By Daniel Hunter
As the worst storm in over twenty years is upon us, business leaders will be ensuring that the weather has little to no affect on the performance of their companies, and looking at what they can do to avoid mishaps in more than one way.
High winds have wreaked havoc and extreme rainfall has caused flooding, but what has this meant for supply chains and will organisations face further battles ahead?
Dave Alberts, Director, Crimson & Co, end-to-end supply chain consultancy, suggests that although many companies may have struggled today with employees unable to get into work, as a result of transport issues for example, supply chains should not be affected by the lashing storm.
“Supply chains are increasingly vulnerable to catastrophic events such as storms or hurricanes,” commented Alberts.
“This is partly because firms are more exposed to such events as a result of supply chains becoming leaner, and therefore operating with fewer human and capital resources, especially inventory. There is less slack available and therefore proactively planning for these types of events should be a priority for supply chain managers.
“It’s becoming a bit of an overused mantra but businesses do need to do more to proactively plan for high risk events with robust risk management plans. There are lots of examples of supply chain companies that are doing some good work to quantify the risk of multiple types of events on key supply chain locations. But, these companies are still in the minority and more needs to be done.
“This week’s storm is unlikely to have much impact on sales or supply chain performance but let’s hope the message doesn’t fade away. The frequency at which these events occur validate that contingency plans must be put in place wherever possible and organisations must attempt to protect product supply through efficient and premeditated strategies and best practices.”
Join us on
Follow @freshbusiness
