Wait! That Orange Barrel Is Not For Gatorade.

As I sat in stationary traffic this morning, squinting at the Road Closed sign, I chose to ruminate rather than to succumb to road rage.  The road was open yesterday, but apparently no one got the message about today - or chose to  not believe it.  Luckily, I had a full cup of very fine Kona blend, and an Alabama Shakes CD at hand.  Others were not so fortunate, especially those with somewhere to actually go.  Like the Fedex guy, for example.

But our national landscape is littered with orange barrels on highways.  The long-overdue major improvement projects are one thing.  The pop-ups are really upsetting, though.  They spring out of the pavement and potholes like flash mobs or gypsy food trucks, without warning, and of uncertain quality and value.

What does this do to simple supply chain execution, the logistics of getting stuff where it is supposed to go?  I suspect we don't give the people who must manage through these ad hoc mazes enough credit for the frustraton they endure, and the creativity they employ in instantaneous problem solving.

It's not just that madame might not receive her on-line order of intimate apparel as soon as she hoped.  What about the deliveries of goods to retail stores?  How is the integrity of the cold chain maintained for food and drugs?  What is the impact on manufacturing operations hoping to receive components for a more-or-less Just-in-time application?

These little things that we usually don't even think about are the real widow-makers in distributing stress throughout supply chains, I think.  What do you think?