Zero tolerance helps bring theft under control

Warehouse and logistics businesses face constant pressure to provide diversified and improved service offerings to reduce turnaround time and save costs for their clients. This is against a backdrop of having to deal with the “multiple challenges” of erratic municipal services such as interrupted electricity and water supplies in some parts of Gauteng, theft and the additional costs e-tolls have added to the local supply chain, said Martin Bailey managing director of Industrial Logistic Systems. “Transport is by far the highest cost and customers want better service all the time, a more rapid response and a bigger variety of services,” Bailey said. And while most larger businesses have absorbed the costs of e-tolling and are now coughing up to comply, many business owners are reluctantly paying the hefty tolls. “Most of us think e-tolling is bad enough but the worst part is that we don’t even know where the money goes," he said. Bailey added that theft out of warehouses and hijacking of trucks remained a huge challenge for the sector. But he said businesses had brought crime under control by adopting a stance of zero tolerance aimed at prosecuting staff allegedly linked to crimes. “Businesses cope with it by putting in significant measures to stop it such as hiring people to check and double check others, installing cameras, and in trucks there are even cameras in cabs now,” Bailey said. On a positive note Bailey said training and development in supply chain management had improved in recent years and most universities now included modules on the subject in courses ranging from industrial engineering to commerce degrees.