Introduction
Having damaged goods arrive at your customers not only damages your bank balance and profitability, but also severely damages your company’s reputation.

As a responsible business, it is in your best interests to ensure that every stage of your logistics process is monitored. There are damage deterrents available that can ensure maximum care is taken when shipping goods. It is vital that companies have in place a damage deterrent programme that not only saves them money but also their reputation.

Benefits to the Shipper
The most immediate benefit to the shipper is the reduction of incidents of rough handling with a resultant decrease in damage. Using impact or environmental monitoring devices means that there is an immediate indication if a damage problem exists, so when the consignment arrives at the destination action can be taken. And importantly, establishing a damage prevention programme instills greater customer confidence and provides a strong selling feature inherent in the ability to deliver goods intact.

Benefits to the Customer
These are very clear and now as Just-in-Time (JIT) manufacturing is widely practised, it is even more important that goods arrive on time and undamaged. Should anything untoward happen, then there will be an immediate indication of the potential problem, which in turn means that there is less likelihood of unknowingly transhipping already damaged goods. As with all parties in the logistics chain, it greatly improves any claims recovery that needs to take place.

Benefits to the Carrier
Enforcing a damage deterrent programme encourages personnel to be more careful and therefore reduces the amount of damage occurring. The programme will also be useful for pinpointing trouble spots in intermodal situations and can expose negligent shippers.

Damage Deterrent Options
So, we can see a damage deterrent programme benefits all parties.  The next stage is to look at what damage deterrent options are available. These range from the basic packaging tapes with a “HANDLE WITH CARE” message to sophisticated electronic event recorders. Many companies stick with the first option, if they do anything at all. They see that any further deterrents will add a financial burden and as a result their prices will rise. In these days of tough competition, there is resistance to add costs. However, by using a simple formula companies can calculate the actual savings they would make by implementing even the simplest of damage prevention programmes.

This example is based on a real life situation although the price of the label is used as an example only.

Units Shipped	ShockWatch Investment	Total Investment
5,000	£2.15	£10,750
Damage Rate	Total Shipments	Damage Units
2%	5,000	100
Damage Units	Replacement/Repair Costs	Total Cost
100	£500	£50,000
	Breakeven on Investment
Investment	Cost	%
£10, 750	£50,000	22%

The figures show that reducing the damage rate by only 22% pays for the total investment.

What’s Available?
The simplest form of damage prevention and monitoring is a range of adhesive labels that give an indication if the shipment has been mishandled in any way. There are labels available that can show if a consignment has been bashed, dropped, tilted or undergone any extremes of temperature or humidity. They are simple to use and provide a reliable visible indicator that mishandling has occurred.

One company who implemented a scheme has been delighted with the results.

TiltWatch, an active label system from Lamerholm has been successfully used by Souters Transport to virtually eliminate damage when shipping expensive diagnostics equipment. TiltWatch is an innovative system that helps to ensure sensitive products are kept in an upright position while being shipped.

“We pride ourselves on our excellent customer service, not only on time delivery but also ensuring that all consignments arrive undamaged.” explains Tim Souter. “However, it is inevitable with the large number of pallets being moved, some being handled by forklifts 5-6 times on their journey, that some damage will occur. At one stage, we found that sensitive test equipment was not being kept upright, as specified on the attached, passive labels. We had to look for a way to pinpoint when the damage occurred and to stop it from happening."

A TiltWatch device was attached to each pallet leaving the depot each week. Since implementing the programme, damage has been virtually eliminated.

More Sophisticated Systems for Larger and Damage Critical Consignments
Damage deterrent labels work well for companies transporting items up to 15kg. However, larger, fragile and critical components need more careful monitoring and tracking. Electronic instrumentation has been developed that provides intricate data on impact direction, amplitude and duration, with onboard sensors to record changes in temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure.

The Future
With the number of options around for damage prevention and monitoring during transportation, all companies can find a cost-effective solution to meet their own needs.