How To Maintain Performance Leadership During Severe Weather
Outsourcing facilities management is one of the best ways to optimize a facility’s potential, especially during a season of high flooding and extreme weather levels. The need for expertise in emergency power and cleanup has never been greater. For an example of Cherry Logistics’ performance superiority, facilities managers need only review the following story of the Cherry CLEAR (Cherry Logistics Emergency Asset Response) team’s response to flooding in Chicago last year at one of the largest grocery chains in the region.
- View the Jewel-Osco case study
Jewel-Osco is one of the largest retail grocery chains in Chicago, serving thousands of customers on a daily basis. On July 22nd, 2011, rainstorms produced nearly 7 inches of rain – the highest measured rainfall in the city over a 24-hour period since 1871. A high-traffic Jewel-Osco location in Chicago was hit hard by this rainfall, leading to over 50,000 square feet of retail space being covered in six inches of water in addition to two feet of water on its outside perimeter. For a grocery location of this size, an interruption in sales can lead to losses of up to $100,000 a day. The managers quickly realized the best way to prevent these losses was by outsourcing facilities management.
Cherry Logistics was contacted by the Jewel-Osco team for assistance, and immediately used its dispatch programs to mobilize its team of disaster recovery experts, trained in the top construction management schools. . The team waded through flood waters and after a quick damage assessment, they began gathering the necessary equipment and providers needed to get the store back up and running.
Their efforts included extensive water pumping, exterior cleaning, parking lot sweeping, power washing and landscape restoration, provision of temporary power generators, flood restoration contractors, portable air moving equipment, dehumidification equipment, floor cleaning and janitorial cleaning services. The CLEAR team coordinated these services expertly, all while keeping the owners protected from risk by diverting their liability insurance.
The Jewel-Osco team was relieved. “We had never dealt with this before” said Bill Stark. “If it wasn’t for Cherry Logistics, I don’t know how long it would’ve taken us to get that store open.” Reopening the store prevented a loss of revenue and inventory, and kept the site open to service its regional customers during emergency recovery.