19th March, we outlined our position at the time for staffing and our global screen production facilities. Since that communication, the situation has changed somewhat within Harkness as we continue to see our industry adapting to these difficult circumstances and governments around the world implement initiatives including full lockdowns and stimulus packages to help preserve the global economy.
We felt it essential to keep you informed on our current status, the measures we’re putting in place to ensure we can continue to support your businesses in the way in which you’ve come to expect us to and the additional work we’re undertaking globally to both support key workers and front line services during this crisis and to provide you with additional resources to help your business restart in the coming months.
Manufacturing Capability
Since mid-December we have instigated a series of actions to protect the safety of our staff and to keep our supply chain strong. Our factory in China has been re-opened for over a month and is manufacturing screens for cinema exhibitors around the world. Our factories in the USA and India have remained open throughout and likewise maintain manufacturing capabilities. So today 4 of our 5 factories are open and able to support cinemas.
Our manufacturing facility in France is currently closed due to local government guidelines restricting the proximity of workers on the factory floor. We continue to evaluate local restrictions and identify methods by which we can adapt our manufacturing processes in order to maintain social distancing during our artisan manufacturing processes.
In the meantime, customers usually ordering screens from our French facility are still able to order screens from Harkness and these will be manufactured at one of our other facilities and we have a number of customers in Europe taking advantage of our global manufacturing capabilities to continue their renovation work.
Staffing
The severity of the situation and the anticipated longevity of cinema closures has meant that we have taken difficult choices to adapt our staffing requirements. Many of our employees have now been furloughed in accordance with local government initiatives however we have ensured that we have retained sufficient resources across the entire business globally to continue to facilitate your requirements both in terms of product and technology support.
We believe that you should see little to no difference in the level of service or attentiveness you’ve come to expect from us however you may receive a response from a different member of the Harkness team than your usual primary contact. All emails sent to furloughed staff are being received by other members of the Harkness team and will be responded to accordingly.
Our first priority is the health and well-being of our staff and we will continue to monitor the situation with a view to restoring our teams at the earliest possible opportunity.
Product Maintenance
A number of customers have asked us for guidance on protecting their screens during the shutdown and below are some recommendations. In the majority of cases, screens left static in auditoriums where HVAC has been left running should notice no difference in the performance of their screen upon restart.
If HVAC has been turned off:
It is recommended that HVAC units are left on at all time.
In high humidity and high heat environments screens may look relaxed or sagging and seams could become more visible. Once HVAC units are re-engaged, screens should pull back in to their correct position and seams should once again disappear.
There is a possibility of mould growth on the screen in high humidity environments as a result of HVAC being switched off. Mould is typically difficult to remove from the surface and if the screen is coated (Perlux, Spectral or Clarus XC), the screen is likely to need to be replaced.
Cleaning or disinfecting the auditorium:
A number of exhibitors are reviewing the possibility of increasing auditorium temperatures to in excess of 50°C (122°F) as part of their disinfection program ahead of re-opening. Heating the auditorium to this temperature could cause distortion to the screen. This distortion may cause the screen to misshape which could in turn result in additional tensioning. On a curved screen this could cause bellying, where the screen pulls away from the natural curve of the frame. So after a temperature increase, the screen may not return to its original position on a wrap-around frame, however this may be less of a problem on a lace-in frame as additional stretch may be possible.
It is unlikely that there will be a build-up of dust on the screen during closure. Dust may gather where the screen frame has not been earthed however we do have pre-existing recommendations for dusting a screen which can be used and these can be found online. Dusting should only be carried out as a last resort and only in dry (non-humid conditions).
Cleaning HVAC systems using normal methods and chemicals (provided by your HVAC engineer) will not damage the screen provided they do not come in to contact with the screen surface.
We continue to strongly recommend not using domestic cleaning surfactants on the surface of the screen in order to remove dirt and it is essential that no rubbing or abrasive materials are used on a coated screen as this is likely to substantially degrade product performance.
We are currently evaluating a number of options for disinfecting screens and auditoriums including the use of Ozone and UV-C and we will present these to the industry once we have concluded our scientific research in to how these may affect product performance.
Screens awaiting install:
Screens should normally be transported and stored at temperatures between 5°C and 30°C (40°F and 85°F), with relative humidity less than 80%. If screens are very cold (e.g. following air transport) then they must be allowed to warm up before unpacking, otherwise cold cracking may occur.
Folded screens should ideally be installed within 4 weeks of shipping and rolled screens within a maximum of 12 weeks however, these should have greater longevity if screens are stored at the correct temperatures highlighted above.
Packages should be handled with care to avoid damage. Coated silver screens cannot be folded for transit or storage; roll packing must always be used.
PPE Equipment to Support Key Workers and Frontline Services
Harkness has developed prototype designs of medical curtains and heavy-duty PVC aprons using the PVC usually used to create a cinema screen. These could be rolled out into a number of different environments outside of medical services, such as the fast food, hotels, restaurants and supermarkets. Our team across the world have been collaborating to think of products that could help those on the frontline during these unprecedented times.
We are also currently developing other ideas that could help commercial industries maintain high standards of health and safety, both during and post the COVID-19 pandemic. Droplet shields are clear visors that would allow those working in retail professions, including cinemas such as supermarkets and fast food restaurants, to complete their day to day activities, reducing the risk of infection to themselves and customers.
Whilst the original concept was not created for critical care healthcare professionals, the feedback Harkness have received about the droplet shields has meant that we have embarked on prototyping a face shield for those directly on the frontline.
Supporting Your Re-Opening
Screen Design and Specification Consultancy
Some of our customers are choosing to carry out upgrade work during this enforced closure to ensure that their movie-goers have the most spectacular reintroduction to the cinematic experience upon their return.
Through a number of initiatives launching imminently, we’re making our Cinema Technology Group experts available to customers to help take your planned design (auditorium geometry and CAD or BIM files) and optimise their next screens (both now and for the future) to take in to account projection technology, 2D and 3D presentation quality, brightness, uniformity, moiré, laser speckle and sound transmission. Our passion remains to support your business in enriching every cinema experience.
Cinema Presentation Restart
We’re preparing a rental fleet of Qalif Ultimate devices to help you re-calibrate your auditoriums. Accompanied by online training, our Qalif Ultimate units can help your teams restore and fine tune all elements of cinema presentation including brightness, colour, contrast, focus, alignment and audio channels.
E-learning Materials
Our Cinema Technology Group experts are currently developing a curriculum of bitesize electronic learning resources to help educate your teams during this period. We’ll focus on the importance of the screen, measuring brightness to industry standards, screen gain and image uniformity and specifying the correct surface based on projection technologies.
Keeping Your Staff and Customers Safe After Re-Opening
Simulate social distancing measures digitally
Our industry-leading Reality Capture digital surveying service has the ability to help cinemas simulate scenarios digitally. From one day on site in your cinema, our experts can in a few days create a digital environment from which you can simulate different scenarios focused around the lobby and auditorium spaces such as loading the building, queue management at concession stands, pinch points and entry and exit points.
Understanding how your building performs might help you to put in place the equipment and measures necessary to gain government approval to re-open your cinemas and most importantly to help you keep your customers maintaining social distancing measures, whatever they may look like once cinemas re-open.
Safety Equipment for Cinemas
We understand that just opening the doors to your cinema isn’t enough. We’re here to help you ensure your staff and customers have the confidence that they’re safe to come back to your cinema.
Of course, a key metric for re-opening your cinemas will undoubtedly be occupancy levels and with that in mind, Harkness is currently developing a range of prototype designs for droplet shields, distancing barriers, partition screens and seat covers to help ensure that cinemas can open with the maximum possible occupancy levels whilst ensuring that assumed relaxed social distancing measures can be maintained. Many of these are in development currently and we are keen to hear suggestions from our customers as to how we can assist with keeping your staff and movie-goers safe.
Active Tracking Technology
We are also currently exploring the viability of adding cutting-edge embeddable technology to our screens which will enable them to work with proposed contact tracing systems to provide movie-goers with additional peace of mind when visiting cinemas.
How Can We Help You?
As well as the measures above, we remain committed to supporting the global cinema industry. We’re keen to hear from you how we can help. Please feel free to reach out to your Harkness primary contact to let us know what we can do to support your re-opening and beyond.
Further Harkness Updates
The most effective way to keep up to date with any new information as it becomes available will be via our websites harkness-screens.com and harkness.co.
Please look after yourselves and your families and stay safe. Our team remain hugely passionate about this business and incredibly optimistic that together we will see our incredible industry flourishing once again,
Best regards,
Mark Ashcroft
Chief Executive