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Fight Hurricanes with Resilience
NC Firm Tompkins Associates Urges Businesses to be Prepared

RALEIGH, NC, June 19, 2007 -- Director of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff talked to Governor Mike Easley and North Carolinians yesterday about hurricane preparedness. Just as we all need to be ready for hurricane season, business leaders should ensure that their supply chains can handle the strain of a disaster.

During and after a hurricane, what happens to the network that moves necessary goods to citizens? A broken supply chain impacts everything from raw materials coming from suppliers to the transportation of goods, availability of labor, and fluctuations in prices. And these effects extend well beyond the eye of a hurricane—impacting cities and towns thousands of miles away.

“The idea of business resiliency is still relatively new in some ways,” says Jim Tompkins, business expert and CEO of Tompkins Associates. “But organizations must be able to bounce back during trying times so that they can fully serve the community and provide continued stability.”

In his new book Bold Leadership for Organizational Acceleration, Tompkins dissects the anatomy of business disruptions such as hurricanes and shows industry leaders how to prepare for the worst. “If you have no idea what will happen to your company after a major natural disaster, then your company does not have much chance of surviving should something like that occur,” Tompkins says.

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, there were examples of businesses that rose to the task and moved much-needed food, water, generators and supplies to the region. The resilient businesses were able to mobilize their supply chains and become valuable resources in the recovery effort. Having a solid business resiliency plan and being a bold leader can help a community get back on its feet quicker.

About the Company

Tompkins Associates is the leading operations-focused consulting and integration firm specializing in end-to-end supply chain solutions. Customers look to Tompkins' expertise to develop and implement intelligent solutions in distribution center design, distribution network configuration, transportation planning, systems integration, benchmarking and best practices, logistics outsourcing, and supply chain optimization. For more than 30 years, Tompkins has offered a proven track record and deep industry expertise for solutions that reduce costs and improve supply chain performance. The company is headquartered in Raleigh, NC. For more information, visit www.tompkinsinc.com.

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