| Abstract | Thailand‟s historic floods had caused significant disruptions to the global computer hardware
supply chain. The floods have severely damaged and disrupted manufacturing operations in
Thailand. Flooding has forced at least seven huge industrial estates in central regions to close
down. Nevertheless, the speed at which WD‟s production resumed was noteworthy. In what
follows, we document the key resources and decisions that facilitated WD‟s incredible
recovery from the largest natural disaster in the company had ever experienced.
On October 14th, 2011 the dikes protecting the Bang Pa-In industrial estate were breached by
massive flood waters that had earlier inundated Thailand‟s northern central plains. The
following day, despite heroic efforts from its on-site staff, the inner walls protecting Western
Digital‟s (WD) facilities broke. Water levels inside the company‟s hard disk drive (HDD)
fabrication facilities rapidly rose to about two meters. Two days later, WD‟s facilities in the
Navanakorn industrial estate a few kilometers south suffered the same fate.
We temporarily suspended production at our two factories in Thailand, which have been
inundated by floodwater, to protect our employees and our equipment and facilities. We
manufacture approximately 60 percent of our hard disk drives in Thailand, with the
remainder in Malaysia. Many of our component suppliers have been impacted, as well,
leaving material for HDD production and HDD supply to customers considerably
constrained.
Remarkably, on November 30th approximate 46 days since the estate‟s dikes broke, WD‟s
Bang Pa-In production was restarted. While the large swaths of Bangkok were still reeling
from impacts of the flood, the first, post-flood HDD came off WD‟s assembly line. Based on
the experience of Thailand‟s flooding in 2011, this study examines the extent to which the
natural disaster disruptions are translated into plunges in production and corporate
performance, and explores how companies can effectively manage the risks and cope with
operation breakdowns. The analysis reveals implications that corporate culture and
management mindsets that help in the speedy of post disaster recovery process, takes into
consideration the potential sources and impacts of risks and to assess them systematically.
Business continuity planning principle offers a safeguard, investment in human resources,
engaging people trust and loyalty, rock-solid suppliers chain and government relationship are
vital factors determined the disaster recovery speediness. Last, enhancing the management
leadership through strong corporate culture formation, exchange and coordination in vertical
relationships is crucial to ensuring resilience against high-impact from post disaster recovery. |