Daily Archives: April 17, 2016

Environmental Sustentation 18: Natural Disasters

Natural Disasters are on the rise. The rapid rise to be exact. As per a 2011 publication from THINK Executive, the number of disasters between the 1970s and 1990s occurring worldwide tripled. But as if this was not bad enough, it is predicted that both natural and man-made disasters will increase five times in the next fifty years. Ouch!

Something bad is going to happen. And it’s going to seriously disrupt your supply chain. Are you ready?

Probably not. But regardless of the natural disaster, these tried-and-true techniques can help you survive the next earthquake, hurricane, tsunami, volcanic eruption, or ice storm.

1. Dual Source from remote regions.

That way if a crop or factory in a region is destroyed, you can switch to the alternate source.

2. Maintain visibility down to raw materials for key products.

This way if something happens that affects a supplier’s supplier, you will have early warning and can make plans to switch sources, or help a supplier find an alternate source of supply.

3. Continually investigate alternate designs that require less of raw materials in limited supply.

The less you are dependent upon that one rare earth supplier in China or petroleum based products, the better you will be.

4. Invest in your own renewable energy source.

Should the main grid be overloaded and go down or be destroyed, having your own renewable energy source that your own engineers can maintain can help.

We know you’ve heard this a hundred times, but there’s a reason for that. These techniques are among the few that can be used to prepare for, and deal with, any natural disaster that considerably disrupts part of your supply chain.