Starbucks Uses Cargo Security Devices to Ensure Supply Chain Integrity

Apr 1, 2006 12:00 PM, ERIN SEMPLE

Starbucks Corp. has installed high-tech sensors to detect tampering with its cargo containers filled with coffee beans that are shipped from Guatemala to Europe or the United States.

The world's leading coffee retailer participated in a continuing study by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that warned such containers could be opened secretly during shipment in order to add or remove items without alerting authorities. The $75 million, three-year study showed such risks could allow terrorists to smuggle weapons of mass destruction into the United States. Part of the U.S. study tracked shipments of coffee beans from Guatemala's Palin Dry Mill to Starbucks' Green Bean plant in Washington state and found serious security problems.

In response, the “CommerceGuard” sensors from General Electric Co. were installed in March into shipments of green coffee beans from Guatemala bound for the United States and Europe to detect whether cargo containers were opened during shipment. The sensors attach magnetically to the inside of containers and record any opening of the doors.

“It is a priority within our business to take a proactive approach to enhance supply chain integrity in order to mitigate security exposures to customer, partners, communities and countries of origin,” says May Kulthol, Starbucks Coffee Company's spokesperson. “After evaluating current security product offerings in the marketplace, Starbucks piloted an operations test of the GE CommerceGuard device in Guatemala. During a three-month period, the container security devices (CSDs) accurately recorded all door-opening events.”

A CSD stores critical data such as the date, time and location where the container was loaded, the name of the person who armed the device, the ports through which the container has passed (where readers are present), when it passed through those ports, the unique number of the container and the unique number of the high-security seal affixed to the door of the container. Fixed and handheld readers record the status of the CSD in a database that can be accessed by authorized importers, shippers and government official anywhere in the world.

CommerceGuard tracks freight containers as they move through port infrastructure and intermodal rail and road connectors. Shippers and appropriate government agencies then access the information from a secure Internet portal on any personal computer and use the tracking information to secure and streamline the supply chain.

When the container comes within range of a handheld or fixed reader, the CSD sends out a signal to the reader, transmitting its status to the GE CommerceGuard global network. Relevant authorities are alerted to any intrusions to permit them to halt and inspect the container, as necessary.

The CSD communicates using active Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) on an unlicensed 2.4 GHz frequency — the frequency used internationally for industrial, scientific and medical devices, and the standard for all Bluetooth wireless devices. The GE CommerceGuard CSD is installed on an ISO standard container and is affixed to the interior corner post of the container at the door hinge. “CommerceGuard is one enabler in Starbucks Coffee Company's overlapping security process to ensure supply chain integrity and the safety of customers, partners (employees), communities and countries of origin,” Kulthol says. “The CSD adds an important layer of security and expedites the passage of cargo at seaports.”

Following the three-month pilot test, Starbucks signed an agreement with GE to install CommerceGuard on shipments of green coffee beans originating in Guatemala, bound for the United States and Europe.

The U.S. study concluded that no records were kept of “cursory” inspections in Guatemala for large cargo containers filled with Starbucks coffee beans. “Coffee beans were accessible to anyone entering the facility,” the study said. It also found significant mistakes on manifests and other paperwork. Starbucks, along with several other international companies, fully participated in this study aimed at identifying supply chain security vulnerabilities and best policies procedures, practices and technology to mitigate them.

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