Oreck during Katrina | 05.21.2008 | 08:43:53 | Views: 6982 | ID: May 21 '08: When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, company officials at vacuum cleaner company Oreck rushed quickly to respond in order to make sure that company employees would be safe while maintaining continuity of operations. The Denver Post reported that to help restore business operations the company set up a "backup computer system and a call center on the high ground of Colorado. With these communications centers," Oreck was able to restore its operations quickly. Initially, the company had planned on moving their operations to Long Beach, Mississippi in the event that New Orleans was a target for a large storm. In the case of Katrina, both locations proved to be affected. The Long Beach site however was able "to bring temporary housing, generators, food, water, medical supplies and health-care services for its workers," the Denver Post wrote. To truck supplies to the Long Beach facility, Oreck partnered with UPS - the partnership was created out of a pre-existing supply chain agreement to deliver vacuum cleaners, Oreck company officials said. CEO Tom Oreck told the Denver Post, "We always had contingency plans for a possible disaster either in New Orleans or on the Gulf Coast, but we never really planned on a storm so large that it would have an impact on both places." While evacuated to Houston, Tom Oreck worked out of a hotel room. Oreck said in the company's press release that employees were the company's priority. "We have a huge responsibility to these people," Oreck said. Baseline Mag reported that before the storm, Oreck officials backed up the last eight hours of company activity and sent that information to Boulder, Colorado where a secondary base of operations was established. The company also set up disaster relief funds for its employees. "If they were an Oreck employee before the hurricane they still have a job," Oreck said in the press release. National Blueprint Tags: Response & Containment, Economic & Infrastructure.
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