National Preparedness Month is a good time for manufacturers, distributors and other partners across the Midwest to look at how their transportation network would hold up during a disruption. Severe weather, capacity shortages, facility interruptions and sudden demand spikes are not hypothetical. The question is whether your fleet strategy has a backup plan built in before one of those disruptions happens.
Supply chain preparedness means identifying where a disruption could hit your network and having a documented, ready alternative for keeping product moving when it does. A resilient supply chain does not lean on a single facility, a single lane or a single carrier. It has options already lined up.
Common disruptions that Midwest partners plan around include:
National Preparedness Month is a natural checkpoint to walk through these risks and decide how quickly your network could respond to each one.
Taylor Distributing operates an asset-based fleet, which means the trucks, trailers and drivers are ours. We are not sourcing capacity from someone else when volume shifts or a lane gets disrupted. That gives partners a dependable option they can build into a contingency plan rather than a phone number they hope answers during a crunch.
Our Midwest fleet capabilities include:
- Local and regional transportation
- Dedicated fleet solutions for recurring lanes
- Plant-to-warehouse shuttle runs
- Warehouse-to-warehouse transfers
- Drayage
- Surge and overflow transportation support
If inventory starts backing up at a plant, our fleet can move it to overflow space. If a distribution center goes down, we can help reposition product to another facility. If a regular lane gets constrained, dedicated equipment can hold the line while the network adjusts. The goal is not simply having more trucks available. It is giving your supply chain more options when something changes.
Use September to walk through these questions with your team:
- Identified our critical transportation lanes
- Established backup or dedicated fleet capacity
- Reviewed plant-to-warehouse shuttle options
- Confirmed alternate routes for key lanes
- Tested shipment visibility with our carriers
- Documented emergency transportation contacts
- Defined who can authorize contingency capacity
- Reviewed drayage and overflow support options
National Preparedness Month is observed each September to encourage individuals, businesses and communities to prepare for emergencies and disruptions. For companies moving freight through the Midwest, it is also a natural time to review transportation and business continuity plans.
An asset-based fleet owns and operates its own trucks, trailers and drivers, so capacity is not dependent on sourcing it from a third party. A brokerage arranges capacity through a network of carriers, which adds reach but not the same direct control. Taylor Legacy Group offers both through separate entities, an asset-based fleet through Taylor Distributing Co. and freight brokerage through Taylor Logistics Inc, so partners can lean on whichever fits the moment.
A dedicated fleet assigns equipment and drivers to a specific partner’s recurring transportation needs. It is commonly used for plant shuttles, regional distribution and lanes that need consistent, predictable capacity.
A regional fleet can maintain product movement between plants, warehouses, distribution centers and rail ramps even when one part of the network is disrupted, by shifting capacity to where it is needed most.
It depends on the size of the request, but partners with a standing relationship and a documented contingency plan are able to activate dedicated or overflow capacity faster than a first-time request placed after a disruption has already started.
Talk with Team Taylor about building dedicated capacity, shuttle support and surge coverage into your Midwest transportation plan.
Talk With Team Taylor
Comments are closed