Why Privacy Is Crucial in Warehouse Logistics
- By Cory Levins
- 6 nov 2017
Warehouses are critical assets for many companies and industries. They are a hub of activity with high employee turnover and a continuous flow of deliveries. Proper logistics management requires procedures for functionality, safety, and privacy.
Protect your investment and increase the effectiveness of your distribution and storage system by implementing logistics practices that protect your assets.
Privacy is not often considered a priority in warehouse logistics, as outsiders such, as customers and community members, rarely visit. There is no question, however, with regular traffic coming and going and the movement and storage of high-value goods, there are plenty of opportunities for theft and data compromise.
Many warehouses, especially those near ports, take on massive ship deliveries worth billions of dollars in products. Production centers in the Asian Pacific ship high-end electronics and appliances to the ports in Southern California before moving on to their final destination. For example, the warehouses that store the latest Apple iPhone could be compromised. Preventing the theft of these highly valuable warehouse contents requires efficient logistic procedures and privacy regarding planned transport.
Although information doesn’t carry the same monetary value as goods, the storage and delivery of time-sensitive or secret information like election results, health information, and test scores, or easily pirated audio/video material, require discretion on the part of the warehouse crew. Warehouses responsible for storing college entrance exams like the SAT before distribution could be a casualty of a break-in to access these materials.
Technology is an asset for warehouses. Having visibility at every level of the real-time tracking of activities is valuable. Having individual workstation access to use the information makes daily operations far smoother. Being able to disrupt your business and the flow of information is valuable to outside parties. Imagine if protestors or competitors wanted to launch a DDoS-type attack on your warehouse software. It could cripple your business for days and require extensive data breach management.
Customer privacy is also crucial because packages often include sensitive private information, such as addresses and credit card details, which can be easily compromised by criminals. The theft of customer data would cause extensive damage and expense to your company.
Industries need to ship dangerous goods, and warehouses are responsible for the safe storage and shipping of these products. Healthcare companies ship pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, laboratory cleaning agents, and oxygen tanks. Any of these commodities would be a valuable target for theft or misuse.
Industrial manufacturers ship paint, batteries, fertilizers, and chemicals, which can all have high occurrences of misuse. Food ingredients must be kept from tampering, and weapons can’t get lost in a warehouse. Keeping the logistics of the warehouse private is crucial to managing a business with sensitive goods.
Companies strive to create new ways to protect customer privacy. New practices and logistics are keeping warehouses safer places for customers.
Organization is the key to maintaining customer privacy in a warehouse setting. If your logistics are properly outlined with shelving systems, properly labeled containers, automated picking, and limited packaging options, then it is easier to implement leveled physical security measures. This includes ID authentication for work areas, and password-protected computer access.
Employee non-disclosure agreements and contractual obligations with vendors are essential legal protections to provide privacy for materials, data, and customers. A significant aspect of protecting customer information is the staff. When the crew is focused and enthusiastic, they are more likely to make sure guidelines are thoroughly followed. If staff members do not take privacy seriously, they are more likely to make mistakes or to allow simple missteps to go unchanged.
A good way to start solving the problem of privacy in warehouse logistics is to create a customer privacy policy. A typical strategy includes information involving warehouse access, as well as internet, delivery, and email privacy. Policies are posted online to provide transparency to operations and to increase goodwill.
Having a coherent and detailed privacy policy also regulates the workers and creates a set of rules for employees to follow. It makes it easier for quality, ethical, and consistent care to be taken with customer information both inside and outside of the warehouse.
One tactic used by companies is “blind packaging.” Using this method, one employee packages the product and prepares the box, and another employee attaches the address label and the name of the customer. In this way, the employee with the customer information has no idea what the customer has purchased. Likewise, the employee who has packaged the product has no idea who has purchased it or where it is going – keeping the customer’s privacy safe.
Privacy does not cease to be important once a package leaves the warehouse. Packages may be shipped by ground, air, or even by sea. This can affect how the package should be handled with regard to customer privacy.
It is essential to be aware of which employees have access to data, goods, and areas of your warehouse and how they are interacting with it. This allows a company to be fully confident that information is handled appropriately.
Privacy is crucial in warehouse logistics because of the value of the goods, data, practices, and hazards of misuse. Having an information breach on any level can cost your business its reputation as well as monetary damages. Having a clear, concise logistics flow enables you to put into place levels of security access to goods, materials, areas, data, and personnel to keep your business from suffering a catastrophic loss. It is vital that these considerations are at the forefront of your company’s logistical planning in the warehouse.
Protect your investment and increase the effectiveness of your distribution and storage system by implementing logistics practices that protect your assets.
Privacy is not often considered a priority in warehouse logistics, as outsiders such, as customers and community members, rarely visit. There is no question, however, with regular traffic coming and going and the movement and storage of high-value goods, there are plenty of opportunities for theft and data compromise.
Theft of Merchandise
Many warehouses, especially those near ports, take on massive ship deliveries worth billions of dollars in products. Production centers in the Asian Pacific ship high-end electronics and appliances to the ports in Southern California before moving on to their final destination. For example, the warehouses that store the latest Apple iPhone could be compromised. Preventing the theft of these highly valuable warehouse contents requires efficient logistic procedures and privacy regarding planned transport.
Although information doesn’t carry the same monetary value as goods, the storage and delivery of time-sensitive or secret information like election results, health information, and test scores, or easily pirated audio/video material, require discretion on the part of the warehouse crew. Warehouses responsible for storing college entrance exams like the SAT before distribution could be a casualty of a break-in to access these materials.
Data Compromise
Technology is an asset for warehouses. Having visibility at every level of the real-time tracking of activities is valuable. Having individual workstation access to use the information makes daily operations far smoother. Being able to disrupt your business and the flow of information is valuable to outside parties. Imagine if protestors or competitors wanted to launch a DDoS-type attack on your warehouse software. It could cripple your business for days and require extensive data breach management.
Customer privacy is also crucial because packages often include sensitive private information, such as addresses and credit card details, which can be easily compromised by criminals. The theft of customer data would cause extensive damage and expense to your company.
Hazardous Materials
Industries need to ship dangerous goods, and warehouses are responsible for the safe storage and shipping of these products. Healthcare companies ship pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, laboratory cleaning agents, and oxygen tanks. Any of these commodities would be a valuable target for theft or misuse.
Industrial manufacturers ship paint, batteries, fertilizers, and chemicals, which can all have high occurrences of misuse. Food ingredients must be kept from tampering, and weapons can’t get lost in a warehouse. Keeping the logistics of the warehouse private is crucial to managing a business with sensitive goods.
Implementing Privacy Practices
Companies strive to create new ways to protect customer privacy. New practices and logistics are keeping warehouses safer places for customers.
Physical Security and Access to Data
Organization is the key to maintaining customer privacy in a warehouse setting. If your logistics are properly outlined with shelving systems, properly labeled containers, automated picking, and limited packaging options, then it is easier to implement leveled physical security measures. This includes ID authentication for work areas, and password-protected computer access.
Employee Training and Legal Agreements
Employee non-disclosure agreements and contractual obligations with vendors are essential legal protections to provide privacy for materials, data, and customers. A significant aspect of protecting customer information is the staff. When the crew is focused and enthusiastic, they are more likely to make sure guidelines are thoroughly followed. If staff members do not take privacy seriously, they are more likely to make mistakes or to allow simple missteps to go unchanged.
Privacy Policies
A good way to start solving the problem of privacy in warehouse logistics is to create a customer privacy policy. A typical strategy includes information involving warehouse access, as well as internet, delivery, and email privacy. Policies are posted online to provide transparency to operations and to increase goodwill.
Having a coherent and detailed privacy policy also regulates the workers and creates a set of rules for employees to follow. It makes it easier for quality, ethical, and consistent care to be taken with customer information both inside and outside of the warehouse.
Blind Packaging
One tactic used by companies is “blind packaging.” Using this method, one employee packages the product and prepares the box, and another employee attaches the address label and the name of the customer. In this way, the employee with the customer information has no idea what the customer has purchased. Likewise, the employee who has packaged the product has no idea who has purchased it or where it is going – keeping the customer’s privacy safe.
Awareness of Different Delivery Methods
Privacy does not cease to be important once a package leaves the warehouse. Packages may be shipped by ground, air, or even by sea. This can affect how the package should be handled with regard to customer privacy.
It is essential to be aware of which employees have access to data, goods, and areas of your warehouse and how they are interacting with it. This allows a company to be fully confident that information is handled appropriately.
In Closing
Privacy is crucial in warehouse logistics because of the value of the goods, data, practices, and hazards of misuse. Having an information breach on any level can cost your business its reputation as well as monetary damages. Having a clear, concise logistics flow enables you to put into place levels of security access to goods, materials, areas, data, and personnel to keep your business from suffering a catastrophic loss. It is vital that these considerations are at the forefront of your company’s logistical planning in the warehouse.
