OceanWaves: Managing supply chains during hazardous weather events

BIO: Prior to joining FourKites, Koepke served in a variety of roles within the logistics services industry around the world. At FourKites, he leads the company’s network enablement strategy, which is focused on scaling to capture end-to-end supply chain visibility.

KEY QUOTES FROM KOEPKE:

“Hurricanes have been around for, obviously, generations but one of the things we continue to see is extreme weather events in regions that historically haven’t had them. … [The freeze in Texas] was a tough time for not just the road freight market but the ocean export and import market. You can’t bring in containers or ship them out from Houston if ports are shut down.”

“Visibility is beyond the tracking side. It’s inventory, it’s dwell time and the big thing now, especially driven by the European market, is sustainability. The topic we are talking about now is severe weather events, and a lot of what ties into that is sustainability.”

“You really have to look at your network map and where supply and demand is coming from. You need to understand risk, whether it’s financial, geopolitical or weather. Where is my network volatile and how do I best mitigate that risk? Specific to weather and capacity, companies will build up safety stock prior. These are things that are controllable.”

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