Secure Logistics Services - Overview
Supply chain accountability is the process of accurately monitoring in transit product or materials under constant quality controlled conditions. This relatively simple process involves multiple steps and clearly-defined actions throughout the in-transit chain. Key to any protective program's success is verification that the product was shipped, stored, or received with accuracy and without damage. Each stage of the process - order, receipt, staging, storage, picking, packing, sealing, shipment, transit and warehousing - requires a separation of duties to assure product integrity and quality control.
Service Summary
In our experience, accountability, visibility, consistent security practices and standardized physical security measures are the keys to successful supply chain security. Our services in designing, implementing and auditing security programs are specific to your your products and operations and are unmatched because IMG has pioneered many of the practices that have become the benchmarks of professional logistics security. We have managed these services globally for domestic and multinational companies - we know the risks and how to safely move your product from order inception to end-user.
IMG has developed a unique logistics model that:
- Is a fully integrated component of business activities.
- Acknowledges the 'True Replacement Cost" of undelivered, diverted, compromised or damaged product.
- Focuses on the essential need for the global secure hand-over of product as a proactive mechanism.
- Reinforces and optimizes existing transportation, material management and warehouse operating standards.
- Is applicable to all phases of product movement: raw material, finished goods (including samples) and reverse logistics (reclamation) processes.
IMG can develop a wide range of proactive supply chain components that mirror and support your operations and business model:
- Standardized Acceptable Processes: Ensure that the client's operations meet at least minimum protective standards that reduce losses through theft and damage and mitigate other threats to deflect product theft, diversion, substitution, counterfeit and contamination. IMG uses its unique strategy to build standards applicable to our client's activities with special attention to high-risk operations involving theft-prone product and activities in challenging overseas environments. The goal is to enhance and support our client's own security effort by viewing risk, not as an insurance, risk management or reactive security issue, but as a fully integrated component of the client's business solution.
- Roles & Responsibilities: IMG has developed roles and responsibilities the objective of which is to initiate mandatory procedures in order to minimize product loss, damage and delay, to standardize product handling across the whole supply chain, and to optimize product management practices. The objective also includes a means to verify the accuracy of the product while in the custody or control of service providers and others in whose care the product is entrusted. Implementing a sealed, tamper-evident handling, storage and carriage system under timed, audited conditions can achieve these objectives. IMG's recommendations extend to carriers, airlines and all others who at any time are entrusted with the care, custody or control of the client's product.
- Effectively Dealing With Compromised Shipments: IMG uses comprehensive controls for addressing compromised shipments. These include global notification/escalation procedures to deal with shipment anomalies and powerful supply chain assessment/investigative tools that pinpoint existing weaknesses, identify where they exist and direct further investigation.
- Site Security Standards: Clients use IMG's Site Protection Philosophy at each site as a yardstick for reaching a base-level level of security protection.
- Warehouse Design & Operational Standards: IMG offers specialized design and engineering (physical, technical and process-oriented) capabilities tailored for the distribution center/warehouse startup or retrofit, materials handling and supply chain environments.
- Transportation Policy: Material Management Standards - Secure Hand-Over: IMG's Transportation Policy specifies the roles and responsibilities of the "Shipper", "Transporter", "Receiver" and "Owner" of the product. The policy builds upon IMG's experience in developing precise operational rules for the handling and secure hand-over of client product from the point of manufacture to receipt by the end use.
- Establishing minimum physical, technical and procedural standards: for warehousing, equipment and transportation and developing effective tools to communicate these standards and operational rules.
- Recommending material management security processes: that work irrespective of network status (i.e., the status of the client's operational "snapshot"). These include a framework for roles, responsibilities, methods of performance measurement and process ownership/accountability - irrespective of the transfer of title or ultimate liability.
- Initiating a global Point of Contact reporting/incident escalation processes: together with Quality Control Supervisor (QCS) and Security Controller (SC) functions in the quality assurance process.
- Distribution & Warehouse Rules: IMG-developed rules for the secure receipt, staging, storage, consolidation and shipment of product.
- Third Party Provider Assessment: For third party logistics providers/operators, security is an increasingly important way to differentiate their activities from those of the competition and a means to maintain a favorable position with customers. A business partner's "Value Proposition- -that is, their distinctive competence - if it adequately addresses the client's security concerns, is a valuable tool for the client to achieve more for less and to ensure a consistency between in-house and outsourced protective measures.
- Warehouse and distribution center security engineering standards: and enhanced protective measures for high-value product (HVP) or "at risk" operations.
- Supply chain self-assessment tools: and a sophisticated supply chain risk assessment mechanism geared to high technology and pharmaceutical environments.
IMG is available to assess all aspects of your supply chain security operations including secure product hand-over, reporting protocols and escalation/response. We are also skilled at working with U.S. or overseas personnel to implement the necessary improvement options.
GlobalSecur Secure Logistics Services
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