Supply chain impact before, during, and after Hurricane Irma

View original at blog.kinaxis.com

What are your supply chain thoughts when you see this picture? As pictures start to emerge showing the damage caused by the recent string of hurricanes like Harvey and Irma, immediate thoughts go to the safety of the people caught in the path of these storms. Thoughts and hopefully many donations are going to all those involved in disaster recovery efforts. The image below is an aerial photo taken and released by the showing the damage Hurricane Irma wrought on a shipping yard in the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Maarten. If you happen to be involved in any way in supply chain, whether it’s supply chain planning, manufacturing or distribution, your next thought after hoping people are okay is likely, “holy crap!”. Once the initial shock has worn off, your supply chain instincts will kick in as you assess the damage from a supply chain perspective. You’re probably asking the question, “What’s the impact on supply?”. As you look at this picture, it’s natural to think about the amount and value of supply that is damaged or stuck on route. That immediately leads to worrying about the impact on the customer: What demands will be left unsatisfied by the supply disruptions? What orders should be filled with the limited supply available? Are there other capacity disruptions? How long will it take to recover? If your supply chain happens to support the disaster recovery in any way, thoughts to a spike in demand is something else to manage. Bottled water, generators, batteries, building supplies, food supplies, the list could go on. Delivery, especially in support of relief from the destruction and customer satisfaction are obvious immediate concerns, but then cost and margin questions soon follow: What’s the impact on the supply chain when prices jump due to limited supply? […]