Crest Foods on road to normalcy

ASHTON – Three weeks after a tornado ripped through the Crest Foods complex, some sleep-deprived folks at one of Lee County's biggest employers can see light at the end of the tunnel.

Almost miraculously, no one was injured when the April 9 twister demolished a warehouse, scattering debris as far as 3 miles from the site at 1883 state Route 38 W.

Company President Jeff Meiners said damages to the facility are estimated at $4 million to $5 million, with $2 million more in product losses. Production, however, is at 100 percent capacity, and Crest Foods is on its way to regaining the 100,000 square feet of warehouse space that was lost.

"All things considered, we're in pretty good shape," Meiners said. "The emergency phase has passed, and we're dealing with the finer points of logistics and inventory."

About 500 of the company's 750 employees were told to stay home the day after the tornado – a Friday – but everyone was back after the weekend.

The teardown of the damaged portion of the facility was completed this week, and a new wall has been built between the good and bad parts of the structure. Construction should begin in about 6 weeks, and then operations should resume in the finished building in 6 to 7 weeks after that, Meiners said.

The company had organized mock disaster events, which included tornadoes, and the efforts have paid dividends.

"We had the process down, and everybody really banded together," Meiners said. "It was a combination of employees, the community, suppliers and customers."

The workforce instituted some production changes on the fly to compensate for the loss of the warehouse. Thousands of pallets of finished product in the damaged area had to be sorted to determine how much could be saved. Logistically, lighter inventories were kept, and shipping patterns were altered.

A total rewrite of the warehouse management software also was required by technology staff.

"Our customers and suppliers have been very understanding throughout this situation," Meiners said.

The community, at one point, rounded up between 50 and 60 residents to help clean up the debris.

"That's the joy of living in a small town – everybody has your back," he said. "This was a really bad situation, but it was turned into a positive by a little ingenuity and a lot of good people."