To combat coronavirus, it's time to launch The York Plan 3.0

In the months before the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, the owners of York County’s red-brick factories were still struggling through the slog of the Great Depression.

With war spreading in Europe and rumors of America’s entering the war in the wind, these manufacturers looked at the machines they could retool and inventoried the skills of their workers.

Then they did something that York County hasn’t always done well before or since: eliminate silos and share. With coordination of the Manufacturers’ Association of York, they shared these lists of machinery and manpower.

The York Plan was born. Let’s call it York Plan 1.0.

With World War II erupting, they were collectively ready to compete for the big defense contracts that might have been gone to the bigs: Ford Motor Co. and General Motors.

So you had Bessie Elicker at York Corp. running an overhead crane high above the shop floor, a home front version of work as an aircraft pilot, bombardier and navigator. She was the first woman to do such work at Yorkco, a necessary move with 1,200 men from the refrigeration equipment maker away at war.

You had workers at Maryland Avenue’s Floorola plant operating drill presses made for construction of floor-waxing machines refitted for production of anti-aircraft guns. Kay Busser, former assistant to the owner, sought and gained business from York Safe & Lock. So you had a former waxing machine maker seeking business from a former vault maker to construct gun parts.

And you had workers at York Safe & Lock who shifted from crafting small, intricate safety deposit box locks to machining tiny firing mechanisms for big guns.

So, in these days of COVID-19, the call has gone out for another York Plan. That call has come from the public. It’s come from small businesses. It’s come from the Manufacturers’ Association.

Call it York Plan 3.0 - 2.0 is reserved for York’s developing robotics revolution.

Applying the York Plan to COVID-19 fight

Tom Palisin, Manufacturers’ Association executive director, wrote a guest column this week on YDR.com that shows his group understands its York Plan heritage can be applied to this coronavirus fight.

He said manufacturers are donating supplies to help first responders and hospitals do battle.

They are redirecting those out of work to industries that need to fill vacant manufacturing jobs to help wage this fight.

And manufacturers are looking to redirect products to make medical supplies and equipment needed by health providers.

In World War II, companies clearly were concerned about Germany and Japan’s world dominance. But they also saw the York Plan and the defense work that the war would spawn as a way forward in business.

Businesses in York County, concerned about the current lockdown, can look at the York Plan model as a way out of the financial morass this disease has brought as well as a way to serve the public.

What are opportunities to help the region and America - and help themselves? For example, can our budding robotics making, York Plan 2.0, be refitted to make ventilators, York Plan 3.0?

Here’s one that is already underway.

Just this month, local and regional distilleries have started shifting to the production of alcohol for hand sanitizers, surface disinfectants and other disinfectant uses.

This is shades of World War II when Foust Distillery, outside Glen Rock, built infrastructure including a tall smokestack to produce alcohol for defense purposes. That smokestack was never used, but it stood for years as a symbol of that call to shift the making of spirits from consumption to industrial use.

Here’s another innovator, on the retail level.

We’re following the ideas put forth by York entrepreneur Toni Calderone. She combined the kitchens of her four eateries: The Cantina, Aviano's Corner Trattoria, Presto Pasteria and Tutoni's. Patrons can order pickup and free delivery at this kitchen, the former Wickeys at 350 Rockdale Ave. in York.

Then her One Hospitality Group developed no-contact delivery of meats, produce, eggs, bread – and toilet paper – from one place. In other words, bypass the crowded and depleted grocery stores.

Will there be a new model coming out of these ideas spawned in the middle of a crisis?

York Plan 1.0 took such entrepreneurial successes, promoted them and made sure resources were there to sustain them.

Explaining York Plan developments

One of the 15-point York Plan objectives was to explain and promote 1.0 to the community.

In the current crisis, York Mayor Michael Helfrich has regularly provided Facebook updates, among other forms of communication.

At least two digital platforms have been launched to aid communications.

About two weeks ago,  former YDR producer Joan Concilio introduced a solutions-based Facebook group Central PA Mutual Aid - Neighbors Helping Neighbors. This group, now in partnership with the York Daily Record’s Fixing York initiative, is designed for those who need help – or those who can give help. It has gained more than 800 members since it went live.

The York County Economic Alliance has launched a website PreparedYork.com, designed for those economically impacted by COVID-19, who are looking for one source of facts and resources.

Digital projects such as these can have a life after their use in a crisis. YDR.com, then the York Digital Record, was launched in the blizzard of 1996, representing the Daily Record’s entry into digital publishing.

In today’s pandemic, two of the York Daily Record’s Facebook groups have served as major resources for public information and context.

Comments on stories in Fixing York are up 47% in the past 60 days. Retro York, which provides historical background about pandemics, has seen a 13% increase in commenting in that period.

The new York Plan – 3.0

The York Plan in World War II was efficient. The Manufacturers’ Association, headed by a handful of chief executive officers, had the clout to ensure that the slogan “To Do What We Can With What We Have” had impact.

While York County has more manufacturers than many counties its size, leadership from captains of industry that headed the York Plan 1.0 is largely gone and so are many of their factories.

But the county still has leaders, and despite the inefficiency and messiness of task forces, a combination of the Economic Alliance, York County commissioners, Manufacturers’ Association and York city’s administration and others must coordinate and promote makers to direct their production toward this new enemy.

There’s power in small, nimble entrepreneurs at work for the public good and to sustain their own businesses, supported by a new York Plan – 3.0.

The enemy is front and center. This virus without a current cure is overrunning America and causing illness, death and disruption on par with what any invading military would inflict.

Jim McClure is the retired editor of the York Daily Record and has authored or co-authored seven books on York County history. Reach him at jimmcclure21@outlook.com.