Storms have been increasing in intensity over the last few decades and this new weather reality has profound implications for businesses today. The last few years has very effectively proven this point: Hurricane Katrina alone caused an estimated $100 to $200 billion dollars in damages depending on who issued the report and the parameters used in the calculations. A more recent weather related crisis is the recent flooding in Thailand. This flooding has caused a global hard drive shortage that is predicted to continue into Q1 to Q2 of next year. This shortage promises to create problems that will reach far beyond the computer industry. Issues like these highlight that fact that extreme weather events are far reaching in today’s interconnected global economy. But not only have there been many extreme storms in recent decades, many experts believe that extreme weather events such as these will continue to increase over the next few decades. This means businesses today have to be better prepared for weather related emergencies.
Like many other areas of the world, the Northeast has experienced a few storms that have negatively affected businesses in the past few years. Most of the storm related problems were due to lengthy power outages. For the most part Fishman’s central Massachusetts location has been fortunate enough to be spared from the brunt of these storms. However during Tropical Storm Irene was not so lucky: we were without power for a full week. And while we remained open for business during this time, the temporary power system we had in place was designed to cover local, short term power loss and not power the entire facility. Thanks to the dedication and hard work of our employees, especially those in the production areas, most of our customers never noticed any difference in our ability to take or fulfill their orders in a timely manner. However this crisis highlighted the need to update our contingency plans and enhance our emergency equipment. The cornerstone of our updated emergency plan is a new state of the art full facility Generac generator. This new 100 kilowatt generator is capable of running the entire building, not just the critical systems. It runs on natural gas, has full battery backup, and will instantly provide power so there is no interruption to normal daily activities when an outage occurs. The system is fully self sufficient and will automatically run self diagnostics on a regular basis to ensure that it is always ready to power the facility instantaneously when needed. Furthermore, the fact that it runs on natural gas means it’s greener than gas powered generators. The major benefit of this system is that even during a power outage production can continue to run at full capacity ensuring there will be no delay in fulfilling orders. We will be able to continue to manufacture the parts on time for our customers who depend on our products to keep their own production lines up and running. Furthermore, this generator means that Fishman® will be able to increase the in-depth quality testing that we currently do. In the past, our most stringent tests have been negatively affected by minor power fluctuations.
This new generator is one of Fishman’s newest investments in our ongoing efforts to maintain market excellence in the fluid dispensing business. We are committed to do all we can to provide the highest quality value and service to all our customers. It is part of our promise to you, our valued customer, that you can depend on Fishman® Corporation to help keep your own production line running smoothly and efficiently.