Stalled Relief Efforts Set in Motion "Just in Time"
Yaskawa Puts Production On Hold To Aid Greensburg Tornado Crisis
NEW BERLIN, Wis. (May 17, 2007) - Two weeks ago, the EF-5 tornado that swept through Greensburg, Kansas, effectively leveled the entire town and left thousands of people homeless and the city's infrastructure in distress. Furthermore, the efforts to restore fresh water for fire prevention and leak-testing in water pipes were stalled because of the destruction of an electric drive that controlled the motion of the water pumps.
The unexpected destruction of the drive forced municipal managers to turn to Yaskawa, the world's largest manufacturer of inverter drives, to build a drive with a bypass function in a most-timely fashion. The drives Yaskawa builds are designed with such precision and meticulous care that they are almost literally conductors of a rhythmic operation in just about any business. In this time-sensitive case in Greensburg, the city and aiding workforce needed the water pumps to stay in constant motion.
Normally a two-week production process, Yaskawa prepared the emergency drive package in a single day without compromising the product's integrity. By placing the order at the top of their priorities, Yaskawa was able to ship out the final product with their "Just-In-Time" delivery method from their New Berlin facility to efficiently help the relief efforts in Greensburg.
Mike Grant, a sales engineer for Yaskawa, was an integral part of the fluidity of the process. "We didn't want to slow them down," explained Grant. "We knew that there were a lot of people banding together between FEMA and the city managers of Greensburg getting things restored down there. We wanted to help in any way we could, and we're no strangers when it comes to rising to the occasion."
The EF-5 tornado, which pounded the town of Greensburg with winds of up to 205 mph, was the first tornado to touch down in the United States with a "5" rating since 1999.
In a world of unexpected interruptions, Yaskawa pays off the promise of being in control with products that make businesses move. As the world's largest manufacturer of inverter drives, servo drives, servomotors, and robotics, Yaskawa controls the rhythm in business.
Yaskawa Electric America, Inc.
16555 W. Ryerson Rd., New Berlin, WI 53151
Contact: Andrew Cherney
(414) 727-9582
andrew@caffeinecomm.com
