In Depth

How to Improve Supply Chain Security (The Trick Is to Keep It Moving)

Keeping products in motion is key to protecting your global supply chain. Far from dragging down the process, security initiatives help companies pick up the pace.

By Lauren Gibbons Paul

Get Partners on Board

Avnet hedges against occasional slowdowns by maintaining close partnerships with its carriers. Avnet evaluates each carrier on a 22-point checklist prior to entering a business relationship. Criteria include Web access to tracking data, en route tracking ability and GPS capability. Avnet also likes to see that the carrier is investing in the latest security technology, such as RFID tags. FedEx, UPS and DHL have made the grade. Avnet uses dozens of other carriers but describes trade as "virtually frictionless" with partners to which the company has granted special status.

Avnet also obtains as much data as possible from its suppliers (including part number, country of origin and other key elements), which again emphasizes the value of visibility. You have to have data to share data. Avnet's partner information comes in every format imaginable, from fax and e-mail to EDI and XML, depending on the supplier's technology sophistication. Although it was a major effort to accommodate that information, Avnet confirms that it pays off in additional product velocity throughout the supply chain.

Make the Business Case

As always, you'll need numbers to convince other executives of security's value. "It is critical to articulate the business benefits for security in hard dollar terms. This is a weak area for [security officers]," says Wolfe. "No one wants to say how much they lose, so it's tough to spell out the payoffs of better security."

Yet again, Wolfe's observation makes painfully obvious the need for good data. But the task is not impossible. For example, a company might install RFID tags to improve visibility into its containers and trucks, or monitor its trucks and trailers via satellite. "I can increase efficiency and serve customers better. And while I'm doing that, I can make sure no one is screwing with my stuff," says Wolfe. "Done right, security, speed and business benefits all roll up together."

Other stories by Lauren Gibbons Paul

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