6 Questions With … Moody’s David Weeks

While hurricane season has yet to significantly impact the U.S. supply chain as expected, weather experts still believe the U.S. faces risk as storms form in the peak months of August and September.

For supply chains, natural disasters present unique challenges because of their unpredictability and potential for widespread damage and disruption.

David Weeks, a supply chain risk management professional with 12 years of experience, backed by over 20 years in quality management, operational resilience, and continuous improvement across industries such as oil and gas, aerospace and defense, now serves as the supply chain lead at Moody’s. As a U.S. Marine veteran, he brings a disciplined, mission-driven approach to global supply chain risk and mitigation and using technologies to develop more agile and resilient supply chains.

Weeks joined Supply Chain Management Review to discuss risk mitigation strategies, not just for this hurricane season, but in preparation for any major disruption supply chains may face.

(Answers have been edited for length and clarity)

SCMR: What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned from past natural disasters, particularly hurricanes, when it comes to maintaining supply chain continuity?

WEEKS: Many disruptions happen not just when the main supplier is affected, but also when sub-tier suppliers go offline. Relying heavily on suppliers or infrastructure in one region creates higher systemic risks. To improve resilience, companies should balance just-in-time (JIT) practices with strategies like safety stocks, regional warehouses, and pre-staged essential materials. Supply chains depend on ports, roads, energy, and telecom. When these are disrupted, even unaffected suppliers can’t operate. During disasters, poor communication delays recovery and causes redundant efforts, so having a well-practiced extreme weather strategy is key. 

SCMR: How does Moody’s approach supply chain risk modeling and scenario planning for clients dealing with seasonal threats like hurricanes? 

WEEKS: Moody’s uses a detailed, data-based method to evaluate supply chain risks, particularly from severe weather events like hurricanes. These storms can cause immediate physical harm and disrupt the supply chain at multiple levels. By analyzing supplier locations and regions affected by seasonal threats, Moody’s helps clients better assess their suppliers’ resilience. We highlight the value of consistently tracking and recording mitigation efforts and their success over time. This creates a historical record of performance during extreme weather and provides feedback to make improvements.

Related: How to help in a disaster

 

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When hurricanes or other disasters strike, logistics become a lifeline for thousands, in some cases even millions of people. And the trucking, logistics and supply chain industries are always ready to help, often working side by side with FEMA and other organizations like the American Red Cross, to provide the supplies communities need not only to survive the immediate aftermath, but to rebuild. But, trucks don’t just arrive at the site of a disaster. They are part of a well-coordinated logistical plan and one of the key organizations involved in these efforts is the American Logistics Aid Network, or ALAN.

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SCMR: Can you walk us through the proactive strategies that can be implemented to improve resilience ahead of hurricane season?

WEEKS: Having an integrated catastrophe risk plan is essential to maintaining supply chain integrity. All internal departments should participate in identifying, assessing, and mitigating potential risks to their operations within the supply chain. Similar to professional sports teams, the plan must be practiced and known by all stakeholders involved. Strategic suppliers, raw material providers, and logistics companies should coordinate on required actions 72, 48, and 24 hours prior to landfall. Using technology to view deeper into your supplier chain is critical to assess the total impact to the supply chain. Knowing if there are any critical sub-suppliers in the impact zone can provide time for preemptive mitigations to take place. 

SCMR: How do you prioritize and protect critical supply nodes and suppliers that may be in hurricane-prone regions?

WEEKS: All strategic suppliers and sub-suppliers in the hurricane prone region should be given priority when protecting critical nodes. Strategic suppliers, as well as sub-suppliers should all be identified during contingency planning for extreme weather. Predictive analytics play a key role in protecting critical nodes in the supply chain from certain geographic risk prone areas by identifying dependencies and ensuring alternatives are preplanned. Whether it involves bringing in out-of-state transportation solutions or activating alternative suppliers, these steps are vital for keeping key parts of the supply chain operational.

SCMR: How do you balance agility with cost when building a more resilient supply chain?

WEEKS: Leveraging Industry 4.0 is crucial for creating resilient supply chains in 2025 and beyond. Using AI solutions that simulate possible failures helps identify risks that were previously unnoticed. These simulations, like tabletop exercises, do the heavy lifting so supply chain teams can focus on strategic planning. The insights gained can inform tailored risk mitigation strategies for different regions. Since global companies operate across many areas, leveraging this technology can improve efficiency and bottom-line results. Investing in prevention is more cost-effective than fixing problems later, especially in the supply chain.

SCMR: Can you share an example of an industry that recovered from a major disruption, and what changes were made as a result?

WEEKS: During Hurricane Harvey in 2017, the petrochemical industry in Houston faced countless challenges posed by the storm. Downed power lines, roads, and even some highways were completely inundated, cutting off access to major facilities throughout the greater Houston area. Fortunately, many of the commodities had multimodal infrastructure, such as rail, ships, and pipelines, which provided crucial redundancy essential to their disaster planning. In the aftermath of Harvey, the industry focused more on data sharing and mutual aid agreements, even among competitors, aimed at faster recovery to return to business. This made the industry as a whole more resilient and better positioned for future disasters. The key point is having layers of redundancy and being able to surge supportive capacity when needed. 

SCMR: Thank you.

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