After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, vulnerability to a growing number of potential disasters and disruptions has U.S. manufacturing executives turning to sophisticated third party logistics (3PL) providers to safeguard their brands at the end of the supply chain. "Major quake in California. Avian flu in Chicago. Dirty bomb in New York. THE NEXT BIG ONE," reads the cover of a recent BusinessWeekmagazine. With Hurricane Katrina costing an estimated $200 billion and displacing up to a million residents throughout New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast, followed by Hurricane Rita, the business disruption caused by recent natural disasters is immense. So is the disruption caused by acts of terror such as Sept. 11, which caused immediate nationwide airport lockdown, followed by stricter security measures for passengers and shipping.

While the likelihood of any single disaster wiping out an organization’s entire manufacturing capacity is still slim, the probability of disasters seriously disrupting its supply chain and damaging its brand is disturbingly evident today. And let’s not forget the disruptions caused by labor strikes, blackouts, the absence of key employees, or other sometimes unavoidable incidents.

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