According to a study conducted by McKinsey in 2019, managers spend approximately 80% of their time on urgent problem-solving, many of which could be prevented through the implementation of preventive plans (McKinsey & Company, 2019).

During my internship in the Supply Chain department of a company, I was involved in the development of a forecast methodology to anticipate vessel allocation needs. As of 2022, the maritime transportation industry was still recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Suez Canal blockage, and other crises such as the container shortage and China’s zero-COVID-19 policy. Major companies, such as MSC and BDP, were facing significant challenges, and the container booking process had almost doubled in time, from around two weeks to almost a month, due to limited capacity.

Until that moment, many issues related to logistics were often addressed in a firefighter operations mode with problems being addressed as they arose, rather than taking a proactive approach to prevent them from happening in the first place. In this post, we will discuss the importance of moving from a firefighter operations mode to a preventive way in logistics.

Firstly, the firefighter approach is reactive rather than proactive. This means that businesses wait for problems to occur before addressing them, leading in many cases to delays, increase of the costs or significant downtimes. By contrast, Taking a preventive approach, which involves identifying potential issues that may occur and implementing measures to prevent them from happening, such as avoiding some ports due to future strikes or conflictive areas due to regulations such as zero-COVID-19 in China; can help businesses to avoid costly and time-consuming problems and ensure a more efficient logistics process.

Secondly, the firefighter approach can lead to poor customer service. When logistics operations are constantly in firefighting mode, it can be challenging to maintain consistent delivery times and meet customer expectations, leading to customer dissatisfaction. A preventive approach can help businesses to ensure more accurate delivery dates while increasing customer satisfaction.

Thirdly, the firefighter approach can lead to increased costs. When businesses are constantly dealing with problems as they arise, they are more likely to incur additional costs, such as rush fees, overtime pay, and emergency shipments. These costs can quickly add up, leading to decreased profitability. By contrast, a preventive approach can help businesses avoid these additional costs by addressing potential issues before they become problems. (E.g. Negotiate rates with FFW and not use spot rates, that are usually more expensive).

In conclusion, adopting a more proactive approach to logistics can enhance the overall efficiency of a company, as business identify potential areas of improvement and problems and implement measures to prevent them to happen.