Example:

A material 'X' ought to move from los angeles. Let me be more specific in saying so. Some of the minerals from los angeles have to be moved to new york for making some product 'Y'. The road distance works out close to approximately 6000 kilometers (assumption), quite a lot as per Indian standards. A truck loaded with X leaves los angeles on D-day (where D is 1). As per road conditions it could take anything between 4 to 5 day for the material to reach. Therefore the total time works out to D + 3/D + 4, i.e. 4^th to 5^th day the truck shall reach New York. Unloading time ½ a day, running time works out to 4 ½ to 5 ½ days. Thereafter quality checks and several processes to place these raw materials on the production line shall take another 2 days works out to 6 ½ to 7 ½ days. Production time of 1 to 2 days based on the type of product works out to 7 ½ to 8 ½ days. Keeping a cusion of 1 day the time taken for the finished product shall be anything among 9 to 10 days. That is the planning involved in making a finished product and attaining your target. That is under absolute ideal conditions. USA is subjected to numerous disruption in form of natural calamities, manmade obstacles, disasters accidents and unrest. One has to cater for these criticalities and therefore foresight in planning is must. Suppose there is flood like situation at los angeles, then what? One has to plan for warehousing near new york where certain stocks catering to these kinds of contingencies have to catered for, ab -initio. Like floods there could be strikes too. These are the gray areas that have to be addressed in totality, in spite of the fact that the vehicle could also break down en-route. There could be a number of instance associated to movement of stocks and supplies, be it rail, water, road or air. All have their complication and peculiarities, but the underlying basics are the similar one ought to plan ahead come what may, to avoid irregularities.

Movement of supplies through suppliers to manufacturers differs from place to place. Terrain plays a vital role in this aspect and you ought to realize this point.

In mountains the criticalities are far too several and you can understand the aforesaid through this chart in a better way.

From the above it's evident, criticalities in any form disrupts movement in a large way irrespective of the terrain but you got to plan your time scheduled based on the terrain on which your supplies are moving? Thus, knowledge on these areas is very significant so that the suppliers may not take you for granted on these counts. Studies on geography and layout of an area of responsibility and associated aspects are thus important for a manager dealing with logistics.

Table: Terrain-wise Criticalities