ILMA Compoundings – November 2018 - 32

partners could have on their business
if those companies are unable to meet
production expectations.
Lubricant manufacturers have some
unique needs, Hamilton noted, and he
and his team have come up with some
unique ways to handle those needs
based on their experiences. "We have
a lot of tanks that are all contained
within a dike - basically a bathtub,"
he said. That provides a means of
guarding against leaks.
"They don't sneak up on you;
you know they're out there,
you know they're coming
and you have some time to do
what's necessary for the facilities as well as employees."
- Frank H. Hamilton III, president,
South Atlantic Services Inc.
But, he said, those bathtubs also
hold water, which can become problematic during rain events, especially
one as significant as Harvey, which
dumped 55 inches of rain on the area
in 2017. Typically, he said, pumps
would be moving all of the liquid
around, but in a heavy rain those
pumps would be submerged. That
creates the potential - or reality -
for the pumps to be damaged or
destroyed. After the event, new
pumps, or parts, must be attained, but
"post-hurricane, particularly one of
some magnitude, we've found that you
can't get parts," Hamilton said. There's
disruption across the supply chain and
things move very slowly.
The solution? "What we've learned
over the years is that the best thing
to do is to have a generator that is
running on its own power - not
dependent on the grid - and several
portable, submersible pumps placed
inside the dike area to pump water out
of the dike as quickly as it comes in so

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NOVEMBER 2018

| COMPOUNDINGS | ILMA.ORG

water is never accumulated. That keeps
the pumps dry," Hamilton said.
It's a fix that worked. "We didn't
lose any pumps at all in Harvey," he
said. "We were able to come back up
very, very quickly, without any delays."

Planning Best Practices
When preparing DRPs, manufacturing companies "should analyze every
aspect of their organizations to safeguard survival and continued business
operations during a disaster and in the
aftermath," said Moore. "Factors to
consider are crisis management teams,
personnel training, adequate communication/notification procedures, data
backups, suppliers and perhaps even
alternative locations, to name a few."
Reynolds pointed to some
important and useful resources for
manufacturers that are implementing
or updating their disaster plans, starting with their insurance company. In
addition, he noted resources available
through the U.S. Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), the
U.S. Small Business Administration,
the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and ISO (a subsidiary
of Verisk and a leading source of
information about property and
casualty risk).
Business continuity plans, Reynolds
said, should address all facets of the
business, "including having hardened
facilities in case of a natural disaster
or even a terrorist attack, as well as an
off-site location to store and secure
backup data."
"The lifeblood of any manufacturer is
logistics - the ability to get its product
to customers and the market," said
Reynolds. "Ensuring the integrity of a
manufacturer's logistics, I would argue,
should be a major focus of that plan."
Communication is critical when it
comes to disaster planning, response
and aftermath. That communication
should be not only with employees,
but also with any affiliated suppliers or

partners, Moore advised. "It is imperative that employees and affiliating
organizations are familiar with the
procedures and aware of the plan of
action," she said.
It's also important to consider
what needs to happen after an event,
said Hamilton, especially in terms
of employees. "On the backside of a
storm, even though schools may be
open, there may still be some isolated
pockets in places where people are
still stranded," he said. South Atlantic
Services cautions employees to not
take any risks and to keep in touch
about their situations.

Seeking Expert
Assistance
Disaster response and disaster
preparedness can be complex undertakings. Because it's so critical for
lubricant, and other, manufacturers to
avoid shutdowns and protect staff and
infrastructure, seeking assistance in
developing a plan makes sense.
"These companies wouldn't think
to write a sales agreement or contract
themselves, without at least having a
lawyer review it first," said Watkins.
They should seek outside assistance
when creating their disaster response
plans too, he said.
Having a plan, while an
important step, is not enough
to ensure that risks are
eliminated or minimized.
"It's easy to ignore the importance
of having a disaster response plan,
until you have a disaster," Watkins
cautioned.
From an information technology
perspective, he said that "finding the
right MSP (managed service provider)
can be tough, but the ideal candidate
will have numerous clients in roughly
the same vertical as the business, enough
technicians to provide emergency
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