Tornadoes hit Reinke plant
Jun 24, 2003 12:00 PM
Reinke, a manufacturer of truck trailers, container chassis, and mechanized irrigation systems, is assessing damage of its 80-acre plant today after a series of tornadoes ripped through Deshler Sunday evening.According to Bob Friehe, Reinke president, the east end of the main trailer/chassis production building was damaged, a corner of the roof on the east end of the main office building was partially lifted up, and several overhead doors on other buildings were blown off.
Despite the structural damage, he expects the company to be able to ship orders by end of this week.
“The company’s irrigation manufacturing division survived the storm with relatively little damage, and we should resume our same pace of total plant production within days,” Friehe said. “We’ve contacted our territory managers and dealers to inform them on our production status and ensure them that the storm will not impact our shipping ability for the upcoming busy season. We have a strong executive team in place that is currently assessing the damage and implementing a strategy to get the plant up and running as quickly as possible.”
Friehe said the company’s irrigation and trailer/chassis parts inventories were not damaged. Reinke has more than 300 employees, none of whom were hurt in the storm.
The plant was closed Monday and Tuesday. However, insurance agents and construction crews are on site. In the meantime, Reinke dealers will continue to take orders and assist customers at the more than 29 trailer dealerships and 160 irrigation dealerships throughout the United States and Canada.
For more information, call the main Reinke number at (402) 365-7251.
