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 About 90 PRS employees came
back to a very different workplace on Monday,
their work stations spaced six feet apart, with
one-way "traffic lanes" drawn on the factory
floor and a 55-gallon drum of hand sanitizer on
hand.
To enter the facility, near the Chesapeake Bay
in the eastern part of the state, each had to
have a temperature check, and every time a
hand-sanded and finished guitar changes hands,
it must now be carefully sanitized. And that's a
lot of sanitizing, considering each guitar
receives some 20 hours of hand labor.
The story of PRS and its phased return to work
is being replicated all over the United States
as more firms resume operations after the strict
closures aimed at containing the spread of the
new coronavirus are rolled back.
Founder Paul Reed Smith told Reuters the company
took on millions of dollars in debt to keep
paying workers and ensure production could
resume when the lockdown ended.
"It was a pretty powerful gut check about
whether it was the right thing to do or not," he
said. "Then I found that some of the people
would only get 25, 50 cents on the dollar with
unemployment - that was unacceptable to me and
the whole team here."
So the company sprang into action, selling
nearly all its existing inventory, applying for
and receiving a federal Small Business
Administration loan, and working with retailers
to help them boost online sales. And it is still
negotiating with banks to fill any liquidity
gaps.
"We wanted to keep our promise to the employees
that we'd given them a job. And so, during this
period we paid them while they were off," he
said. "We bet on our employees and we bet on the
government reopening in enough time that we
could survive."
The third-largest electric guitar maker in the
United States, PRS has the loyal support of some
of the biggest names in the music business,
including Carlos Santana, who has been playing
Smith's guitars since 1980, and John Mayer.
But it must be able to build guitars to pay its
bills. And even though work resumed this week,
it will be months before full production levels
are reached, executives said.
Sales have expanded robustly in recent years,
but the shutdown has derailed capital investment
plans and knocked a hole in revenues that will
be impossible to fill this year. Sales hit $66.5
million in 2019 and had been slated to rise 12%
in 2020 before the crisis.
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 Relief for PRS came last
Wednesday, when Maryland Governor Larry Hogan
announced a phased reopening, giving PRS the
go-ahead to resume production of guitars that
sell for thousands of dollars.
"We are tearing through money right now. We've
incurred significant amount of debt, just about
as much debt as we can right now to get through
this. So the timing is good for us and our folks
are looking forward to getting back," said
company president Jamie Mann.
Some workers will now shift to evenings to
reduce the number of people in the factory at
one time. And the souvenir shop has been
transformed into a lunchroom since Maryland
restrictions still forbid more than 10 people in
one room at a time.
Smith said the new rules will be strictly
enforced. "We're gonna be almost military in
making sure these new guidelines are taken
seriously... I want everybody to be safe."
Chief operating officer Jack Higginbotham said
the way PRS will market its guitars this year
has changed, with the big summer trade show
already called off and the fate of the key
winter show still uncertain.
"The one thing I've learned through this is
whatever you think this week is different next
week, and you have to be fluid with it," he
said.
There is also good news. The Northern China
region where PRS has some acoustic guitars built
was not significantly affected by the lockdowns.
And online guitar sales are up, giving PRS a six
month backlog, its largest ever, he said.
That comes as no surprise to Smith. "Look, if
you're in any pain and you pick up a guitar that
you love, your pain goes away," he said as he
improvised a riff on a custom-built PRS. "It's a
wonderful device... and there's no hangover."
 (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; additional
reporting by Gershon Peaks and Leah Millis;
Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
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