Rick Biddle, director of the Virginia-based printer, told ProPrint the company discovered the damage early on 11 October after a night of “unbelievable rain”.
“At 5am, one of the guys arrived to find the whole street flooded and the water close to entering the building. By the time I got there about a quarter to six, the water was already inside,” he said.
The company’s entire lower floor was flooded, including its A1 and A2 Komori presses, which were under 18 inches of water. The company’s CTP equipment was also flooded.
“The A1 and A2 were inundated up to the walkways. Every pump, every control board, was under water,” Biddle said.
The company is continuing to operate its bindery equipment, which was unaffected by the flooding because it is on a slightly higher level at the site.
“We’ve just been operating by farming flat sheets out and finishing jobs here,” Biddle said. “The support from the industry has been good.”
The company is currently awaiting the outcome of an insurance claim, but expects the Komori machines, which it purchased from CPI, will have to be replaced. Biddle added that he doesn’t expect to be at full capacity again until January next year.
Biddle also said that, apart from a small amount of water damage sustained in February last year, the company hasn’t experienced anything like this before.
Ferrostaal Australia’s Gerard Wintle confirmed to ProPrint that the distributor had inspected the machines once floodwaters subsided and conducted an engineering report, which is now in the hands of insurers.
Wintle said they had discovered that all the primary circuitry and gearing in the machines had been “compromised” by the water.
“We’ve put those reports to the insurers and Peninsula, and it’s in their hands to make a decision on which way it goes,” he said.
“We feel that, in their compromised state, the machines are beyond repair.”
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