Hurricane Matthew Mobilizes Southeastern Printers
The evil eye of Hurricane Matthew
Millions in Florida and Georgia have fled their homes as Hurricane Matthew unleashed torrential rain and high winds on coastal areas. As of 8 a.m., according to the New York Times, the western edge of the hurricane’s eye wall was 45 miles east-southeast of Daytona Beach, Fla., and moving north-northwest at about 13 m.p.h. Gusts of more than 100 m.p.h. have been reported. The storm, now a Category 3, has reportedly killed nearly 300 people already. Florida Governor Rick Scott warned that the damage could be catastrophic if the state takes a direct hit from Matthew
Printers that haven't had to deal with this kind of storm for many years found themselves initiating business continuity plans. The Palm Beach County Graphics Division, the county's in-plant, closed early on Wednesday after staff prepared the facility for the hurricane. The in-plant was on call yesterday for storm-related emergency printing, like shelter signs or maps.
John D.L. Johnson, manager of the Graphics Division of Palm Beach County government’s Public Affairs Department
The in-plant's building has hurricane-proof glass and doors, with glass so thick it can take a direct hit by a plank at 150 mph, so Manager John Johnson is optimistic it will withstand the storm.
"Our building was built in 2004 and we moved in the week before hurricane Francis," he said. "Then two weeks later we had hurricane Jean. A year later it was Wilma." But he acknowledges there has been nothing like Matthew since then.
Johnson says the shop was busy printing signage and programs for conventions that were scheduled in Palm Beach this week — until they were all cancelled. (One of them, ironically, was the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Leadership Summit.)
As of Friday a skeleton crew was back at work, and Johnson reported no damage to the building, only lots of palm branches on the ground.
Meanwhile up in Jacksonville, which will likely face the brunt of the hurricane, Drummond Press, a commercial printer, closed at 4 p.m. Wednesday and will remain shut down.
"As called for in our business continuity plan, we have identified jobs that could potentially be impacted by this closure," wrote chairman and CEO John Falconetti. "We are communicating with clients regarding these projects, and making preparations internally to shift any impacted work to our Atlanta division. We expect that these preparations will allow us to meet all our client’s expectations while providing for the safety and well being of our team members."
Consolidated Label of Sanford, Fla., posted the following message on its website:
"The safety of our employees is our number one priority during these times. We will make every attempt to continue normal operations as conditions allow, but in the event of a closure, we will resume operations as soon as we are clear from any danger to our teams."
Gabe Hernandez, president of the Printing Association of Florida (PAF), said that his association will likely be fielding calls in the aftermath of the storm. He noted that the size of Hurricane Matthew and the slow speed in which it is moving is a recipe for disaster. The PAF is in Orlando, the middle of the state, and they are projected to experience winds of 90-100 mph.
“The sustained winds they are projecting for the coast, 120 mph, are catastrophic,” he said on Thursday. “Most printers further south are closed today, or closing. We’re shutting down at 1 p.m. ourselves.
“On radio, they’re telling people to be in their homes no later than 5 p.m. today and not leave. The governor is pretty much guaranteeing we’ll be without power for a period of time.”
Hurricane Matthew presents a good reminder for printers to have disaster contingency plans in place, including in-house redundancy capabilities, offsite/Cloud storage of customer data or pre-established agreements with other printers to continue any work in process. Having proper business loss insurance, including flood damage protection, is also essential.
