Business Continuity: Does Your 3PL Have It?

Risks – every business has them, including your third-party logistics (3PL) provider. But it’s how well the 3PL provider prepares for the unpredictable and how quickly it responds to it to minimize stoppage to your business that counts. Business continuity is an issue you should discuss before selecting your public warehouse and distribution provider. Then, you should revisit the topic as issues that could have an impact on your business present themselves.

What Could Happen to Disrupt Your Warehousing and Distribution?

On any given day, an event could happen that could disrupt the normal flow of business. It might be a weather event, like a hurricane, snowstorm, or tornado, or a natural disaster, like a flood, earthquake, or wildfire.

It could be something completely unexpected, like a terrorist attack, power outage, an accident, or traffic congestion that slows down movement of your goods on the road, in the air, on the rails, or in ports.

Or a business disruption could be something expected, but being worked on, like a labor slowdown or strike.

How a 3PL Prepares for Business Interruptions

The best 3PL providers have contingency plans in place to address any type of circumstance that could hinder its warehousing, distribution, and logistics flow. These plans outline:

- Possible risks and ways to prevent or reduce them.
- Measures to monitor developments.
- Remediation efforts to resolve problems.
- Crisis analysis to evaluate how the crisis was handled, address any shortcomings, and share the knowledge to improve future experiences.

For example, at Brendamour Warehousing, Distribution & Services, we have redundancy measures in place in case our systems go down, as well as backup generators to keep our facilities running during power outages. And, if necessary, we can seamlessly switch from an automated to manual process flow.

We also have backup transportation management plans in place and a way to monitor developments of a disruption, whether it’s a weather event, natural disaster, industry changes, or other issues.

In addition, we have special tools to support a crisis response and are ready at a moment’s notice to switch distribution methods of your goods. For instance, if your goods are on a truck where movement has been impeded, we can switch them to rail or some other means of distribution to ensure your delivery target date is met.

We also have a solid transportation network in place and a means to communicate with those in it during a crisis. It’s one of the various methods Brendamour Warehousing uses to ensure your goods continue to move through the supply chain when the normal flow is interrupted.

What You Can Do to Ensure Business Continuity

Most businesses have a continuity plan in place, but it’s essential that the plan extends to your outside consultants and vendors, such as your suppliers and 3PL provider.

The starting point to ensuring business continuity for your company is awareness of all possible business interruption scenarios. Know your entire supply chain and develop a plan that addresses your expectations during any type of interruption to your business.

In addition to communicating your plan in-house, present your plan of action to your vendors as well. It’s important to find out if your vendors, including your 3PL, are able to meet your company’s expectations.

Trust Your Business Continuity to Brendamour 3PL

With Brendamour Warehousing as your 3PL, we make it our business to keep operations running and on schedule, no matter the disruption. We’ll do what it takes to ensure your customers receive their orders correctly and on time.

At Brendamour, we’re ready when a what-if becomes a reality. So, don’t let your flow of business be vulnerable to disruptions. Contact us today and ensure your supply chain keeps moving in the face of a mishap.