Disruptions and uncertainty have always existed in the global economy – a fact that recent events have only served to reinforce. I'm referring to the global pandemic, which seemingly overnight turned the world upside down, stretched supply chains to their breaking point, and sent businesses scrambling to adjust to a radical new reality.

For the businesses that have survived, or even prospered in this turbulent climate, having a resilient and adaptable logistics network was key. Let's look at a couple standouts, including Sonoco, a global provider of consumer packaging and industrial products and Land O'Lakes, one of the largest butter and cheese producers in the US.

Logistics leaders at Sonoco started to see an impact from the pandemic when a large swath of Chinese businesses closed in early 2020. This "disrupted the supply chain and created a ripple effect," across the company's US West Coast transportation networks, says Cleve Yarborough, Sonoco category manager for North America logistics.

Land O'Lakes' senior director of logistics Dustin Braun witnessed similar upheavals. "We saw more disruption in an eight-week period that we have experienced in eight years, both on the demand side and on the supply side," he says.

But for both companies, speedy cross-team mobilization, a versatile cloud logistics platform, and adaptive logistics strategies were instrumental in helping them outmaneuver the crisis.