Employees Rally to Help Damaged Mississippi Facility
On the afternoon of Saturday, August 27, the town of Forest, Miss., was bracing itself for a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina. The Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) plant—and our Forest employee team—were doing the same.

In coordination with SAS leadership in El Segundo, Calif., Site Manager Dan Burke and key personnel worked throughout the weekend to ensure the security of the Forest facility. Equipment was brought down from towers, items that could not be fastened down were moved indoors, and customer products were secured and covered in plastic. On Monday morning, final preparations were completed and employees were sent home to be with their families in safety. Katrina struck that afternoon, causing significant damage and power and communications outages throughout Forest and surrounding communities.

The next morning, Burke’s first priority was to make sure all of his people were safe and accounted for. An emergency hotline, that was established prior to Monday’s plant shutdown, allowed employees to check in, and as phone service came back slowly over the next week, Human Resources managers successfully contacted every employee. “We were very lucky,” Burke explains. “Thanks to a dedicated effort throughout the week, we were able to confirm that every one of our employees was okay.”

Refusing to Let Customer Success Become Another Victim
After confirming that all of his employees were safe, Burke, his incident commander, and his emergency response coordinator analyzed damage to the SAS plant. “In terms of the overall strength of the storm, damage was minimal: roof leaks, some flooding, broken tile, cracked ceilings,” he explains. “There were a lot of trees and power lines down around the site too, but it would have been much worse had we not secured the site beforehand.”

Working off of emergency power, Raytheon crews began cleanup efforts immediately following Katrina’s departure. Meanwhile, in parallel, the SAS crisis management team and site leaders implemented contingency plans that enabled customer deliveries to continue on schedule. By Friday, September 2, the plant was nearly ready to resume operations and welcome back employees.

In response to the team’s efforts, more than 130 dedicated employees reported for duty on the Saturday morning of Labor Day weekend. “Hit by a hurricane on Monday, making critical shipments on Saturday,” Burke proudly points out. “I’d say that’s pretty good.” After three days of partial crew operations, the plant was back up and running at full speed on Tuesday, September 6. The quick reopening of the site minimized the disaster’s impact on ongoing operations, assuring that Raytheon customers were not affected.

A Source of Pride for Us All
Along with resuming operations, Forest management implemented a back-to-work assistance program for employees that featured safety training, updates on the status of the facility and information about available support and relief systems. Counselors and nurses were brought on site to help people cope with the physical and emotional impacts of the storm. Employees were also provided paid time off, fuel assistance, food and water. Individuals displaced by the storm were given additional housing assistance.

The Forest facility’s immediate response to the disaster, emphasis on employee safety and well-being, and commitment to meeting customer deadlines serve as best practices in crisis management. Recently, Burke, his leadership team, and key contributors to the business recovery effort met to capture lessons learned to share their experience and identify other opportunities to improve. According to SAS spokesperson Catherine Tornero, “The efforts of Dan Burke and the entire staff at the Forest, Miss., plant have been truly inspiring. Customer success is a real source of pride for everyone at this company, but I think it’s fair to say that during this crisis period, these folks have embodied it better than anyone.”

*The content on this page is classified as historical content. See this important information regarding such content.