What were you doing in March? The manufacturing team was already planning for a potentially busy hurricane season, and the stockpile of supplies and inventory they built up came in handy when Hurricane Irma affected our operating area.

Preparations begin

Once it looked like Hurricane Irma had its sights set on Miami and Florida’s east coast, our customers put their emergency plans into action, but our associates and facilities had already sprung into gear. Our three dairy plants switched from producing deli tea to bottling water around the clock, and manufacturing production planning associates worked with our retail business units to discuss changes to product mix. Meanwhile, the industrial operations information technology team worked with their counterparts in distribution to consolidate store orders, so essentials could be delivered to stores and customers when they needed them.

Back in action

After the storm passed, facilities outside Florida — like the Atlanta bakery plant, which provides a majority of our sub rolls — increased production to keep up with customer demand and rebuild our inventory. In Lakeland, manufacturing associates were eager to help get our stores up and running. Due to loss of power and some minor flooding, not everyone could return to their normal workplaces. Instead, they helped wherever assistance was needed, whether it was clearing the grounds of debris or working in other business areas.

The Lakeland bakery plant fared worst in the storm. Industrial maintenance associates had to wait two days for flood waters to recede from the plant. Inside, some of the electrical equipment was damaged and needed to dry out before it could be repaired. Before production could restart at each manufacturing facility, an extensive deep cleaning and sanitation process was performed.

Publix wasn’t the only company affected by Hurricane Irma; many of our suppliers also suffered damages or struggled to get supplies into our facilities. Resin — which is used to make our plastic water, tea and milk jugs — is purchased from two suppliers in Houston that were previously affected by Hurricane Harvey. Our sugar suppliers based in South Florida shut down production before the storm. Even our Styrofoam tray supplier from Sebring, Florida, one of the hardest-hit areas of the state, was out of business for several weeks. But these challenges didn’t stop our manufacturing supply purchasing (MSP) team — they quickly found alternative sources to continue providing the high-quality products our customers were expecting.

“It’s not often we see something that affects our entire state and most of our supply chain,” said Director of Manufacturing/Supply Purchasing Floyd Freeman. “I can’t say enough about our team — they really stepped up to bring in supplies ahead of the storm and reacted quickly to respond to our needs after it passed.”

Above and beyond

During the week leading up to Hurricane Irma, our need for receipt paper significantly increased. In order to meet those needs, MSP asked our supplier to expedite loads of product. When the supplier couldn’t find a trucking company to drive the load from Tennessee to Lakeland, the president of the company, Richard Jansen, rented a box truck and delivered it himself.

“We have a phenomenal supplier network that’s committed to keeping us up and running,” said Floyd. “This is what service is all about.”

By the numbers

• Nearly 300 percent — increase in gallons of water bottled by our three dairy plants
• More than 30 percent — increase in gallons of milk, juice and tea bottled by our three dairy plants
• Nearly 100 percent — increase in pounds of bakery bread mix provided to stores
• Nearly 150 percent — increase in pounds of sub rolls provided to stores
• Nearly 40 percent — increase in pounds of chicken breading
• September 8 – Our third busiest day of fried chicken sales in company history
• September 12- Set a record for the busiest day for sub sales in company history