If someone is unpredictable you might relate them to the weather, and boy oh boy is that accurate. What's not always accurate? The weather forecasts, especially during hurricane season. Living in South Carolina I know this all too well. Across the supply chain, companies prioritize weather-proofing practices to gain an edge on natural disasters that seem to always come when you least expect them.
Recently, hurricane Beryl, a category 5, wreaked havoc on the Caribbean before plowing into the gulf coast of the United States— signaling the start to the hurricane season of 2024. Fred Wu, CEO of DeltaTrak, explains that across the cold chain, weather events pose a significant challenge.
"Major weather and disaster situations that can knock out the power will disrupt nearly all aspects--the harvesting, processing, precooling and refrigerated storage of perishable commodities--jeopardizing the cold chain and the shelf life of the commodity. Food safety is critically important, so weather-related contamination at any point of the cold chain is a primary concern," says Wu. "During transport, unexpected weather conditions can force a stop or diversion of a planned transit route. Ultimately, this adds more time, fuel and cold chain resources to maintain the quality and integrity of the perishable commodity in the cargo, often for unknown periods of time. For the retailers, weather events can directly impact the business’ bottom line. Weather events can mean not getting perishable cargo on time and elongated delivery time and transit temperature variations can impact the quality of cargo."
The effects every portion of the supply chain, from supplier to transport to consumer. "While weather patterns have been changing due to global warming, companies can still gather relative data that will allow them to predict potential weather patterns. Data analyses and predictive analytics help companies to be better prepared to engage with environmental conditions through contingency planning and precautionary measures," explains Wu.
"In addition to the basic risk abatement actions like getting an emergency generator, consider communication channels and technology as part of your risk mitigation planning. I recommend access to different types of communication platforms. You can use IoT technology and cloud software services to locate, calculate and plot out alternate routing of your asset, depending on the weather, in real time," says Wu.
New technology has the power to track data with predictive analytics to help companies form a plan. From real-time visibility, assets can be tracked through the journey, where weather might impede the course, and using those back up plans as a result of data collection, a detour or partnership with nearby transportation, warehousing or other option might come into play. Wu says, having real-time visibility of not only the location of the asset but also the environmental conditions of the cargo transported by the asset provides the various actors in the cold chain with the data immediately; it allows them to make informed decisions in real time to ensure the safe and efficient delivery of perishable goods.
