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shipment, nor the present status
of the goods. It doesn’t allow us to tell
who did what, when, why and how the
goods are affected.
Of course one can attempt to
make advanced guesses on why
unannounced or non-planned stops
along a shipment’s route have occurred.
But what does it really mean, if a
barcode is scanned and the shipment
is accounted for at a cross-docking
station? What does it say about a
possible damage or losses of the
goods? The scanned data does not
allow for a visual post-verification of
the goods and thereby not creating
transparency.
So how can we create visibility and
remove the costly and time consuming
guess work from the investigations of
incidents, claims, attacks and deviations
of transports and goods? How can we
then gain a crisp clear picture from
any warehouse, cross-docking station,
logistics center or truck, trailer or
delivery van?
The first step would be to simply
equip all locations, vehicles and the
flow of goods in those locations with
smart modern network video cameras.
Cameras that can provide not only
a high-quality video image in any light,
temperature or weather, but also are
intelligent enough to detect for instance
unwanted movements and activities
using video analytics. Cameras that also
can cooperate and cost-efficiently cover
all relevant parts of large outdoor areas
and within the buildings using computer
are shipped every day to find just that
particular one that we are interested in?
How can we create a complete, visible
track of one particular parcel out of all
handled on a daily basis?
To create a clarity tool for backtracking
any individual event around specific
goods, we need to integrate the
tracking and tracing methods with the
visibility tools. Already today any WMS
or enterprise resource planning system
keeps track of identification of goods.
Any telematics and fleet management
system today keeps track of positions
at all times of vehicles. If we simply
combine video data with the tracking
and tracing data to form one common
system, we have a winner.
This enables us to track the complete
flow of goods and zoom in on individual
events in seconds, showing in detail
the goods status, who did what and
when with the goods and the impact on
them. Modern network video systems
have this powerful ability to integrate
goods identification data with digitally
stored video data using crisp clear
video quality. Such systems integrate
with WMS, ERP, RFID, barcode and fleet
management systems with the video
management software.
network cabling infrastructure already
in place for the barcode scanners &
RFID trackers. But is this enough? How
would we go through recorded video
of millions of individual goods that
n
Confidence and quality branding
A much more secure and solid
platform to handle any claim,
deviation or incident is now
available. The network video
system cleverly promotes the
existing quality thinking and quality
processes already in place so that
it can become part of the branding.
Users will actually be able to show
any and all goods! This will give
brands a competitive advantage
on the market and act as a great
confidence boost for the company.
n
Minimal time & costs for
internal and external deviation
investigations and claims
If a follow-up on actual deviations or
claims of deviations is needed, we
will now have an effective formula-1
tool where the time searching
for the origin of the problem,
demonstrating the exact sequence
of events and implement corrective
actions, is now fully integrated and
automated in one single system.
The network video system will also
help provide clear evidence. Usually
a deviation research is completely
done within minutes, including
the evidence making, should it be
needed.
n
Reduction of false-claims
Logistics operators that have
implemented modern network video
systems into their goods flow all
testify that the level of false claims is
reduced to a minimum already in the
first months of operation. For many,
it is already a thing of the past!
n
Deterrence of supply chain
attacks & increased likelihood
of solved crime
Video surveillance and tracking
together cannot prevent and
solve all types of attacks against
the logistics chain. However
they will surely act deterring and
increase the likelihood of solving
many of these crimes. Similar to
how intelligent surveillance has
revolutionized many other areas.
n
Direct bottom-line savings in less
lost or erroneous goods, deliveries
or shrinkage
Because of the transparency
and clarity of modern network
video systems in logistics, the
improvements on bottom line will
be direct and continuous through
operation. It will act deterring for
deliberate shrinkage and it will help
to correct quality improvements
through organizational learning. The
best thing is that it is completely
scalable; from very small systems
with few strategic network video
cameras and goods identification
integrations to complete total
solutions with hundreds and
thousands of connection points in
warehouse, distribution centers and
vehicles in the fleet. It is therefore a
sound a future-proof investment.
The positive business effects from network
video systems in the logistics world can be
grouped into the following areas:
37
Logistics Business Magazine | November 2015
Supply Chain Security