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UPDATE: Triton expected to resume manufacturing at Long Beach plant

September 8, 2005

Triton Systems is expected to resume ATM manufacturing at its 90,000-square-foot Long Beach, Miss., plant by Sept. 12, company president Brian Kett said Sept. 8. (Read update from Kett on ATMmarketplace's blog.)

But it could be months before the company is able to return to normal operating capacity.

"I'd love to get up to capacity by the end of the month, but with the staff and infrastructure surrounding us, we'll just have to see," Kett said. "We've had no significant supplier or vendor impacted (by Hurricane Katrina). But, with the roads … it's a logistical nightmare."

Road repairs and air and rail challenges are posing a few logistical problems. Emergency operations at Mobile (Ala.) Regional Airport - where the Federal Emergency Management Agency is now manually issuing airline tickets - will have an impact, Kett said. (Mobile's airport is about a two-hour drive from Triton.) At Gulfport-Biloxi (Miss.) International Airport, however, Northwest Airlines began commercial operations Sept. 8, and Delta, AirTran and Continental are expected to begin service next week, according to the airport's Web site.

"Typically, our manufacturing has no more than a four-day turn around for orders," Kett said. "By Monday, we won't be up to capacity again. We've turned out 2,000 units in a month, but it will be a while before we are back up to that level."

With a weary voice and a humble demeanor, the president of one of the United States' largest ATM manufacturers said Triton's executives still are focusing their attention on ensuring employees and families are taken care of. "For all of our staff, they have not seen any break in pay. And there won't be a break in pay. But as time goes by, people will have to make a personal decision about whether to stay in the area or move on and relocate."

"Undoubtedly," he added, "there will be a small number of folks who will restart somewhere else."

Although the area surrounding the Triton complex has been devastated, Kett said, the company's employees have been on-site since Sept. 6, working to get operations back up. About 320 of the company's 400-plus employees have been in contact with Triton management.

"It was therapeutic for them to come back to work and tell their stories and talk to other people. It's an incredible situation down there," Kett said. "We have been moving inventory and taking orders."

And, as Kett had stated in earlier reports posted on Triton's Web site, both the plant and Triton's 30,000-square-foot office facility are reportedly in good condition. "One conference room was damaged and one executive's office got trashed. But that's about it. At the plant, there was no damage. There was an opening in the roof there that's been fixed. But it didn't impact any of the goods there."

Kett said Triton's only expected inventory loss includes 100 or so ATMs housed in a New Orleans facility. "There were some finished goods in inventory in New Orleans, and we don't know what the status of that inventory is."

The company is expected to release pictures taken of its facilities post-Katrina sometime next week.

"It's (the facility) like a diamond in the rough down there," he added. "It's amazing to see our two facilities up in the middle of everything else."

Read also, Katrina's impact on ATM industry hard to assess; More news from the Gulf Coast; and Triton issues statement after Katrina ravages Gulf states.

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