The Snowed-in Supply Chain

You can’t pick up a business magazine these days without reading about supply chain risk. Defined in its global sense, supply chain risk is what could possible occur in the extended supply chain to prevent goods and services being delivered to you as required. There can be issues in manufacturing, logistics, transportation, planning, quality, or whatever. Supply chain risk is hot!

Actually, supply chain risk, in its simplest form, is cold….and white. Another huge snowstorm has belted the Denver area and has closed roads in Colorado and Wyoming. The Denver airport has been impacted and United Airlines has cancelled half of their flights.

I’ll bet if we watch the Denver news tonight we’ll see kids playing in the snow, plows carving the runway at the airport, and 18 wheelers packed in like sardines at a truck stop, waiting for the snow to stop and the roads to clear. Guess what is on those trucks? The stuff you’ve been waiting for, delayed. And that risk will remain until spring.