Disruption caused by extreme weather across Europe could be minimised by careful contingency planning
As winter weather begins to bite across Europe, manufacturers and suppliers are being advised by emergency logistics specialist Evolution Time Critical to ensure they have robust supply chain contingency plans in place. Having endured flooding severe enough to close businesses in many areas during recent weeks, industry is now bracing itself for heavy snow, ice and fog that could lead to transport disruption.
“Experience shows that when extreme weather affects any part of the supply chain, the resulting disruption can create serious production delays,” said Evolution Time Critical’s managing director, Brad Brennan. “This has become even more challenging in recent years as the recession has forced suppliers to hold less stock, reducing the flexibility to respond to extraordinary events. While working successfully with our customers to minimise the impact of extreme weather, we advise all manufacturers and Tier 1s to review their contingency plans immediately.”
The effects of snow, ice and fog are known to afflict some airports, roads and rail routes more than others, allowing a measure of forward planning. However, once disruption hits, everybody scrambles for the same alternative arrangements and spare capacity is quickly exhausted. Evolution Time Critical uses a network of contacts to provide emergency capability, whether a 4×4 to the gates of a snowbound factory or an accompanied package transported by rail to a fog-free airport.
Forward planning is an important first step, but alone is not enough. Brennan warns companies to stay alert to sudden changes in weather patterns. “It’s important for supply chain managers to monitor weather forecasts at each supplier’s location as well as their own,” he advised. “While the weather may be fine in southern Europe, snow in Poland – or any other region – could easily prevent normal deliveries. Many suppliers are highly professional in doing this themselves, but it is quite surprising how many don’t start to plan until the snow is falling.”
Brennan says that the most common approach when bad weather is predicted is to simply allow more time for deliveries, typically one to two days. Sometimes trucks are held outside their destination for up to 24 hours waiting to unload, increasing the shipping costs but saving potentially huge late-delivery penalties. If the weather is closing in quickly, emergency logistics techniques can be used to temporarily overstock the supply chain and beat the weather front, subsequently reconnecting with the conventional delivery system, perhaps at a less severely affected location.
“The challenge is to maintain production schedules without interruption, so the solution may be the use emergency logistics to pull-forward sufficient supplies to accelerate production ahead of the weather system,” continued Brennan. “There are so many variables that an early conversation with our global control centres may help to prevent a serious problem occurring later.”
