The Global Supply Chain vs. Mother Nature

I’ve seen my share of bad weather: floods, snowstorms, even the occasional tornado. As a native Northeasterner, I do my best to roll with Mother Nature’s punches. Although it has brought some scheduling challenges in my personal life (my kids had more snow days this year than I had during my entire school career), it’s the upheaval in my professional life that causes me to lose sleep at night.

I worry about our drivers who bravely face the weather to make our delivery deadlines; our warehouse people who work late hours to ensure loads are ready to roll even when forecasts look bad; our customers who partner with us to ensure their product gets to its destination on time and in one piece.

As I look forward to spring, I can’t help but think about how this winter’s severe weather patterns—and the tsunami in Japan—have caused logistical challenges. Mother Nature has demonstrated her might and highlighted the fragility of our global supply chain operations.

As demand continues to increase, weather patterns and natural disasters both far and near will continue to affect efficient supply chain execution in the first, middle and last 500 miles. How will the logistics industry respond to Mother Nature’s efforts to thwart our global supply chains?