The earthquake in Japan resulted in closure of factories such as Sony, Toyota and Honda, while they assessed damages. Ocean shipments in and out of Japan are on hold while ports inspect cargo-handling equipment. You may have seen the pictures of containers tossed into a big heap. After the initial shock and inquiries as to safety of employees, friends, relatives and others, businesses will start to determine how this disaster will affect their supply chains. After 9/11, business continuity plans became popular. Companies created contingency plans designed to keep business going in the event of another terrorism attack on the U.S. After Hurricane Katrina, businesses tweaked those plans a little to account for natural disasters. Hopefully, businesses also considered how disasters in foreign countries would affect the supply chain when creating their continuity plans. This week while the people of Japan start to clear the debris and plan for reconstruction, business owners around the world will be searching for the answers to numerous questions. While factories in Japan are shut down, where will the company obtain the goods that the customers need? Did the company have cargo in transit to or from Japan? How many of the company’s containers were tossed about in the earthquake? Were the goods insured for damage and destruction from earthquakes?
It’s time to help our neighbors in Japan and to review the contingency plans that you hoped the company would never need to use.
1 comment:
While we don't ship directly out of Japan, we use a lot of Japanese suppliers' parts. We're attempting to see what plants are closed/open and how that will impact our trade. So folks with no direct shipments in/out of Japan are also affected.
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