10/12/2020 Have a business continuity plan | Cutting Tool Engineering

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Have a business continuity plan

Author Keith Jennings
Published August 1, 2011 - 11:15am

Related Glossary Terms

recovery

While at a restaurant, my wife and I ran into the local police chief and his wife, with whom we are
acquainted. Before departing, he invited me to a free, city-sponsored “business continuity of
operations workshop.” He o ered a brief explanation and even though I wasn’t totally clear about
the 6-hour event’s purpose, I decided it was a good idea to honor the chief’s invitation. Thankfully,
the purpose was clari ed at the workshop and it was obviously an important matter for a machine
shop to consider and for which to plan.

The personnel leading the event were part of a Texas A&M University department called the Texas
Engineering Extension Service. They work with private businesses and federal, state and local
o cials, providing extensive training and technical expertise regarding issues like public safety,
emergency response, emergency communication techniques and company property protection. 

The workshop focused on developing a formal “quick recovery” plan for any disruption in
operations. Incidents like a natural disaster or re that damages equipment or injures people, theft
or vandalism, loss of records or information-technology equipment, utility disruptions and, in my
shop’s case, a plane crashing from a nearby airport are among the many possibilities. This
organization teaches that, should the unexpected occur, cooperation among companies and
government agencies can be critical in the recovery of your operation.

I initially assumed the event was about emergency response and preparedness. However, much of
the content covered a di erent and equally important type of business preparedness: a “continuity”
plan to ensure your business recovers, resumes customer services, minimizes nancial losses and
regains access to records and information as quickly as possible. Once we started discussing the
many scenarios that could disrupt shop operations or bring them to a standstill, I realized the
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At our shop, we’ve always had procedures for an emergency, even if unrehearsed. However, an
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actual continuity plan wasn’t given much thought. Who would have access to our facility if the

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owners couldn’t make it to the o ce? Who would have the authority to sign checks and handle
company business in our absence? How would we get back to making parts if communication and
power sources were unavailable? All the questions asked were important, but I didn’t have answers
for at least half of them. 

Thankfully, such a drastic scenario hasn’t occurred, but it could. If your shop was shut down and
couldn’t operate as normal, or the owners and managers weren’t able to correct the situation, could
you survive? And if so, how long could your shop suspend production? Who would oversee things if
you couldn’t? Do you have a backup option for producing parts? Do you have a good contact with
local law enforcement and local o cials if you need them? 

It’s likely that sooner or later something unexpected and negative is going to happen to your facility,
your operations, your personnel or all of the above. A little forethought and planning can minimize
the impact.

A machine shop’s success depends on continuous uptime and its ability to make parts. Any
disruption to this requires e ective management and preparation for the worst, while hoping it
never happens. Maybe it’s time for your company to consider a worst-case scenario and how to
handle and—hopefully—correct it quickly.

Is your sta trained what to do, who to call and where to nd important records if you can’t? If not,
follow the advice of Texas Engineering Extension Service (teexweb.tamu.edu) and establish a
business continuity plan. It could ensure your shop’s survival.

Author
Keith Jennings
Manager's Desk Columnist...
jennings4176@yahoo.com

Keith Jennings is president of Crow Corp., Tomball, Texas, a family-owned

company focusing on machining, metal fabrication and metal stamping.

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