On the morning of Saturday, August 23, 2008, Gordon Aluminum Industries, Inc. experienced a fire at its facility at 1000 Mason Street, Schofield, WI. The State Investigator concluded his investigation of the scene on August 27th when the Cause and Origin Expert from Traveler’s Insurance, and an independent Cause and Origin Expert, agreed that a lightning strike on the facility caused the fire. The decision was based on their observation of the scene and a STRIKEfax report showing a powerful lightning strike of 144 kA within a 300 ft. radius of the fire.
Despite losing approximately 25% of its plant, GA was back in full production by September 8th. Since then our efforts have been focused on restoring our normal course of business and rebuilding our facility. The greatest challenges we face in this task are in product and information flow.
On the information end, we have restored connectivity to all areas of our facility. We are currently in the process of completing the wireless portion of that project. Once this is complete in early December, our ERP system will once again be operational, and information flow will be improved significantly.
On the product side, the need to reroute our material around the damaged portion of the facility has certainly presented challenges. However, this product flow, while inefficient, has not slowed production. As the construction process continues, new flow paths will be opened and old ones closed as necessary, but this will not prevent GA from producing effectively. Demolition of the damaged facility is nearing completion and footing work for the new facility has begun. We anticipate that the new building will be ‘water tight’ by January 15th, with substantial completion the factory portion coming in mid-February. The finishing of the offices will follow in mid-March. In the end, GA will have state-of-the-art shipping, storage, and office areas allowing for better and more efficient handling of products and information.
In addition to the reconstruction project, GA has also replaced its two Handtmann 5-axis mills, which were destroyed in the fire. There is also a third Handtmann on order that will arrive in mid-January. The replacement of these machines has allowed GA to resume all fabrication operations in their intended fashion, as opposed to doing ‘work-arounds’ to complete the necessary work.
Again, we would like to thank all of those who have offered their support. Both the business and private communities have been incredibly helpful and generous. Thank you!