In April 2021, G4S partnered with a customer that has operations in Asia. The customer is a well-known logistics company and works as a service provider for one of the largest e-commerce platforms in China.

Part of the service required by the customer was x-ray cargo screening to ensure no dangerous goods were in shipments. This is an area that became a major hurdle, as the company that had previously provided security for the customer was struggling to get the job done. This included missed detections in x-ray screenings. The customer had previously used G4S for security services, but had opted to choose another company when that contract expired. As the new security provider had struggled to perform effectively, the customer decided to re-engage G4S to come back into the fold.

THE GOALS

The customer’s biggest pain point was the missed detection in the x-ray scans. Therefore, the main objective would be to improve the quality of x-ray screenings to prevent these missed detections from
occurring at the alarming rate the customer had been experiencing.

The customer was also aiming for additional growth, and in order to do so, the volume of screenings would need to increase. This means an additional goal would be to focus on increasing the efficiency of x-ray scanning by using well-trained and experienced security staff. By improving upon both the quality and efficiency of the screening process, the customer could more comfortably grow the scale of its operations. With these goals in mind, G4S went to work devising the optimal solution to meet the customer’s needs.

THE SOLUTION

During discussions with the customer, G4S agreed on a KPI to monitor the manpower deployment and training of the x-ray team. This KPI would be used to track performance and let both G4S and the customer know where changes may need to be made; if any.

In order to meet this KPI, G4S deployed a highly qualified x-ray team that received extensive and ongoing training. A strong focus was placed on compliance, due to the non-compliant challenges faced by the previous security team. By putting the right manpower in place and providing those workers with all the knowledge needed to perform their duties, the expectation was for a drastic decrease in missed detections. In addition, G4S planned regular supervisory visits to monitor the new personnel and service standards. This ensured the pain points were being addressed, and if any issues were detected, G4S could swiftly address them.

THE RESULTS

The plan was successful immediately upon deployment. The customer saw a dramatic decrease in missed detections with the new professional x-ray team. The success of the projects can be attributed to employing an experienced x-ray team and supporting the team with an efficient and effective workflow and training system. In addition, the x-ray solution was made possible by its on- site visit prior to deployment. This visit allowed G4S to analyse the situation to determine precisely how much manpower was necessary for the volume of cargo being screened. It also allowed G4S to custom design the training programme to fit the customer’s ongoing challenges.

This partnership between G4S and this customer began in April 2021, with a March 2022 end date to the current contract. Due to the success of the project; however, the hope is for both parties to continue working together for years to come.