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“Slapping that iron,” a trucker’s term for adding snow chains to vehicles during winter months, is one task that drivers generally dislike.

Major supply chain disruptions from weather or other disasters can turn just-in-time inventory management into a liability rather than a solution, according to freight transportation experts.

A slow economic recovery, volatile diesel fuel prices, more stringent environmental controls and increased focus on food safety and load security put enormous pressure on every link in the “cold chain.”

Over the past several years, government regulation that should be directed at every link of the supply chain has become increasingly focused on the trucking industry’s portion. If this continues, it quickly will become toxic to our industry and the economy as a whole.

Vehicles weighing more than 26,000 pounds are required to carry snow chains while driving on Interstate 70 between Dotsero, Colo., and Morrison, Colo., according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Advanced transportation management systems (TMS) have long provided automation and functionality that help plan, optimize, manage and execute transportation more accurately and productively than — to be blunt — a human being.