Skip to main content

Supply Chain Security


Supply chain security is the part of supply chain management (SCM) that focuses on minimizing risk for supply chain, logistics and transportation management systems (TMS). The goal of supply chain security is to identify, assess and prioritize efforts to manage risk by layered defenses in an agile manner. This requires a multifaceted approach to protecting the checkpoints, assets and infrastructures involved with the production of a product. Supply chain security also takes into account the protocols set by government agencies, like homeland security or customs regulations for international supply chains.

The first step in supply chain security is to identify any potential weaknesses in a system. Overall organizational risk management practices should then be adjusted to accommodate and address those weaknesses. Collaboration with a 3PL provider can also help organizations find vulnerabilities and make improvements within a supply chain.

Examples of supply chain security activities

A few examples of security procedures that can be put into place to make supply chains more secure include:
  • Verifying proper credentials for all participants within a supply chain.
  • Screening all of the contents within a cargo that is being shipped.
  • Notifying recipients of shipments in advance.
  • Securing the cargo in transit or storage with the use of access controls, alarms, locks, surveillance or tamper-proof seals.
  • Inspecting cargo at each stage of the supply chain or shipment process.
  • Completing background checks on all employees.
  • Meeting all compliance and security standards.
  • Conducting regular risk assessments of supply chain segments, vendors and partners.
  • Training employees to identify and resolve supply chain security risks.

Importance of supply chain security

Supply chain security should be a high priority for organizations as a breach within the system could damage or disrupt operations. Vulnerabilities within a supply chain could lead to unnecessary costs, inefficient delivery schedules and a loss of intellectual property. Additionally, delivering products that have been tampered with or unauthorized could be harmful to customers and lead to unwanted lawsuits.

Security management systems can help protect supply chains from physical and cyber threats. Physical threats encompass risks with internal and external sources, such as theft, sabotage and terrorism, while cyber threats refer to vulnerabilities in IT and software systems, like malware attacks, piracy and unauthorized ERP access. While threats cannot be completely erased, supply chain security can work towards a more secure, efficient movement of goods that can recover rapidly from disruptions.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a computer chip that performs rapid mathematical calculations, primarily for the purpose of rendering images. A GPU may be found integrated with a central processing unit (CPU) on the same circuit, on a graphics card or in the motherboard of a personal computer or server. In the early days of computing, the CPU performed these calculations. As more graphics-intensive applications such as AutoCAD were developed; however, their demands put strain on the CPU and degraded performance. GPUs came about as a way to offload those tasks from CPUs, freeing up their processing power. NVIDIA, AMD, Intel and ARM are some of the major players in the GPU market. GPU vs. CPU A graphics processing unit is able to render images more quickly than a central processing unit because of its parallel processing architecture, which allows it to perform multiple calculations at the same time. A single CPU does not have this capability, although multi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What's the difference between two-step verification and 2FA?

  The two terms, two-step verification, and two-factor authentication are synonymous, though the former is now being used more widely by the likes of Google, Microsoft, and Apple as it better conveys how the actual authentication process works. In the past, two-step verification was used to describe processes that used the same authentication factors, while two-factor authentication described processes that involved different factors, such as entering a password on a website and receiving a numerical code on a mobile device. Today, the two terms are both used to describe authentication that involves a secondary factor that is different from the first. Authentication is a vital element of access control and data security because users can be assigned access rights and be authorized to perform certain actions only after successful authentication is performed. The ways in which someone can be authenticated fall into three categories based on what is known ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Black Swan Event

A black swan event is an incident that occurs randomly and unexpectedly and has wide-spread ramifications. The event is usually followed with reflection and a flawed rationalization that it was inevitable. The phrase illustrates the frailty of inductive reasoning and the danger of making sweeping generalizations from limited observations. The term came from the idea that if a man saw a thousand swans and they were all white, he might logically conclude that all swans are white. The flaw in his logic is that even when the premises are true, the conclusion can still be false. In other words, just because the man has never seen a black swan, it does not mean they do not exist. As Dutch explorers discovered in 1697, black swans are simply outliers -- rare birds, unknown to Europeans until Willem de Vlamingh and his crew visited Australia. Statistician Nassim Nicholas Taleb uses the phrase black swan as a metaphor for how humans deal with unpredictable events in his 2007...
Post a Comment
Read more