Manufacturing community offers hurricane relief

The initial response by the manufacturing industry to Hurricane Katrina has been seen far and wide, and in many ways. Among the programs announced to date:

• The National Association of Manufacturers has set up a Hurricane Katrina Relief Resource Center at its website, www.nam.org. Links to all relief organizations, federal agencies, and employee information is included.

• Schneider North America pledged $1 million to support Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida’s Broward and Miami-Dade counties. In addition, employee donations will be matched by the Square D Foundation.

• • Siemens deployed infrastructure equipment to the region, including power generators to hospitals in Houston and Louisiana and telecommunications equipment to emergency centers and key hubs. Siemens is preparing to send USFilter water treatment equipment to the Gulf Coast areas and heart monitors and imaging equipment to Houston area hospitals. In addition, the company has announced a 100% matching donation program for its 70,000 U.S. employees. Donations will be made to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. Siemens has more than 2,500 employees in the affected areas.

  • Siemens Energy and Automation will help its channel partners with cash flow relief during the crisis, extending payment terms on existing accounts receivable balances and any replenishment stock orders from partners in the impacted area. The program will help alleviate negative cash flow conditions for those who’ve experienced catastrophic damages, and for those who will experience a disruption in business due to the impact of the storm.

  • Eclipse Inc. of Rockford, IL has created a donation-matching program for its employees, many of whom live and work in the GulfCoast region

  • Roofing manufacturer W.P. Hickman Systems, Inc. in Solon, OH is delivering supplies to the region, concentrating on rebuilding roofs damaged by the hurricane. Locally, they are helping the Solon Chamber of Commerce coordinate and ship donations to the GulfCoast.

  • York, PA-based FlatPlate is providing emergency production of its heat exchanger components as part of national relief efforts. FlatPlate’s employees are working on a one-week production turnaround that will ship heat exchangers used in air conditioning systems, cold food storage, water purification systems, chillers for medical equipment, ice machines, process chillers, portable water chillers and other critical equipment.

  • Reed Elsevier, the parent company of Reed Business Information and PLANT ENGINEERING, has already made a $150,000 donation to the Red Cross Katrina Fund through its affiliated companies.

    If you have other information about programs or services for hurricane relief, please forward them to PLANT ENGINEERING editor Bob Vavra at BVavra@cfemedia.com

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