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E-seal tags - A Digital Innovation in the Logistics Industry to ensure Container Safety!
E-seal tags – A Digital Innovation in the Logistics Industry to ensure Container Safety!

Sep 08, 2022

“Staying safe and secure” has to be the unofficial tagline for the last decade and the current one. Be it the confidential information on our phones or the banking details that are saved in our notes, security and privacy of data have been the topic of concern for most people. Large enterprises like Apple, Google and Samsung have put privacy and data security as the front-running features of their smart devices more than their annual hardware upgrades.

Why?

Because people value security. Data leaks or losses can lead to huge losses to individuals, and the process of retrieving data back becomes all the more complex. Now, let’s just replace the term “individuals” with “businesses”. The overall disruption that this situation leads to is all the more tragic. A business involves the lives of many people including the stakeholders and the employees. Data loss can lead to even large enterprises losing their limelight within a matter of minutes.

The Logistics Angle

In the logistics industry, there are several goods being transported from different locations and hubs, before it reaches the end market. In such a business sphere where multiple stakeholders are involved – shippers, carriers, security managers, security professionals, transport planners and a large sum of money is involved, can you imagine the huge turmoil that lack of proper tracking of goods or loss of goods that lead to businesses and the nation as a whole?

In the Indian Market alone – where approximately 2.5 to 3.5 million consignments are shipped every year, amounting to more than $300 billion in annual export turnover, the safety of the goods becomes prime importance.

RFID and E-seals

Companies have been using RFID tags to track and trace the goods for proper inventory control. Gone are the days when mechanical container seals were used to keep track of goods. A few of the main reasons why this has become obsolete is because these seals do not follow any industrial standards, they aren’t fool-proof which makes it easier to breach, and finally  – the seals do not offer any visibility on the movement of a shipment. This has further resulted in rising transaction costs and translation times, with no assurance of securing the supply chain.

This is why Indian customs decided to replace mechanical seals with E-seals. This has significantly reduced the risk of fraud and security threats, and at the same time ensured higher levels of facilitation to traders.

Since the majority of the thefts have been accounted to happen in moving trucks and containers, the Government and private companies have both joint hands in tackling this situation with the use of upgraded security systems – RFID E-seals. This has replaced the earlier bolt seals and serves its purpose to work well with the already existing GPS-tracking system in place.

An RFID E-seal might look similar in appearance to bolt seals but are simpler and more effective to ease. They are backed by cutting-edge electronics and backed by RFID technology. The RFID E-seal comes with an RFID chip that stores a terminal ID (TID) number, which is unique to each and every shipment. The RFID E-seal TID contains details such as location, date and time of scanning. Once the container is sealed, the RFID E-seal can be removed only with the help of a metal or bolt cutter. But what makes it different from the bolt seals is that it can be reassembled. Also, this triggers an alert to the concerned authorities along with the details associated with the TID number.

To sum it up, E-seals offer the following:

  • Real-time alerts on suspicious movement
  • Prevents the huge issue of container or truck door removal
  • Live location tracking
  • Advanced Analytics to inform stakeholders about means to better optimise logistics operations
  • Easy record keeping of all cargos on the move

It is because of cutting-edge digital technologies such as this that the logistics industry has been able to handle issues such as container theft and tampering. Moreover, RFID seals are one of the most cost-friendly solutions that can be implemented with no training needed at all.

Why Syrma SGS?

Syrma SGS holds over four decades of experience in building custom RFID solutions. Our RFID products have helped in asset management, inventory tracking, and enhancing efficiency thereby enabling cost savings. Having its active presence in over 20+ countries across the globe, and offering effective RFID solutions, Syrma SGS is one of the topmost electronics manufacturing services providers having experience and expertise in product design, prototyping, repair & rework and automatic tester development services.