By Peter Loftus And Daniela Hernandez
In the days after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico,
medical-device maker Boston Scientific Corp. was having trouble
contacting its more than 1,000 employees on the island.
The storm had knocked out cellphone and landline service for
many, and some workers left damaged homes to stay with friends and
relatives. Several days after the Sept. 20 storm, the company had
accounted for only about 700 workers.
"I started losing sleep about the fact that we had 300 people
unaccounted for," Brad Sorenson, Boston Scientific's senior vice
president of manufacturing and supply chain, said in an interview.
"And thinking, 'Are they going to show up on that list of people
who were injured or died?'"
So Boston Scientific turned to the airwaves. It began running
advertisements on a Puerto Rican radio station, asking employees
who hadn't contacted the company to do so by phone or social media.
A worker visited the station in person to relay the ad text because
it was difficult to get in touch by phone, a company spokeswoman
said.
The company also issued social-media and text messages, and
dispatched workers to knock on colleagues' doors.
Firms beyond health care also scrambled to find employees. Rum
maker Bacardi Ltd. relied on radio ads, social media and
word-of-mouth to account for its workers, with managers setting up
WhatsApp networks to communicate with direct reports.
It was a trial of the business-continuity and employee-safety
plans that many companies adopt but don't always have the
opportunity to test. As Marlborough, Mass.-based Boston Scientific
found, unexpected events forced the company to improvise on the
fly.
Medical-device and pharmaceutical companies are among Puerto
Rico's top employers due to corporate tax breaks the island offers.
Efforts to locate workers have been important not only for their
safety, but also to help restart operations and avoid disruptions
to Puerto Rico's supply of medicines and devices for the rest of
the U.S.
Pharmaceuticals manufactured in Puerto Rico make up nearly 10%
of all drugs consumed by Americans, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration said, citing data from the Bureau of Economic
Analysis .
Some companies' plants weren't severely damaged, but "the issue
is getting the employees back to work, because these people have
been devastated by the storm," FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said
in an interview. He said the FDA is monitoring about 40 critical
medicines produced in Puerto Rico to try to avoid shortages.
Medical-device maker Medtronic PLC also used a mix of radio and
social media to reach employees, and hired about 40 drivers to
visit workers' homes, a spokesman said. As of Friday the company
had verified the well-being of more than 90% of its 5,000 direct
and contract employees in Puerto Rico, and most had returned to
work.
Medtronic said the storm could limit the availability of certain
newer products or those that had lower inventory levels before the
storm. The company is providing water, food and power generators to
employees, the spokesman said.
Drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co., which has manufacturing
operations in Carolina, Puerto Rico, sent workers to colleagues'
homes and monitored social media to account for its employees, a
spokesman said Monday.
Most of Boston Scientific's Puerto Rico employees work at a
plant in Dorado that makes wires for implanted heart devices such
as pacemakers. It also has a sales office in the capital, San
Juan.
The company prepared for the storm by shipping some products off
the island in advance, and giving some workers satellite phones,
Mr. Sorenson said. It closed the Dorado plant shortly before the
storm made landfall.
The two-story factory had been upgraded several years ago to
withstand major storms, and suffered relatively minor damage.
The morning after the storm, Paul Martin, the factory's head of
operations, drove there from his home 2 miles away. Normally a
six-minute commute, the drive turned into a 45-minute journey
because of flooded roads, debris and downed telephone poles, he
said.
About 50 workers showed up at the plant that morning to help
clear debris and find people. More arrived each day thereafter. "It
was very encouraging, very uplifting on day one," said Mr.
Martin.
Later that day, he drove out to look for other workers he
couldn't reach by phone. He found four at their homes trying to
clean up damage.
Costas Manganiotis, Boston Scientific's Latin America regional
director for urology and pelvic health, was cleaning up his house
near the Dorado plant. He had sent his wife and 11-year-old son to
Austin, Texas, before the storm, and stayed behind with his four
dogs.
Two of his colleagues showed up to check on him, satellite phone
in tow so he could call his family in Texas and his native
Greece.
The company had counted on using standard delivery services like
UPS and FedEx to send water, food and gasoline cans from a supply
center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., but they weren't immediately
available, so Boston Scientific hired a small cargo-jet service to
make twice-daily runs to the island, Mr. Sorenson said.
The company flew in IT technicians, engineers and other U.S.
staff to help restore operations, executives said.
Boston Scientific also didn't anticipate the extent of the phone
outages, Mr. Sorenson said. That forced the company to switch to
social media and messaging service WhatsApp to track down remaining
employees.
Another obstacle: Boston Scientific hadn't asked its employees
in advance to tell the company where they planned to stay during
and after the storm, Mr. Sorenson said, making it harder to find
them.
To help employees get back on their feet, the company is
providing hundreds of generators and fuel to workers so they can
power their homes. The company also opened a child care facility at
the plant, and contributed $2 million to a relief fund for workers,
Mr. Sorenson said.
It took until Oct. 4 to locate the remaining employees, Mr.
Sorenson said. Limited production began at the plant in late
September, though it is still relying on generators for power.
Mr. Manganiotis has temporarily moved his family to Austin so
his son can attend school. He will travel back and forth for work,
and hopes to move the family back in a few months.
"This small island has a lot of things that a lot of people care
about," said Mr. Manganiotis, who's lived in Puerto Rico for 18
years. The loss of productivity is "really something that cannot
only impact Puerto Rico, but also the world."
Write to Peter Loftus at peter.loftus@wsj.com and Daniela
Hernandez at daniela.hernandez@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 09, 2017 17:48 ET (21:48 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024