There’s been a lot of media coverage in recent weeks about UK theft and organisation losses. For example the BBC losing £240,000.00 worth of laptops and mobile devices and BT having copper stolen. So how important is asset and property protection within manufacturing and how effective are protection products in the market?
What is asset and property protection?
What we’re talking about here is product, stock, property and asset marking, tagging and tracking. Not necessarily all together and all at once however used as effective deterrent and detection devices to help:
- Deter thieves
- Track effectively then prove rightful property ownership once found
- Recover lost or stolen property quickly through forensic level proof
Why have asset and property protection in the first place?
Taking a cold hard view there are lots of business costs when property and assets are lost. These can include:
- Replacement cost of stolen property
- Sales downturn
- Logistical and operational debilitation
- Insurance claims leading to premium rises
- Negative PR
- Shareholder pressure
Is this enough to warrant protection?
Individual organisations argue it depends on the size of the prize for them. That said there must be measurement in place to know this. Simple ways to measure are through corporate audits to find out what needs protecting with financial and business values placed on them. In addition, financial data is an obvious starting point to understand shrinkage, product and asset losses and theft.
There is however plenty of other information and guidance about, plus more is on the way. President Obama for example sees its importance. By introducing track and trace measures in the U.S. products become more protected. Read more here>>
BT also see the importance of protecting their property, by putting in place a security team working with the police. BT claims that theft such as copper wire rose by 9% last year. The claim is that it causes considerable disruption to businesses and homes across the UK, as they’re left without any phone or internet service when the incidents occur.
Insurance companies also see benefits often lowering premiums when asset protection measures are taken. This saves companies money immediately and yet not all companies are taking up these opportunities.
There are also statistics showing deterrent measures reduce theft risk. enigmaTAG property protector for example reduced crime in Hertfordshire by over 50%.
On top of all this, the global market for counterfeit and theft is growing.
So why aren’t organisations employing more protection measures?
A lack of action is seen by many organisations however why is this the case?
1. Protection systems can be compromised
There are protection systems in the market place that can be hacked, broken, removed and themselves be stolen and counterfeited. So identifying your security needs with a trusted partner is a must to help you understand your protection requirements and then weaving your way through the maze of possible best solutions.
2. Security products can’t be built into organisation’s existing systems, processes or products
Some security products require costly bespoke work to fit in with operational, manufacturing and logistics processes enabling the business to run “normally.” Other products are available that fit in with your organisation’s operations. For example we work with Stealthmark who specialise in providing off the shelf security products for this purpose.
3. Product & asset protection is too costly
RFID is often cited as a good example of a costly protection product, particularly in manufacturing, logistics and healthcare. There are however alternatives including wireless tracking, product, stock and asset marking alternatives. These can be very cost effective solutions and have some major advantages over RFID.
In addition when organisations and individuals take a view that “theft is someone else’s problem” and “it’ll never happen to us” or “we aren’t affected much by theft” then even if this were true, why take the chance when there are plenty of deterrent and protection technologies and options available that give a good return on investment e.g. through insurance savings or effective deterrents bringing shrinkage reduction?
Actually yet another way to protect products and assets without using third party products is make staff accountable and train them. You can incorporate an asset or product protection policy into the company’s employment manual that informs the employees of the importance of the company’s assets/products and instructs the employee of his or her responsibility to maintain these while employed. Then supplement this with relevant training.
5. Only protect within my four walls
Many security programmes exist to protect product and assets within an office, distribution centre or manufacturing plant. The reality is many products and assets require protection outside these four walls including when in transit or entering other premises. Whether those other premises are organisation owned or third party great security products exist to help. We sell some of these products that include tagging and tracking in third party vehicles or outside areas too.
6. The supplier network is too complex
Supplier networks that expand across national borders, regional territories and involve different nationalities and cultures have expanded due to outsourcing or to lower costs. Managing primary suppliers is tough enough, let alone monitoring lower tier contractors that may work in more remote locations. Plus this task is made more difficult if primary suppliers do not divulge sufficient information on lower tier parties they employ. Even in these situations however it is still possible to mark products and assets, then monitor and track them through the supply chain or along supply routes. Unique markings help determine where assets and come from, where they are planned for and who owns them.
7. Administration is too much of a burden
The time and cost of updating tagging and tracking information in a spreadsheet manually, deters organisations from devoting sufficient resources to managing and maintaining the task. Using a mixture of specially designed software, data capture devices and existing WIFI networks or GPS technology however means this information instead can be automatically captured.
8. Responsibility within an organisation is unclear
Return on investment (ROI) for risk prevention and security can be unclear within an organistion since security covers many departments from operations & logistics, to product quality and procurement. Help is at hand however since credible suppliers in this area can bring ROI models to the table to help create organisational ownership.
So how effective are property and asset protection products?
A complete solution needs to take account of other factors including:
- An effective detection being an effective deterrent
- Deterrent warnings
- Staff training to protect products, assets and help manage the administration also deter thieves
- Timely and accurate audits
- Use of tracking systems i.e. software and processes
- Fast detection and recovery processes
For more information on any of the above please contact us.
