June 1st through the end of November is considered Hurricane Season for the Atlantic and Gulf Coast, with heightened chances of storms occurring from early August to October. According to the National Weather Service, there’s an average of six hurricanes each year, with two typically becoming major storms hosting winds of 110-plus mph.  

Even on its best days, the logistics industry is considered complicated. Throw a hurricane in the mix, and you can have straight-up chaos. Hurricane Season means supply chains should prepare for the worst in weather, like heavy rain, dangerous gusts of wind, limited visibility, and flooding. Shipping setbacks such as impassable roadways, stranded trucks and drivers, loss of cargo, and extended deliveries are just some of what can be experienced. Here’s what your organization needs to know to prepare during peak Hurricane Season so your company can avoid delays and a loss in revenue. 

Supply Chain Tips for Peak Hurricane Season 

Stay Informed 

A hurricane’s path and level of impact can change very quickly. It’s crucial you stay informed of potential storms that could impact your supply chain during Hurricane Season.  

Set up alerts to be notified of newly formed storms and hurricanes. When a potential storm is in your path find a trusted weather news source and check it often for updates. Don’t just follow the updates before the storm, but also during and after. You may also adopt and use advanced weather tracking systems to get up-to-date information to make informed, real-time decisions.  

Maintain Communication 

Natural disasters, like hurricanes, can have a huge impact on your company’s supply chain. An easy way to stay ahead is to be transparent and communicate openly throughout. Transparency builds trust and helps manage expectations during a crisis. 

If a potential hurricane threatens your business, acknowledge it immediately. Then, start communicating with your customers and partners about the potential effects. Regular updates on potential disruptions and recovery efforts can go a long way in maintaining strong business relationships. 

Have an Emergency Plan Ready 

You should have a company-wide plan that outlines its actions during a hurricane. Your emergency plan should include important details like; 

• an evacuation route for buildings affected 

• a crisis communication plan 

• assigned employee emergency roles and responsibilities 

• instructions on how to protect inventory and equipment 

• where emergency supplies are located and how best to use them 

• how capable facilities will support when others are affected  

When planning, make safety your company’s top priority during a hurricane. Once established, your plan should be reviewed often and updated as needed to ensure it remains effective. Additionally, running practice drills can help everyone know their roles and responsibilities.  

Consider Alternatives 

Consider what alternative workspaces and methods of transport you could use in the event of a hurricane. Are there temporary warehouse solutions where inventory could be stored? Could intermodal replace a truckload shipment that’s in the path of the storm? Are there alternative routes? How can facilities outside of the storm’s path support those affected? These alternative options should be included in your emergency plan.  

While you may not have all the answers when planning, the more you include, the quicker you can make strategic decisions when needed. Having room for flexibility and adaptability is key to minimizing disruptions. 

Have Visibility in Your Supply Chain 

Visibility is needed now more than ever for supply chains. Having visibility not only helps you on good days but especially during  hurricane season.  

A transportation management system (TMS) can provide the necessary visibility during a hurricane. It provides critical data about your shipments and orders in real-time, giving you an advantage should a problem arise. This can help you make quick decisions to reroute shipments, avoid affected areas, and keep your customers informed.  

Think About Recovery 

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), almost 40 percent of businesses that have to shut down for 24 hours due to a natural disaster never open again.  

Ensure your business won’t be in that 40 percent if it happens. Have a plan ready to roll for the aftermath of a hurricane. Prepare for the worst and then plan how to recover from it quickly. This will help prevent any potentially steep revenue loss. 

Recovery Team, assemble! It’s time to identify the key employees and providers to get your business back to normal operations. An initial assessment will need to take place and your team’s sole responsibility should be to restore and resume processes. Having those alternative solutions and backup suppliers or providers will be handy here.  

Weather the Storm with a Reliable Logistics Partner 

Sometimes, you just need extra help. A relationship with a reliable logistics provider, like Trinity Logistics, can help your supply chain overcome the threats of Hurricane Season.  

Hurricanes can roll in a cloudy overcast of unknowns, but Trinity shines a light toward safety and security. We have over 45 years of experience helping thousands of supply chains through ups and downs. We thrive on problem-solving and handling issues like the ones hurricanes can bring. We also have a dedicated After-Hours Team to support and quickly resolve any potential challenges – no matter the time of night, holidays, or weekend. 

Our nationwide network of trusted carrier relationships ensures your shipments arrive safely at their delivery locations. Additionally, multiple transportation options offer the flexibility to keep your goods moving. Lastly, we’ll help you find real-time visibility with our customizable Managed Transportation solutions. Our dedicated Team (comprised of six Regional offices across the nation) is ready to help you maintain continuity and resilience in your supply chain.  

Partner with Trinity logistics so your supply chain can stay afloat, no matter the weather. (Our exceptional service might just blow you away, though!)  

It’s a simple fact. People can’t survive without food. When times are tough, we can certainly make sacrifices in other parts of our lives, like our online shopping habits or a remodel we wanted, but not food. This makes food manufacturing a reliable and even diverse industry to run a business in. Yet, it doesn’t come without its own set of unique challenges, especially with its logistics. 

Today, the demand for fast and reliable shipping is higher than ever. Food and beverage companies need to meet the rising pressure to provide quicker turnarounds and deliver their products at optimal freshness to stay competitive. With already complex supply chains, how can a company keep up? Not to mention, what if there’s an issue found or a delay? Don’t stress. We’ll cover logistics challenges that commonly hurt food manufacturing businesses and how working with a third-party logistics (3PL) company, like Trinity Logistics, can solve and simplify your processes for shipping food.

Common Shipping Challenges Faced by Food Manufacturing

Diversity in Scheduling Applications Introduces Challenges

One of the biggest headaches for food manufacturers is self-imposed. Each shipper or distributor could be using a different scheduling portal or application. Some even just use Excel spreadsheets. Because of this, scheduling conflicts and communication gaps are often seen when shipping food. This can be very frustrating to the logistics departments arranging the shipments. 

Furthermore, the carriers they aim to work with may not know how to use the application or might not even have access to it. This inefficiency can cause issues with them scheduling their pickup or delivery appointments. It also can limit access to capacity, something that is truly needed for those requiring temperature control during peak produce season!  

Plenty of Time-Sensitive Freight in Food Manufacturing – Beat Must Arrive by Dates

As previously mentioned, food manufacturers face a growing demand for products that are at peak freshness, especially for those needing temperature control. It’s not unusual for these time-sensitive shipments to be last-minute orders requiring immediate action. Some of these can come in just the day before or even the day before and need shipping right away. Sometimes to help manage the influx of shipments, freight can be assigned with a “Must Arrive by Date” (MABD). This can put pressure on food manufacturers, and missed delivery windows can result in costly penalties. These fees, called chargebacks, usually get pushed back onto the customer and impact your bottom line and service.

Identify Visibility Gaps When Shipping Food

With many time-sensitive and temperature-control requirements, it’s important for food manufacturers to have complete visibility into their shipments. Food shipments often involve multiple stops, so it’s critical to understand where your product is and when it’s expected to arrive. Even though it is valuable, many food manufacturers find they have limited visibility of their shipments. This creates a lot of uncertainty, causing additional gaps in communication and possible delays or disruptions. Most importantly, it can jeopardize the safety of your food product, an important piece to meet the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) regulation.

Keeping Food Shipping Logistics Budget in Control

Carrier selection for shipping food products can be a puzzle for food manufacturers to figure out. On one hand, you want to work with high-quality carriers to ensure your food products arrive at peak freshness. On the other hand, they cost more. One certainly wants to budget and find balance. Look to pay too little, and you may not find the quality service your products need. Finding that balance between the two can be difficult.

Market trends can also cause unexpected price fluctuations, further challenging their logistics budget. This can really hurt those needing to meet peak freshness as it’s not like they can’t ship their products as they may perish. Instead, they’ve got to adjust and pay the current price.

Food manufacturers must be creative and find solutions to keep their costs down but their quality up. They can consider other transportation modes as options to manage costs, but understanding which one makes the most sense for their product can be overwhelming.

Embracing Sustainability in Food Shipping

Sustainability is on everyone’s minds, including consumers. With global food and beverage production causing roughly 34 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, consumers are holding food manufacturing companies to higher standards. They’re researching more about the companies they purchase food products from. They want to know what positive practices they implement, such as sustainable fishing, the use of ecological pesticides, reforesting, fair trade, or the use of compostable packaging.

TRINITY Logistics SOLVEs Food Shipping PROBLEMS

With over 45 years of serving customized logistics solutions to thousands of food manufacturers, we’re fairly confident in our ability to help you overcome any of these challenges.

We Speak Your Food Shipping Scheduling Language

We’re in tune with most if not all, scheduling portals that food and beverage shippers use. You don’t have to worry about training us! Yes, we could even say we know how to navigate those scheduling apps “with our eyes closed.” Even if we have a newer Team Member who is unfamiliar with it, we can guarantee that at least one of our 400+ Team Members or 135+ Authorized Agents know it and can assist.

Time-Sensitive Titans: We Deliver Your Food Products When It Matters Most

At Trinity Logistics, we understand the urgency of time-sensitive food deliveries. Our Team excels in handling quick turnarounds, making us the “emergency room” for your time-critical freight. We are acutely aware of the potential repercussions of missed deliveries and leverage our strong carrier relationships to secure the capacity you need. These established partnerships allow for better planning and ensure that carriers are familiar with the specific needs of food commodities, pickup, and delivery locations.

Furthermore, in the unfortunate event that fees do arise due to carrier issues, Trinity acts as your advocate. We hold our carriers accountable and ensure that any associated charges are passed along to the responsible party. Our meticulous investigation process guarantees that only the root cause of the problem bears the financial burden.

Expand the View into Your Food Shipments

We’re champions of end-to-end visibility, great communication, and transparency because we know you deserve it. Our commitment to People-Centric service isn’t just our slogan; it’s our philosophy.

We leverage a combination of cutting-edge technology and a dedicated Team Member to keep you informed every step of the way. Use our Customer Portal to see real-time tracking of your shipments. If you’re looking for even more transparency, there’s our Managed Transportation service, offering you a customized Transportation Management System (TMS) solution that works for your business. Between our technology and our Team Members, you’ll find this proactive approach ensures you’re not left in the dark until delivery.

Find Balance in Your Logistics Budget

Starting out, our established carrier relationships not only gain you access to capacity but to leverage our competitive rates. Additionally, we have multiple modes to choose from and our Experts can help you explore which one suits your product and budget.

Now, we understand balance isn’t easy to obtain, so that’s why Trinity Logistics goes a step further in our service to help you find it. For those food manufacturers that build a shipping history with us, we’re able to review your data and conduct a comprehensive review of your logistics. This will give you a clearer insight into your logistics to find room for improvement. We won’t come empty-handed, either. We’ll make recommendations to add efficiencies and see if we’re on the right track for your company’s success.

Adding Sustainability into Your Logistics

We understand the importance of sustainability and are committed to helping you implement it throughout your supply chain. This includes connecting you with carriers that prioritize eco-friendly practices, finding sustainable shipping options, and exploring carbon offsetting programs. If you need further proof, Trinity currently holds a bronze medal rating by EcoVadis, the world’s largest and most trusted provider of sustainability ratings.

Bonus Benefit for Food Manufacturers! Trinity’s Relationship with Honor Foods

As a Burris Logistics Company, we have a direct relationship with Honor Foods. Honor Foods is a leading foodservice redistributor with locations throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast regions of the U.S. They have access to thousands of reputable brands and can simplify your purchasing process. Honor specializes in frozen, refrigerated, dairy, and dry products with over 3,000 stocked items from 300+ trusted suppliers. Speed up your lead times and increase profitability with no extra storage space needed. Working with Trinity and Honor, you can get the best of both Burris Logistics brands and gain additional success in your business.

Operating in food manufacturing can be complex, but it doesn’t have to be. Try Trinity Logistics for your shipping and see just how easy it can be.

The chemical industry faces challenges such as volatile raw material prices, shortages, supply chain disruption, and more.

The chemicals industry is one of the most important sectors, with 96 percent of all manufactured goods depending on them. With many moving parts and various stakeholders involved in the chemical supply chain, there are several challenges this industry faces. Here are some of the biggest challenges affecting the chemical industry.

CHEMICAL INDUSTRY CHALLENGES

• Managing Raw Materials
• Transportation Disruptions
• Regulations
• Large Amounts of Data
• Complex Supply Chains
• Lack of Visibility
• Climate Change Pressure

MANAGING RAW MATERIALS

The chemical industry, specifically chemical manufacturing, relies heavily on raw materials. Raw material prices, such as those for crude oil, are volatile and can fluctuate at any given time. This can make it difficult to forecast costs and budget and, keep prices competitive.

Keeping an adequate supply of these materials can be an additional challenge. Having too much inventory can potentially lead to chemical waste or spoilage while too little can make it difficult to meet customer demand.

TRANSPORTATION DISRUPTIONS

Chemical industry supply chains can be long and complex. They have many moving parts, making the transportation of chemical products a challenge. If you add in transportation disruptions, it makes it even more problematic.

While transportation disruptions usually occur at some point, in recent years, there’s been a lot of supply chain disruption caused by the onset of Covid-19.

According to a survey by the American Chemistry Council, 97 percent of companies reported having to change to their operations due to supply chain issues in recent years. Because of this, the chemical industry must stay on the tip of its toes and be able to adapt quickly whenever disruption may happen.

Also, global supply chains see the most impact from transportation disruptions. The chemical industry has more global supply chains than other industries, making this challenge more difficult.

REGULATIONS

Chemical products are often specialized and need specific storage and handling. In addition, they face strict regulations on the transport of their products, especially hazardous materials. These regulations are necessary to have in place to protect the environment and people.

In recent years, several high-profile incidents have involved the release of hazardous chemicals into the environment. This has caused governments to introduce more strict regulations. As a result, this has increased the costs for chemical companies to operate. It’s been estimated that chemical companies will have to spend more than $300 billion over the next few years to meet regulations.

The chemical industry must be more vigilant than ever to remain compliant. These increased regulations put more pressure on chemical companies already trying to meet global standards.

The chemical industry has to work with many different regulations and agencies, such as;

• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
• Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP),
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA),
• and Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH).

LARGE AMOUNTS OF DATA

The chemical industry handles a lot of data. All manufacturing and operational data must be recorded, categorized, and processed. It’s estimated that chemical companies handle up to;

• 50,000 data points per raw material,
• 100 samples per test,
• 10,000 pieces of equipment per plant,
• 150 data points per customer!

This massive amount of data can be a challenge, especially with supply chain management.

COMPLEX SUPPLY CHAINS

The chemical industry is a complex one. It can include various kinds of chemical processes with products in all forms, from raw to intermediate, to finished goods. There are also many stakeholders involved, from chemical manufacturers to distributors.

Additionally, chemical products are often required to have very specific characteristics with little to no room for variations. Chemical companies also handle more complex items, like hazmat or temperature-controlled. Chemical supply chains are often worldwide, making them much more complex than other industries.

LACK OF VISIBILITY

Due to its complexity, lack of visibility can be a challenge for chemical supply chains. It can be difficult for chemical suppliers to know their inventory levels or how products are being used. Therefore, it’s important for chemical companies to have an accurate picture of their inventory and supply chain. Improved visibility can provide insight into opportunities to reduce costs without sacrificing quality.

CLIMATE CHANGE

The chemical industry is one of the top contributors to global carbon emissions. As the world becomes more concerned about climate change and sustainability, there’s more pressure added onto chemical companies that already face strict regulations.

There’s also a growing demand from consumers for more green and ethical products. For example, many companies are having to find alternative solutions for plastic or use recycled materials.

To keep up with the ever-changing market and demand, chemical companies need to change their processes. They must find ways to create less waste and more products that help reduce their environmental impact.

Also, as the planet warms, more severe weather is taking place. This is causing more disruptions to chemical industry processes. Whether causing a halt in transportation or a shortage of oil, climate change presents several challenges for the chemical industry.

OVERCOMING CHEMICAL INDUSTRY CHALLENGES

The chemical industry can be a tough market to compete in. To overcome these challenges, chemical companies need to remain resilient and competitive. As the world and market continue to change, they need to be able to adapt.

Finding like-minded, expert partners with applicable technology is ideal to overcome these challenges. A third-party logistics (3PL) company, like Trinity Logistics, is one such resource.

Trinity Logistics has been in business for over 40 years and has worked with chemical companies of all sizes. Trinity is a trusted partner to help chemical companies better navigate their complex supply chains. We’re well-versed in the chemical industry and can help find a quality carrier for your shipment or offer improved visibility through our customized technology solutions.

When choosing to work with Trinity, our Team Member experts keep you up to date on industry news, upcoming regulation changes, or any other relevant information your business needs to stay successful.

Additionally, we’re a Responsible Care certified partner, meaning we’re committed to providing you with the best service for your logistics and transportation management while staying committed to sustainability practices.

At Trinity Logistics, we’re not your typical 3PL. We’re invested in your business and are here to help your business succeed. If you’re looking for a like-minded logistics partner to help you overcome some of your industry’s challenges, we’re here and ready to help.