AccuWeather's Tornado Warning Saves Lives and Ensures Business Continuity for Equipment Manufacturer
Applicable Industries
- Buildings
- Equipment & Machinery
Applicable Functions
- Facility Management
Use Cases
- Onsite Human Safety Management
- Search & Rescue
About The Customer
The customer in this case study is the world's largest construction equipment manufacturer. One of their most vital plants is located in Oxford, MS, where it produces 1.1 million industrial couplings each month. These couplings are used in almost every bulldozer, dump truck, and excavator the company produces. The plant's operational uptime is essential to the company's overall production. The company has a robust Emergency Action Plan in place, led by a health and safety coordinator, to ensure the safety of its employees during emergencies.
The Challenge
The world’s largest construction equipment manufacturer, with one of its most vital plants located in Oxford, MS, faced a potentially catastrophic situation when a devastating tornado struck the plant. The facility, which produces 1.1 million industrial couplings each month for use in almost every bulldozer, dump truck, and excavator the company produces, was directly in the path of the tornado. The disaster threatened not only the lives of the employees but also the company-wide production, putting the organization at risk of the most severe production crisis in their history. The challenge was to ensure the safety of the employees and minimize the impact on the company's operations.
The Solution
The solution came in the form of a timely tornado warning issued by AccuWeather. At 5:37 pm, before the tornado hit, AccuWeather issued a warning for a storm 18 miles away. At that time, no other weather agency had issued a warning for the plant location. The warning was received via text message by the plant’s health and safety coordinator, who immediately moved 88 people into shelter per her Emergency Action Plan. At 5:59 pm, the tornado struck. Thanks to AccuWeather’s warning, no injuries occurred as everyone had moved to shelter in a safe and orderly way. The plant’s staff was able to resume operations at a nearby facility within a matter of days, showcasing a business continuity success story.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
Case Study missing?
Start adding your own!
Register with your work email and create a new case study profile for your business.
Related Case Studies.
Case Study
Smart Water Filtration Systems
Before working with Ayla Networks, Ozner was already using cloud connectivity to identify and solve water-filtration system malfunctions as well as to monitor filter cartridges for replacements.But, in June 2015, Ozner executives talked with Ayla about how the company might further improve its water systems with IoT technology. They liked what they heard from Ayla, but the executives needed to be sure that Ayla’s Agile IoT Platform provided the security and reliability Ozner required.
Case Study
IoT enabled Fleet Management with MindSphere
In view of growing competition, Gämmerler had a strong need to remain competitive via process optimization, reliability and gentle handling of printed products, even at highest press speeds. In addition, a digitalization initiative also included developing a key differentiation via data-driven services offers.
Case Study
Predictive Maintenance for Industrial Chillers
For global leaders in the industrial chiller manufacturing, reliability of the entire production process is of the utmost importance. Chillers are refrigeration systems that produce ice water to provide cooling for a process or industrial application. One of those leaders sought a way to respond to asset performance issues, even before they occur. The intelligence to guarantee maximum reliability of cooling devices is embedded (pre-alarming). A pre-alarming phase means that the cooling device still works, but symptoms may appear, telling manufacturers that a failure is likely to occur in the near future. Chillers who are not internet connected at that moment, provide little insight in this pre-alarming phase.
Case Study
Premium Appliance Producer Innovates with Internet of Everything
Sub-Zero faced the largest product launch in the company’s history:It wanted to launch 60 new products as scheduled while simultaneously opening a new “greenfield” production facility, yet still adhering to stringent quality requirements and manage issues from new supply-chain partners. A the same time, it wanted to increase staff productivity time and collaboration while reducing travel and costs.
Case Study
Energy Saving & Power Monitoring System
Recently a university in Taiwan was experiencing dramatic power usage increases due to its growing number of campus buildings and students. Aiming to analyze their power consumption and increase their power efficiency across 52 buildings, the university wanted to build a power management system utilizing web-based hardware and software. With these goals in mind, they contacted Advantech to help them develop their system and provide them with the means to save energy in the years to come.
Case Study
Integration of PLC with IoT for Bosch Rexroth
The application arises from the need to monitor and anticipate the problems of one or more machines managed by a PLC. These problems, often resulting from the accumulation over time of small discrepancies, require, when they occur, ex post technical operations maintenance.
