2023 Has Begun with Extreme Weather Events

2022 ended with floods in the Philippines and Brazil and severe weather in the US.  

Most of the US was struck by major storms, extreme cold, or rain in the past several weeks. Storm Elliott, the “bomb cyclone”, and “atmospheric river” brought record-breaking temperatures and rainfall from the Arctic to Mexico in the last weeks of 2022 and the beginning of 2023. Several other storm systems are expected to hit the south-central US as well as California this week.

Europe was also hit by an unprecedented heatwave last week. From France to western Russia, thousands of records were broken between Saturday and Monday. The extreme warm spell followed a record-warm 2022 in Europe. Additionally, heavy rain and flooding continue to impact parts of Wales and Scotland this week.  

Finally, major floods hit several towns across Northern Australia as ex-Tropical Cyclone Ellie continues to strengthen.

2023 has started with various weather events around the world causing disruptions, damaging roads, and impacting business continuity, transportation, local supply chains as well as global supply chains.  

Some simple strategies can help you manage supply chain disruptions and build resiliency in your operations.  

Event monitoring will help you stay informed of any potential disruptions so you can act accordingly. Furthermore, mapping and monitoring your supply chain can help you understand your supplier's geographical vulnerabilities. You can then analyze your supply chain weaknesses and identify alternate suppliers.  

Diversifying your supply chain and multi-sourcing will help you reduce supply chain dependencies so that you can quickly mitigate any problems as they arise.  

Additionally, understanding your suppliers down to the sub-tier suppliers will help you build insight into their geographical strengths and weaknesses so that you can build resilient strategic sourcing partnerships.