A privately-owned manufacturing firm has three production facilities across the country. Here are some important facts about these facilities:

? All plants are similar in size, layout, equipment, and produce all products.

? One plant operates in the eastern time zone, one in the central time zone and one in the Pacific Time zone.

? The plants in the east and west operate one shift. The plant in the Midwest operates two shifts.

? Each of the four shifts produce similar annual volume.

? This is one of the last strong manufacturing firms in the USA and 'Made in America' is important to customers and a key part of the company culture.

? The organization employs 20,000 and has annual sales of $10 billion. Write 3 page double-spaced executive summary of the issues the company will face if the plant in the central time zone suffers a devastating fire and will be unable to produce products for the next 18 months.

What is the action plan that will minimize the impact on the company, keep it true to its history, and have minimum impact on customers? It is expected to be concise and should be an actionable blueprint. You should include action items that need to be addressed both before and after this type of event.