Weathering The (Winter) Storm

Extreme winter weather can cause serious problems. For children, winter weather often means snow days and an escape from the confines of the classroom. For manufacturers, heavy snow and ice can mean absent workers, power outages, and supply shipments that do not arrive. In many lean manufacturing industries, there is little or no margin in the supply chain to accommodate such disruptions and extreme weather can mean missed deliveries to customers.

Extreme winter weather is not limited to the northern states. In fact, winter weather can cause even greater disruptions when it hits in states that are unaccustomed to snow and ice on a regular basis. In such cases, local governments often do not have sufficient snow removal equipment necessary to ensure that roads remain clear.