Alabama Powers Response To Kitrina

Jeremy Nelson

AMLG 7606

Test Part B & Non Case Question

03/07/07

Alabama Power Response to Katrina:

Managing a Severe Service Supply Chain Disruption

This article brings up a very good point that I overlooked in the first article. It brings up the situation, where many of its employee's families were affected by the disaster and that they may not be able to come into work. Though in the article it says that the employees came in and served their company and customers in a professional manner, it leaves a serious question about what would happen if those employees could not come in. This would be a major set back to the Crisis Management Team, even if the had all the material resources that they need, if their skilled employees are not there to utilize them then those resources will remain idle.

One potential solution to this problem would be to form a strategic partnership with other power companies close by (that are potentially out of harms way) that have similar personnel who are trained to use the same equipment. Partner with them to not only help supply raw materials needed but to also supply additional manpower needed to fill any support roles that are left vacant by the disaster. Also, include your partner on the areas of your disaster plan that are not company confidential, this may help speed up the process of getting help if they know ahead of time what areas you are potentially needing help in.

Also let your employees know what is expected of them during a crisis. This would greatly lower the employee's stress level and help keep the command center up to date on their resource standing. The company could have its critical role employees fill out a disaster recovery plan for their families that way the company can know the best way to contact them. The company could also give them a plan, such as if X scenario happens you need to do X, Y, and Z, this would give the company greater knowledge of what resource they will have after a disaster. This could be done with every employee, just the ones with critical skills that would be hard to replace.

The company should also be identifying high risk areas and what they are doing to make those areas less risk averse. The article mentions that they are compiling lessons learned for future use, but don't mention what they are. In the high risk areas they should be looking to replace the damage equipment with equipment that is less susceptible to that particular disaster. In this case they could utilize more concrete telephone poles or using more underground utilities. They may be doing this but the article does not mention it.

The best way for the company to continue with it continuous improvement is to learn from their mistakes and take to appropriate action to correct them as soon as they are able to. Many times companies will make mistakes, learn from them and never take step to correct them until it happens again, and by then it is too late. If Alabama Power stay true to their continuous improvement policy and implement the changes they identify then they will continue to be successful when dealing with disasters.

Non Case Question

I would have to agree with Porter in that the firm can pursue each of the three simultaneously through Logistics/Supply Chain Management to gain a competitive advantage. The main reason that I agree is that if set you companies focus then cost minimization and customer service fall in line with it. They each can feed off of each other. First the firm would have to set a company focus that must be followed. Such as a mission statement like "Get