Five years ago today, the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., brought things to a halt in Orange County. Planes were grounded, executives were stranded and people of all walks of life were frozen in horror. Below are some excerpts from the Business Journal’s coverage after the attacks.
As New York’s World Trade Center came tumbling down last week, so did business in Orange County.
Ask George Aumond, who saw the signing of a key contract delayed, fewer phone calls, less business and his clients immobilized in a harried week.
“It has been quite an impact,” said Aumond, chief executive of Santa Ana-based HSC Systems Inc. “I think we are going to see this for quite some time to come. Too many things are out of place and out of whack right now.”
“The economy is already slowing down so it has come at a bad time from that point of view,” said Anil Puri, dean of the business school at California State University, Fullerton. “There are possible events that could give a push to the economy also. Defense spending very likely is going to be higher than what it would have been otherwise. And the overall government deficit will be larger than what it would have been otherwise. Both would give a boost to demand.”
With the nation’s airplanes grounded last week, so was business at Santa Ana contract electronics maker Express Manufacturing Inc.
With 70% of the goods the company uses to make products coming in on airplanes, and 95% of its finished goods going out on them, Express Manufacturing came to a virtual standstill for a time last week. The crippling effect of a ban on air transportation could have been disastrous.
Express Manufacturing executives hunkered down in a meeting to find a way out of the situation. All the while, orders kept coming in.
In the end, Express Manufacturing opted to ship products on the ground. The shift added days to scheduled delivery times. But it was better than waiting.
After giving employees the day off to be with their families, Andrea Klein, chief executive of Irvine-based electronic components broker Rand Technology Inc., said she advised her sales teams to contact every customer to get a handle on their situation.
“Typically, 95% to 98% of our products go through the air,” Klein said. “It was very difficult on Tuesday to get a handle on things, so I just sent everybody home. On Wednesday, we were still booking business.”
“A lot of the dust and debris had settled by noon and it appeared that the wave of damage was complete in our area,” said Robert Martini, the former chief executive of Orange’s Bergen Brunswig Corp., now part of AmerisourceBergen Corp., who was in lower Manhattan on Sept. 11. “From the ground to the sky, everything was a grayish-white color: people, parked cars, building walls, windows, street lights, benches. To take a step, the ground cover produced a shoe imprint and a soft impact as the light material flaked away from your shoes. The dust was quick to adhere to one’s shoes, clothing and body.”
