Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Security Issues for Confidential Cargo


According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, cargo theft costs an estimated 15-30 billion dollars in the United States alone. For shippers who want to determine if their shipments will be safe, a good rule of thumb is that if you can package it, crate it, and ship it, there is a high likelihood that there exists a criminal enterprise who will try to steal it. For businesses who rely on just in time inventory, loss of freight can be a very worrying problem that can threaten profitability. By classifying your confidential cargo correctly, you may be able to prevent would-be thieves from getting their hands on your precious shipment. 

Your goods are more likely to be disturbed or stolen while in transit than at any other time. Theft is a common problem in the transportation industry due to roadway congestion, carriers at full carrying capacity, a shortage of qualified drivers, and the growth of cross docking in warehouses. If you are concerned your cargo may be at risk, here are a few things potential thieves look for.
  • The attractiveness of the product, usually dependent on its street value.
  • The type of banding, shrink wrap, tape or straps used to secure the load.
  • The integrity of the cartons holding the product.
  • The type of transportation carrier used: air, sea, rail, or truck.
  • The skill level of the workforce at every nodal point of the route.
However there are several ways you can protect your cargo: through containment, identity, or through the visibility of tamper evidence. Containment largely involves making sure that your cartons and cases are fully secure, and not easily replaceable, generic boxes that can be quickly replaced to hide tampering. 
Identity means classifying your cargo as confidential before a major shipment. This means that dock workers and drivers will have no idea what is in the shipment or even the identiy of the shipper. This can also be helpful for businesses who want to ship products discretely in order to secure a competitive advantage by moving into a new market first.

Finally by integrating tamper resistant and tamper evident seals onto boxes, or using tamper evident tape and labels to secure cartons and documents.

For more information on how to protect your sensitive shipments and confidential cargo, contact www.shippgl.com today!

Monday, November 19, 2012

Warehousing Distribution as a Cost Saver


Managing your businesses supply chain is one of the best ways to protect your brand identity and keep customers happy. By partnering with a warehousing and fulfillment services provider, many small business owners are able to effectively minimize the amount of time and resources spent on storing and shipping goods. In fact, many modern businesses never even see or touch the products they sell, since they outsource all of their logistics, fulfillment, and customer service operations. Here is your warehousing distribution fact book to provide you with a sample of all of the services available to streamline your logistics operations.

Warehousing

Many logistics companies maintain multiple warehousing locations to provide the most strategic placement of inventory to minimize transportation costs. These warehousing providers also offer complete inventory management and control to make sure there is always product on hand to fill customer needs. As they process orders, package and ship products, new product is automatically ordered from manufactures and predetermined inventory stock points.

No matter the particular requirements of your products, you are guaranteed proper storage and packaging to maintain pristine product quality. Most warehousing companies typically provide quality yard management services, and label all products with bar codes for maximum accuracy in filling orders. If your products are typically kits of various different kinds of goods, most warehousing providers also provide complete kitting and total value added services.
Distribution

Using a logistics providers distribution services, you will ensure you products arrive at the correct place, at the right price, at the right time, every time. Regardless of whether you are shipping products to end users or retail locations, a professional distributor will make sure your product is where it needs to be every time. As product is shipped out, inventory within the warehouse is replenished and fulfilled automatically.

For a full breakdown of the warehousing distribution factbook, contact the logistics experts at shippgl.com now!