Factory Torched in Rioting To Leave Minneapolis, Owner Says

A company specializing in medical training mannequins plans to move production to another city after their Minneapolis plant burned in recent rioting, the owner says.

7-Sigma Inc. president and owner Kris Wyrobek told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that city officials do not care about his business.

“They didn’t protect our people,” Wyrobek said. “We were all on our own.”

Fire broke out in an apartment building under construction next door and spread to the 7-Sigma plant, Wyrobek said. Firefighters who were on the scene refused to intervene, he said.

The factory had shut down production four hours early on the chance that rioting would break out after the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.

UPDATE:

The following press release has been issued by 7-Sigma Management.

"As a result of the protests in Minneapolis, our building of operation sustained fire damage overnight, on May 27/28th.  No 7-SIGMA employees were present during the blaze and are healthy and safe, as a result.  We appreciate the well wishes and concern that we’ve received over the past four days.  That sentiment speaks directly to the strength of relationship that we have with all of you, and we are honored to continue to work with each of you.

Our entire team is comprised of individuals with great resolve who are committed to ensuring our prompt and successful recovery, as well as doing the necessary work to be able to provide you with the business solutions that you need.

We are headfirst into our recovery plan and are working through these items to become fully operational, as quickly as we can.  We will be operating remotely on the administrative side as well as physically, in an alternate location as needed. 

We will keep you up to date, as we bring various capabilities online.  We will be as clear as we can through this entire process and offer our best commentary on expected timelines for customer support, order/request processing and delivery, while we construct new infrastructure for business operations.

We expect to make significant strides on the administrative abilities by the end of this week (if not sooner).

We are gathering as an entire organization today, to deliver recovery information, tools and plans to our entire team, and begin to engage in the work required to continue servicing your account.

Thank you for your patience and your understanding during this time. We look forward to servicing you soon and we extend our best wishes to you and all of yours."