Cargo Thieves Beware: Technology is Tracking You One of the keys to cargo security is visibility of assets

摘要

In 2010, industry-wide cargo theft rose by 4.1% from the previous year and averaged 75 cargo theft incidents per month, a new record high. One of the keys to cargo security is visibility of assets: knowing where your goods are and tracking them from the warehouse to the shipyard and/or rail yard and finally to the customer. For instance, Purdue Pharma (www.pur-duepharma.com), a U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturing company, added RFID labels to its products to meet retailer mandates, but also in anticipation of new federal and state regulatory requirements to combat counterfeit and stolen drugs - a rapidly growing market that costs the industry more than $30 billion each year worldwide. The RFID tags allow Purdue, its wholesale partner and retailer to track every shipment and share product and shipment information at each step throughout the supply chain journey. Each RFID-tagged product can be traced through the supply chain from its origin and manufacturing date to its destination shipment point, ensuring product integrity and safety.