Can Your Contingency Plans Handle a Global Supply Chain Disruption?

In February 2022, Abbott Laboratories shut down its Sturgis, Michigan plant and issued a voluntary recall of key baby formula products after bacterial contamination concerns. What followed exposed a catastrophic failure of contingency planning across the entire infant formula supply chain. Within weeks, nationwide stockout rates surged from the typical 10% to a staggering 74% in May, leaving desperate parents scrambling across state lines searching for formula to feed their babies.

Despite being a critical food product with predictable demand, the industry had no effective contingency plans in place. High market concentration (with just four companies controlling 90% of the market), rigid FDA regulations, and inadequate stockpiling all contributed to a situation where the temporary closure of one facility created a national emergency that took months—not days or weeks—to resolve. This demonstrated how even theoretical contingency plans fail when leadership lacks the capacity to implement them effectively during real-world disruptions.

While the Abbott crisis represents an extreme example, its underlying lessons resonate throughout the food and beverage manufacturing industry. You may or may not ever face a nationwide shortage of your product, but on a smaller scale, F&B manufacturers regularly encounter supply chain disruptions that their contingency plans fail to adequately address. Whether it’s ingredient shortages, logistics breakdowns, or unexpected regulatory challenges, these disruptions expose the same fundamental weaknesses in planning and execution.

After a decade of helping food and beverage manufacturers build resilient leadership teams, we’ve identified a critical vulnerability that undermines even the most sophisticated contingency planning: leadership gaps in your supply chain team.

While technology, processes, and planning matter immensely, it’s the human element—specifically, the right leadership—that ultimately determines whether your organization merely survives or actually thrives during disruption. And while your team can likely handle routine interruptions with ease, it’s the major disruptions—those profound, cascading events that alter regular operations—that expose leadership gaps most dramatically and where exceptional leadership makes the greatest difference.

5 Top Reasons Your Contingency Plans May Fail

1. Reactive Planning Instead of Proactive Resilience

Many contingency plans focus on reactive measures rather than building proactive resilience. When plans are designed merely to respond to predicted scenarios rather than to build adaptive capacity, they become obsolete as soon as an unforeseen event occurs.

2. Siloed Visibility and Communication

Food manufacturing involves complex supplier networks, production facilities, and distribution channels. When contingency plans don’t account for this complexity—and when leaders haven’t established clear cross-functional communication protocols—critical information fails to reach decision-makers in time.

3. Over-Reliance on Technology Without Human Expertise

Advanced planning software, AI-driven forecasting, and supply chain monitoring tools are invaluable. However, even the most sophisticated technology requires human judgment to interpret data and make critical decisions during crises.

4. Insufficient Testing and Updating

Many contingency plans sit unused until crisis strikes, by which time they may be outdated or untested. Without regular simulation exercises and updates, these plans remain theoretical and leaders remain unpracticed.

5. The Critical Factor: Leadership Gaps in Supply Chain Teams

Even the most robust contingency plans falter without the right leadership to execute them. During major disruptions, we’ve observed that leadership—more than any other factor—determines whether a company emerges stronger or struggles to recover.

The Leadership Gap: Why It’s Your Most Dangerous Vulnerability

The leadership qualities required to navigate supply chain disruptions differ substantially from those needed during normal operations. Crisis-ready supply chain leaders in the food and beverage manufacturing industry need specific competencies that are often overlooked in traditional hiring processes:

• Decisive action amidst uncertainty: The ability to make sound decisions with incomplete information
• Adaptive planning: Pivoting strategies quickly as conditions change
• Cross-functional collaboration: Breaking down silos across departments and external partners
• Communication mastery: Maintaining clear, consistent information flow during chaos
• Innovative problem-solving: Finding creative solutions when standard approaches fail
• Emotional resilience: Maintaining composure and inspiring confidence during high-stress situations

When leadership teams lack these competencies, even the best-laid contingency plans crumble. We’ve seen communication breakdowns lead to inventory shortages, decision paralysis result in missed opportunities, and siloed thinking prevent creative solutions from emerging.

Building Your Resilient Leadership Team

To strengthen your supply chain contingency planning through leadership, consider these essential steps:

1. Assess your current leadership team’s crisis readiness – Look beyond technical skills to evaluate decision-making under pressure, adaptive thinking, and cross-functional collaboration abilities.
2. Identify specific leadership gaps in your contingency planning – Where do your plans typically break down during implementation? These failure points often indicate leadership competency gaps.
3. Prioritize crisis leadership qualities in your hiring and development – Work with partners like Alpha who understand how to identify and assess these specialized leadership skills.
4. Create a culture of continuous improvement and learning – Leadership resilience grows when the entire organization embraces adaptation and innovation.
5. Partner with industry specialists – Generic recruitment approaches often miss the nuanced leadership requirements of food and beverage manufacturing.

Leadership Well Done: The Secret Ingredient to Supply Chain Resilience

At Alpha Executive Search, we’ve spent over a decade focusing exclusively on the unique leadership requirements of the food and beverage manufacturing industry. Our approach to identifying and placing crisis-ready leadership talent is built on five key principles:

1. We Breathe Food & Bev Manufacturing

Unlike general recruiters, we understand the specific challenges of the industry—from food safety regulations to supply chain intricacies and production efficiency. This specialized knowledge allows us to identify leaders who truly comprehend the nuances of food manufacturing contingency planning; leaders who don’t just look good on paper, but will excel when your supply chain faces its next major challenge.

2. Always Fast, Never Flawed

Supply chain disruptions don’t wait, and neither do we. We move with lightning speed to identify top talent, leveraging our extensive network and cutting-edge technology. However, we never sacrifice quality for speed. Each candidate undergoes a meticulous vetting process to ensure they possess both the technical expertise and the crisis leadership qualities necessary for supply chain resilience.

3. We’re in This Together

We don’t view executive search as a transactional process but as a strategic partnership. We take the time to understand your organization’s specific vulnerabilities, culture, and leadership needs. Plus, we’ll celebrate your wins and be there when you need us most—because that’s what true partnership is.

4. Impact Over Placement

Simply filling positions during difficult times isn’t enough. We source executives who drive innovation, foster resilience, and elevate your entire food and beverage manufacturing landscape. We only source executives that ignite innovation, drive growth, and elevate the entire food and beverage manufacturing landscape.

5. Serious Business ≠ Seriously Boring

Crisis-ready leadership requires a balance of disciplined execution and creative problem-solving. We identify leaders who bring both relentless dedication and adaptable thinking to your organization. But we also know hard work pairs best with a little fun. We ditch the stuffy suits and embrace a playful culture—because a happy team is a hungry team (for success, that is).

The next time a global supply disruption hits—and it will—the strength of your leadership team will determine whether your contingency plans succeed or fail. Don’t wait for the next crisis to expose your leadership gaps.

Partner with Alpha Executive Search today, and experience the difference that leadership well done makes in your supply chain resilience.