The supply chain never looks as vulnerable as they do when bad weather strikes. Mostly trucks face major delays as accidents and poor weather conditions make roads dangerous and, at worst, they suffer accidents of their own. Bad weather conditions impact pickup and delivery timelines to a great extent. Therefore- establishing clear communications within your supply chain will lead to better outcomes and fewer issues. Typically, freight can still be moved during bad weather, but often at a higher cost or with an extended deadline.
Here are some tips to help prepare your supply chain for winter weather.
1. Check the weather reports from online sources to see what areas potentially going to be affected by storm while taking into consideration the route and expected delivery destination of the freight.
2. Use big size trucks that have the capability to handle extra load volume when capacity in the affected area becomes scarce.
3. Keep in touch with the part of your supply chain to ensure visibility into your workflow and allow parts of the supply chain to respond accordingly when other parts of the network may have been impacted by bad weather.
4. Plan to move the shipping dates to avoid issues due to bad weather conditions. If your warehouse and business can afford to move shipments forward or back, avoiding bad weather is the way to go.
5. Consider taking different modes of transportation; certain modes will fare better than the one you are accustomed to shipping in to secure more capacity when weather conditions take a turn.
6. Consider strategy changes during a bad weather situation, including drop shipping. Removing one of the mid-process stops, such as going to a central warehousing system, could take enough time to make up for delays caused by a storm.
The Bottom Line
The weather has and always will be a major issue when it comes to transportation. It’s important for logistics planners to determine if their current supply chain strategy can handle the winter weather and be prepared in advance for such a situation.