Underground Construction - August 2018 - 4

NEWSLINE LATEST INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS
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GROUP PUBLISHER Brian Nessen, brian.nessen@gulfenergyinfo.com

Vermeer Campus Hit by

Executive Editor Jeff Awalt, jeff.awalt@gulfenergyinfo.com

Only Minor Injuries; Temporary Measures
Restore Operations

Senior Editor Jeff Griffin, up-front@cox.net

Robert Carpenter | Editor-in-Chief

EDITORIAL
Editor-in-Chief Robert Carpenter, robert.carpenter@ucononline.com

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UCT - EVENTS
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President/CEO John T. Royall
CFO Alan Millis
Vice President Andy McDowell
Vice President Finance and Operations Pamela Harvey

Vermeer Corporation, a major manufacturer in the underground utility and pipelines
markets, was struck by an EF3 tornado about 4 p.m. on July 19 at its headquarters just
outside of Pella, Iowa.
Company officials reported only minor injuries, with seven people treated at the
Pella Regional Health Center and released the same day.
Vermeer President and CEO Jason Andringa said that "from the Vermeer family
and executive team, we are extremely pleased that the injuries were relatively minor.
That's the thing we are most happy about."
Andringa also pledged that "we (Vermeer) will survive and thrive."
While the town was spared from substantial damage, the Vermeer campus that
includes seven manufacturing plants, took a direct hit with severe damage to two of
the facilities. Plants 5 and 6 are currently closed, pending further structural evaluation, and expected to be declared a total loss. The waste treatment facility was also
declared a total loss.
Vermeer was celebrating the company's 70th anniversary and hosting more than
400 customers and dealer personnel onsite when the storm developed. The Pella
campus about 2,700 people who work in shifts so many were not onsite during
the tornado.

Notice
Vermeer spokesman Doug Hundt, president of industrial solutions, in a press update
on July 24, said the campus had about 25 minutes notice that a storm was headed
its way.
"We do practice drills on a regular basis - we live in Iowa," Hundt stressed. "When
it became imminent that a tornado would hit, the training took over. We were able to
get everyone into shelters - including our guests - in plenty of time.
"We also have several trained EMTs (emergency medical technicians) on campus
that were able to help immediately once the storm passed," he said.
"The outpouring of concern and support from our community and our friends
across our industries has been overwhelming," Hundt related. "The dedication,
quickness and compassion of local emergency responders in caring for our
team members, dealer personnel and customers, and helping cleanup has
been crucial."
After being closed the day after the tornado, Hundt said Vermeer leadership and
personnel sprang into action, developing plans for coping with the damage and
getting production back up and running. In less than a week, Plants 1, 2 and 3 were
running at full production.
"Within 12 hours, we had our parts distribution center, which received only minor
damage, back online to support emergency orders, and it is back in full operation
today (July 24)," he said.

Vice President Production Sheryl Stone
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News, Hydrocarbon Processing, Gas Processing, World Oil and Petroleum
Economist.

AUGUST 2018 | UConOnline.com

Back at work
Amazingly, within a week, Vermeer also had full production restored for specialty
tooling, specialty excavation (large track equipment), solar and forage product lines.
By early August, the company anticipated production would resume for large HDD
rigs, reclaimers, small pedestrian trenching products, tree care and landscaping,
Hundt outlined.

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Underground Construction - August 2018

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