CLEVELAND — Things happen, and in laundry, things happen all the time.
All kinds of things happen without warning or reasonable expectation. If your organization does not have a fully defined action plan to address these situations, it will be an expensive and painful process for both the operation and your clients.
Barnstorming is not a contingency plan when things go awry; they tend to cascade and then overwhelm the unprepared.
It is not a question of whether something will interrupt the process; it’s a matter of when. The time to look at various scenarios that may disrupt efficient operations is now, and not when it happens. Believe it.
Almost everyone has a backup facility that can be called to assist in case of a disruption of operations, which is prudent in the event of a critical failure within your facility.
It is important to be sincere in looking at prospects and their real ability to support in the event of necessity.
Having a 3 million-pound plant as a backup to your 10 million-pound operation is like getting a 50-pound washer and expecting to run 5,000 pounds through each day.
Multiple backup facilities are the preferred way to approach redundancy needs because the more options you have, the more variable your responses can be.
When looking for options, be sure to consider the type of facility you are engaging and the processing they perform. More importantly, look at what they do not have in the capacity or ability to do of the processes that you will need.
A reasonable level of alternate facilities is to get commitment from facilities that can process a total of two to three times your need in aggregate. It is agonizing to reach out to find that your backup can’t assist during an event.
But what happens when the issue is larger than your plant? For example, a hurricane can take away electrical power from large areas and may also impact your backup facilities.
The key to meaningful contingency planning is having multiple levels of pre-defined and graduated responses for various critical failures.
Loss of utilities is a basic item in contingency planning, but what else can disrupt operations? The things that are not so obvious but can stop operations are where contingency planning becomes so important.
Things like an alternate source of direct labor, secondary fuel or vehicle options for transportation needs, alternate linen suppliers, chemistry for wash and water and boilers, equipment parts suppliers, refuse hauling, hardware, machine shops, all kinds of mechanical, electrical, rigging, plumbing, roofing, locksmithing, window and door glass … whew, the list is long. It is well worth exploring far down the rabbit hole.
Written agreements establishing basic cost rates and timeframes for support services, as well as emergency off-hours contact numbers and supplier addresses, will make plans B and C much easier to enable when that midnight call comes, and you must act immediately.
It is also prudent to put a hard copy of the plans in a binder by response type and in preferred action order. Keep a copy off-site in the event of a catastrophe.
Be sure that your leaders know about the binder on and off-site, how to access it and use it in the event of an emergency that keeps you from being able to do so.
The binder should also have a call list of all staff with addresses, a complete client list with contact names and numbers, locations for all agreement-signed alternate suppliers as well as all the information on current suppliers, and so forth.
Consider the potential that phone service may also be disrupted, and the mapping apps will be inaccessible.
Carrying the thought further, examine the potential for an area-wide situation. Consider getting an alternate facility for a reciprocal agreement outside your geographical operation as your plan Z.
Remember to work the problem and not get caught up in it. A level head will encourage everyone you encounter and help get things done quicker, without unnecessary panic.
If you start to feel like the sky is falling and you want to run in small circles, remember that this is not the first time, or the last time, things will happen.
Relax, you got this.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].
