FROM FM GLOBAL'S 2020 ANNUAL REPORT
It was a warm day in March at Parkdale Inc. headquarters just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, when the phone rang on Andy Warlick’s desk. It was a plea for help from the U.S. government.
The pandemic had created an acute shortage of face masks and surgical gowns throughout the United States. To protect the thousands of healthcare workers on the coronavirus front lines, millions of masks and gowns were needed—and needed fast.
Warlick, the CEO of Parkdale Inc., one of the largest textile producers in the world, hung up the phone. He called in Davis Warlick, Parkdale’s executive vice president, who immediately got to work.
Executive Vice President, Parkdale Inc.
DAVIS WARLICK
We could not have done this without our employees, who showed their extraordinary dedication during this time of crisis, or partners, including FM Global.
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PARKDALE INC.
Answering the call
Two days later, Parkdale had a supply chain in place to deliver 600 million masks in the next 90 days.
A plan for 60 million gowns would soon follow. The plans and the speed at which they were developed was a testament to the resilience of Parkdale Inc., its partners and the entire textile industry.
“It was just an incredible response from everyone in the industry,” explains Davis Warlick. “These are very resilient companies and everyone stepped up. Customers, suppliers, companies that were competitors—they were all around the table. We worked together to solve this problem.
”We could not have done this without our employees, who showed their extraordinary dedication during this time of crisis, or partners, including FM Global. FM Global was instrumental in helping us overcome the logistic challenges of distributing the masks and gowns.”
Distribution meant creating a nationwide network of warehouses nearly overnight, which introduced new risks from earthquakes and hurricanes. FM Global provided full coverage for these perils for the life of the warehouses and helped Parkdale avoid flood zones, protecting tens of millions of U.S. dollars in inventory.
Many of those customers had stopped manufacturing because of the pandemic, resulting in the shutdown of several Parkdale facilities. With the help of FM Global, Parkdale was able to shut down those facilities safely, and more importantly, restart them quickly to meet the aggressive delivery dates stipulated in the contract.
The masks and gowns weren’t the only way Parkdale helped during the pandemic. Its subsidiary, U.S. Cotton, developed and manufactured a new polyester-tipped swab that is now being used in COVID-19 testing. The company also brought in bulk shipments of hand sanitizer from its subsidiary in Mexico to help with the shortage in the U.S. Once again, FM Global was there to help Parkdale understand and mitigate the risk.
“FM Global looked at our facility and told us that we couldn’t safely store large quantities of flammable liquid like hand sanitizer,” Davis Warlick explains. “The FM Global engineers recommended storing the hand sanitizer in temporary containers away from the main production building and warehouses. That way we could still meet the demand without introducing new risks.”
The response to the pandemic was just the latest example of Parkdale’s ability to redefine resilience and itself. The company opened a single manufacturing site in 1916, making yarn for U.S. military uniforms. Today, it produces over 8,000 tons (7,250 metric tons) of products per week at 29 manufacturing plants in the U.S., Mexico and South America. It has evolved into a supplier of cotton-based consumer products and a producer of blended yarns (cotton and synthetic fibers) used in most fabrics today. And for the last 18 years, it has partnered with FM Global.
The government contract for the masks and gowns was a lifeline for the industry, which had been hit hard by the pandemic. Parkdale manufactured the yarn and passed it on to its customers to make the final product, redefining itself as a supply chain manager.
“We take great pride in our company,” Davis Warlick adds. “This is a family-run business so focusing on risk improvement comes naturally. It’s why we chose to join the FM Global family.”
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