It’s a sunny, breezy morning in Eugene, Ore., A place best known for access to the outdoors, a history of environmental activism and the birthplace of Nike. I stand outside an indescribable one-story industrial space and talk to Mark Frohnmayer, CEO of Arcimoto, manufacturer of a three-wheel-drive electric vehicle he calls a ‘fun utility vehicle’.
Only I’m not in Oregon. I am still stuck on the other side of the coast and rely – like many of us – on an ever-growing range of tools with which I can do my job remotely. In this case, I get a tour of Arcimoto’s factory via FaceTime. Mr. Frohnmayer carries ‘me’ around on an iPhone, points things out, brings me close to machinery, parts and semi-finished vehicles and asks me questions. To me, it seems like a pretty facsimile to actually be there. Minus the eight-hour flight and stay in a Dow Jones-approved discount hotel with a continental breakfast, that is.
This is how mr. Frohnmayer and his team have been giving factory tours to investors, customers and suppliers since the start of the pandemic. It works well enough that Mr. Frohnmayer wants to continue doing so after the pandemic ended, as it has no loss of productivity due to travel days.
Thanks to cloud-based collaboration tools of every description – not just Zoom – the pandemic has led to a recovery in office culture, from personal to remote or hybrid. Surprisingly, there has also been a recovery made for workers who almost no one thought could do their job remotely, including field service engineers and emergency medical personnel.
Although these changes explain trends in the post-pandemic workplace, they also show a new way forward for business relationships. Many examples come from the most practical industry of all: manufacturing. Workers still have to show up at a factory and assemble products, and quality control may require overseas travel from time to time, but many other activities – including investment research, building relationships with suppliers and customers, and even research and development – have unexpectedly and perhaps permanently remote.