Disaster Strikes

Disaster Strikes

The field of Supply Chain Management encompasses the entire process of a product prior to purchase. From the procurement of raw materials to the placement of the final piece of merchandise on the shelves of consumer stores, the step-by-step process requires meticulous detail to run efficiently and economically. Because the field is so broad, I decided to delve deeper into how the Supply Chain is broken up and categorized, and what can have an impact on it.

Grant Vandenbussche, a senior, fellow Supply Chain Management major and my Undergraduate Academic Advisor was able to help me break down this broad umbrella of a discipline. When I asked Grant how he would define Supply Chain Management, he nearly burst into laughter, due to the impossibility of answering the question. “Supply Chain Management can basically be broken down into three categories” he began. “Procurement, Transportation, and Planning. Those are the big three.”

We continued our meeting discussing these three categories in further detail. Grant explained how procurement dealt with the acquisition of materials and commodities, and trying to purchase them for the lowest price possible, as to maximize profit from the finished product. He proceeded to explain transportation, and how it deals largely with moving the materials or products from point A to point B safely and efficiently. Finally, we discussed planning and its relationship with transportation. Grant offered up that adept workers in the supply chain field should be skilled at planning not only how much product or material must be purchased or distributed, but also contriving alternative plans and scenarios in order to be adequately prepared for anything that might throw a wrench in the operation. When I pushed further regarding what sort of “wrenches” may arise in the supply chain, he used the drought of this past summer as an example. He explained how the lack of water caused remarkably low yields for harvest, which forced prices of fresh produce through the roof.

My informal sit-down with Grant helped me more easily comprehend the vast field that is Supply Chain Management. Our conversation also sparked my interest in how natural disasters and unforeseen happenings impact the supply chain, and what companies or institutions do to prepare or to respond to such disasters. According to Trevor Hale and Christopher Moberg, two frequent writers for International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, “Supply chain disruptions caused by external events can have a significant financial and operational impact on firms not properly prepared” (Hale). In other words, expect the unexpected, and prepare for the worst, because not everything can be controlled, but most things can be handled or dealt with if adequate preparation is conducted. The authors continue by offering up components necessary