Weathering the storm

Living on our rainwashed, often windswept island, we do not often suffer extremes of weather such as those that residents of the USA have recently experienced. However, it is not unusual for regions of the UK to suffer flooding, high winds and, in winter, occasional heavy snowfalls and many scientists now argue that extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common. Regardless of the science, flooded or washed out roads, closed bridges, knocked out power and snow bound motorways lead to slow down and congestion on our roads, which is never good news for logistics providers.

Extreme weather has the potential to wreak havoc across the supply chain with a delay in one place bringing operations further down the line to a standstill. It is our job to minimise the impact on our customers’ business as far as possible. The unpredictability of bad weather and the uncertain nature of weather forecasts are often the biggest challenges as lack of certainty makes planning very difficult. Prior preparation is the best approach. In the first place, we can make sure our own warehousing operations are as weather proofed as possible against snow, heavy rain and strong winds. Then detailed knowledge of every component of a customer’s supply chain is absolutely crucial so we can identify and anticipate problems even before they happen.

Having a bad weather plan is vital. Communication is key so customers know exactly where and what the likely impact of bad weather is going to be and can react accordingly. This may simply mean our planning several different alternative routes to and from the warehouse or adjusting delivery times to supermarkets. Fortunately, modern technology means we can be as well prepared as we can be in the event of extreme weather. The latest GPS software means different delivery routes can easily be plotted while our BougheyNET portal means monitoring stock levels and tracking stock movements at any time is speedy and straightforward for our customers and ourselves.

At Boughey, we are 100% committed to providing customer service which is second to none, whatever the weather.