From the Editor: In Sandy's Wake

Just as we were finalizing this issue, Hurricane Sandy slammed into our area. The storm closed down Philadelphia for two days, including IPG's offices, and brought major damage to the surrounding areas.

Though my family endured many nervous hours of rain and ferocious winds, we were, thankfully, spared from damage or power outings. Many of my friends had no electricity for days, just as autumn's chilliest temperatures set in. Still, they were much more fortunate than those in the ravaged New Jersey coastal communities nearby and up in New York City.

I've visited quite a few in-plants in Manhattan, so news images of water filling the streets there made me fear the worst. I tried to reach as many New York City in-plants as I could in the short time before we went to press, particularly those in lower Manhattan. My calls and e-mails to managers at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE Euronext) and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene went unanswered, but further prodding of their communications offices revealed that the in-plants were without electricity but had not been flooded (despite false reports that the Stock Exchange was submerged.)

(After we went to press, I heard back from the director of the Health Department's Reproduction Unit who told me that although his Manhattan plants only lost power, his satellite print center in Brooklyn was completely flooded during the storm. The facility, shown in a 2009 IPG video, contains a five-color Ryobi 750 perfector press, a Presstek Dimension 412 CTP system, a Standard Horizon collator/stitcher/folder, and a Heidelberg KAMA TS 74 die cut embosser along with other folding and cutting equipment. What's more, it is the site where all paper deliveries are made. "I just got a delivery that Friday," laments Director Nick Monello—a $95,000 delivery. In all, he estimates the flooded facility contained nearly $3 million worth of paper.)

At the United Nations' in-plant, right on the shores of the East River, flood water surged over FDR Drive and through its doors, filling its prepress, printing, binding, distribution and office areas with three feet of murky water. Its two Océ VarioPrint continuous-feed printers and a Canon VarioPrint 6010 were immersed, as were Heidelberg and Goss presses and bindery equipment.

"The force of the water was pretty intense," said Narendra Nandoe, chief of the UN's Publishing Section, when we talked on the phone. Rubber floor mats were moved about 20 feet from their original locations. He took heart in the fact that UN safety and security staff shut off power to the plant, thus reducing some of the potential damage. Océ technicians were on their way to inspect the equipment at press time.

Most of the in-plant's 100 employees have not been able to return to work due to the damage, and Nandoe estimated it would be a full month before the in-plant was fully operational. In the meantime, staff was using undamaged printers in the upstairs meeting rooms to print documentation needed for UN meetings.

This was the worst news I was able to uncover. Fortunately, the in-plants I contacted at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Fashion Institute of Technology, Barnard College and Bloomingdales—all safely away from the flooded areas—were up and running, though some reported reduced staffing due in part to the shutdown of the subway system. Still, there are more in-plants hidden away in the shadows of New York than even I know about, so it's likely we'll hear about others that have sustained damage from Hurricane Sandy in the weeks ahead.