From power blackouts to mother nature's fury, logistics networks and transportation organizations are exposed to many types of operational risks. It takes time and effort and resources, but nothing beats planning ahead when it comes to mitigating and minimizing the impact of extraordinary events.
Even if they have developed contingency plans at some point in the past, usually in response to some crisis, many company's plans quietly go out of date as people and priorities change. When we asked Logistics Today readers if their organizations had a formal risk management plan that had been updated within the past 12 months, more than half said, "No" (56%).
Still, some companies do make risk management a top priority. As noted by a representative from The Coffee Company, a coffee distributor in the U.K., crisis management is critical in order for it to provide the best possible service and goods to its customers.
"From the addition of a second diesel generator to support our production, IT and web order processes in case of a blackout, and our on-going review and activation of the most up-to-date processes of recall practices involving product tracking throughout the globe, we would prefer the exercise of preparedness," wrote the survey participant. "Just as our business is key to our own personal livelihood, risk management can be key to our customer's satisfaction and/or [our] demise as a publicly held corporation."
