As the American economy matured in the 20th century a crucial change came with the emergence of the corporation. First appearing in the railroad industry, it employed the strategy of vertical integration. This new approach relied on obtaining control in all aspects of the supply chain to produce their products. With more control over costs came more stability and protected profitability for the corporation. This in turn, led to tremendous growth in productivity, industrial production, agricultural output, and transportation networks across the nation.
Present day, corporations must navigate an increasingly sophisticated and fast-paced global supply chain, keep the ship aright through the battering of tariffs and trade agreements, craft a savvy digital strategy that maximizes ROI, and anticipate technological transformation and develop products around it. Equally important for corporations is the integrated security practices for their goods as they ship throughout their supply chain.
Poor supply chain security results in losses and damaged goods which not only affect ones bottom-line, but it can jeopardize the integrity and reputation of the company. For those reasons, accurately monitoring, tracking, and securing all shipments plays a critical role in a company’s success. When manufactured goods arrive at their destinations intact and unobstructed it creates satisfied business partners and consumers.
As any well-informed supply chain security professional understands, the aim of a security program is to ensure a proper process with detailed multi-layered procedures and policy. Additionally, a proficient supply chain security program requires frequent employee training of “best practices” that reinforce the prevention of cargo theft, pilferage, and contamination.
Building a Multi-Layered Security Strategy
All industries face supply chain security threats, but companies who take a strike-first approach by tactically being forward-looking have less losses, contamination, and improve brand equity. There are of course many factors to consider when selecting which security seals and solutions are the best choices for securing your goods within your modes of transport.
Expectedly, there is a lot of responsibility as manufacturers, but it is a vital process in today’s movement of cargo. While cargo theft and product safety are continually evolving, companies must regularly review and upgrade their solutions. Upgrading and improving one’s security seal policy means examining, scoring, and then evaluating the effectiveness of your multi-layered strategy. Once data is collected best practice improvements must be implemented to mitigate gaps in a company’s defenses.
TydenBrooks, with 149 years of experience developing and producing security seals and locking devices are continually researching and developing innovative solutions and technologies to improve supply chain security and visibility. Some key factors for companies to consider include:
Where in the supply chain is the risk the highest for pilferage, theft, or contamination?
What level of tamper evidence, security, and shipment visibility do I require that will provide maximum security and tamper evidence to protect the company shipments and reputation?
Have we properly trained our teams to apply the security seals and solutions while understanding the importance of a robust multi-layered security strategy?
ISO High-Security Seals
ISO 17712 high-security barrier seals such as our SnapTracker, FlexSecure, and EZ Loc cable seal product lines adhere to the highest testing standards and require special tools for removal. Cross-border and international shipments, container door latches, high-value shipments, trailer door latches, and rail car hatches are several of the most utilized applications. High-security barrier seals also offer the ability to mark 1D, 2D, and QR barcodes creating a unique company identifier. Specifically designed to form a barrier between bad actors and the cargo they prevent quick theft opportunities by ensuring your shipments are a hard target.
Our VuBolt seal uses the color mixing of the bolt and the lock body to increase security by preventing 3D printing duplications. Another recently released product, the Dual Flex cable seal, is a double-locking seal that offers an increased level of tamper protection and defense against ratcheting and freezing. The GeoBolt™ provides 24/7 track and trace technology that alerts you when and where a breach takes place, providing that next level of protection.
Indicative Plastic Security Seals and Indicators
The next layer a manufacturer should implement into their security strategy is indicative plastic seals and indicators. Indicative plastic seals such as our TugTight, Equilok, All Seal, and Secure-grip provide tamper evidence in the event pilferage occurs. These seals are used on products inside of the transport such as totes, drums, cartons, or sacs.
Plastic security seals are also an important multi-layered solution to protect against contamination for manufacturers who supply consumable goods and products. This helps protect not only the company but the public as well. By securing tanker hatches during over-the-road or rail shipments they prevent ingredient contamination. These seals also utilize 1D, 2D, and QR marking capabilities to better track and protect your cargo.
Similarly, by embedding an end-to-end solution such as our WarmMark, ColdMark, TiltWatch® XTR, and ShockWatch® 2 indicators a manufacturer can easily identify shipment mishandling and damage of their goods. The WarmMark is an ascending time-temperature indicator that alerts users of exposure to unacceptably high temperature conditions and the cumulative amount of time of the exposure. ColdMark is designed to help shippers identify and correct gaps in their cold chain. The ColdMark turns from clear to violet when the temperature goes below a predetermined threshold.
When products are loaded, in-transit, or being offloaded, it’s imperative to have detection and visual evidence of mishandling or damage to reduce claims and product recall loses. The TiltWatch® XTR is single-use tip indicator used to monitor goods that must remain upright. Once applied to the packaging, the TiltWatch XTR will provide evidence of mishandling if the shipment is tipped.
ShockWatch® 2 impact indicators are single-use, go/no-go devices that determine if fragile products have been dropped during transit or in storage. The indicators are field-armable, tamperproof devices
that turn bright red when an impact beyond a specific threshold has occurred. Each ShockWatch® 2
has a unique identifier to support traceability.
Tamper Evident Bags, Tapes, and Labels
Tamper evident bags, tapes, and labels provide an additional cost-effective layer of security inside totes and cartons or for products that need to be shipped in bags such as medical supplies or pharmaceuticals. Our one-time use tamper-evident bags can be labeled with barcodes, logos, serial numbers, and are made of superior strength coextruded film. TydenBrooks also offers reusable tamper-evident bags that utilize our patented TydenClip. The TydenClip locks the bag and is marked with a serial number, company name, and can be uniquely barcoded.
For boxes, cartons, and pallets, our tamper-evident VOID message KT+ security tape is ideal as it provides a visual residue message in case of pilferage. Our security labels can also be used on truck and container doors and will provide visual evidence of the unauthorized opening of these doors.
Our security tapes and labels can also be customized to feature company logos, custom text, numbering, barcodes, holograms, or customized void messages in multiple languages. This provides one more layer of security for your supply chain that goes toward protecting your product, bottom line, and reputation.
World-Class Innovation
As trusted experts of all thing’s cargo security related since 1873, TydenBrooks stands out among the rest when it comes to innovation, experience, knowledge, and customer service. Our U.S. facilities in Tallapoosa, Georgia, and Angola, Indiana ship many of our products within 48 hours, so you get the security solutions you need quickly.
To us, relationships are the most important aspect of our business. Our veteran leadership and regional field sales team work on-site with our partners to develop customized security programs that meet the demands of today’s global supply chains. Contact us at 1-800-458-7325 (SEAL) or [email protected] to discuss how we can upgrade your supply chain security program with our proven multi-layered strategies since 1873.
