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Keep things simple, as we have been
told many times. But things are often
more complex than we think. For
example, our transport and logistics
clients are constantly faced with the
question: how complex can it get to
move goods from point A to point B?
After all that is what the backbone of
the global economy is all about. We
take it for granted that goods arrive
on shelves in stores and customers
receive their orders on time, often
the next or even same day delivery.
Anyone working in the logistics
industry of course knows that there
is a much more complex process
behind this simply order and that the
exchange of goods between different
stakeholders in the value chain
encompasses a variety of different
transport modes that stretches
across multiple geographies to keep
the wheels of the global economy
spinning.
Shared responsibilities and specialized
roles in the logistics industry is the
key to efficiency and competitiveness
between the various market actors.
Logistics companies work together
Transparency and security
for efficient deliveries
Helping a fragmented logistics industry
everyday in this environment with
their own assets, shared assets and
resources, or no asset at all. Some
position themselves as independent
freight forwarders. Some also take on
the carrier role for parts of geography,
a specific route or mode of transport.
Independent of such value chain roles,
goods travelling from one part of the
world to another will eventually be
handled by various companies with
shared responsibilities. Even for the
3PL giants who have complete end-to-
end logistics solutions, there is a need
for cross-docking at various points
during a route to keep efficiency up
and costs down.
Looking at the complex global logistics
flows from a security perspective, we
have seen an unfortunate increase in
attacks against supply chains across
all regions and modes of transport.
Several organizations and government
bodies report the same alarming
statistics. Organized crime and
everyday criminals have found a new
target in the flow of goods as a means
to make fast profits. A key driver for this
development is the overall move away
from cash in favor of cards and online
By Patrik Anderson, Director Business Development
Transportation, Axis Communications
payments. How can we work against
the increasing number of incidents?
How can we help protect alone driver
or parked trucks and trailers?
Manufacturers have carefully built
up quality systems to ensure that
their products and solutions meet
the expectations of their customers.
But what happens to products after
they leave the boundaries of the
manufacturer’s quality system? What
if something unexpected happens
during their transport, when there are a
lot of shared responsibilities between
different parties? How can the logistics
industry more easily and cost efficiently
backtrack the series of events that
lead to an incident or attack between
point A and point B? Lastly, how can
precision be improved on a global
scale?
One trend within the logistics industry
is to increase the use of telematics of
various types to track and trace goods
along their journey. Some have started
to use this as a post-incident tool to
verify the routing of goods. Others use
this as a tool to monitor and control
both fleets and goods in real time.
This method is based on capturing
the identification of passing-through-
goods by scanning barcodes or RFID
tags in warehouses. However it cannot
reveal what truly happened to a given
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Logistics Business Magazine | November 2015
Supply Chain Security