Supply Chain Visibility Is Not Enough Without Facility Security

In the ever evolving world of logistics, transportation, warehousing, manufacturing and retail operations, supply chain visibility has become one of the highest priorities for businesses of all sizes and industries.

Visibility allows organizations to know where freight is moving, when it will reach a certain destination, what delays occur in supply chains and how the inventory is being handled in transit. Visibility is good, because it helps companies improve planning, avoid disruption and get more accurate forecasts.

However, visibility is only the first step to a secure supply chain.

While a dashboard might show you where the freight is and that a shipment has been received by the warehouse, the tracking tool will only indicate that the truck reached the distribution center and the transportation management system will demonstrate that a carrier made a delivery. None of these things will prove that the driver was verified at the gate, that the yard is protected, that there were no attempts of unauthorized access and no theft and that there is an accurate and comprehensive documentation of all events at the location.

And this is where the problem begins.

The supply chain is getting more interconnected, but the facilities that move, stage, store and handle freight still require real-time security and facility control. Warehouses, distribution centers, trucking yards, manufacturing sites, intermodal yards and automotive facilities are much more than dots on the map – these are living objects with all sorts of risks coming from the activity of drivers, visitors, vendors and employees.

Birdseye can help you to fill this gap.

With such solutions as GATECORE, YARDCORE, SAFECORE, AI-powered monitoring, human verification, live intervention and The Portal Birdseye will help you to convert supply chain visibility into facility control for industrial and logistics facilities.

Supply Chain Visibility Becomes a Business Necessity

More and more organizations recognize the importance of supply chain visibility, but visibility will always remain one of the highest priorities in the modern logistics environment.

The US Department of Transportation’s Freight Logistics Optimization Works program, or FLOW, is built on the principle of establishing a future-oriented picture of the state of supply chain in the US: DOT FLOW Program.

This kind of initiative proves that the necessity of supply chain visibility becomes more obvious for many organizations as supply chains grow increasingly complex.

A company needs to track movement of freight in its ports, warehouses, carriers, rails, trucks and distribution points and anticipate bottlenecks that could lead to delays and inefficiencies in its operations.

But again, knowing the movements of freight and controlling the facilities where these movements take place is quite different thing.

Visibility Does Not Mean Security

For example, a logistics manager will see that a shipment has arrived at a yard, but would he or she know who has taken it?

The system will show that a truck has entered the facility, but will the driver be verified? Has he been authorized?

A transportation management solution will help you to track movement of trailers, but was the seal verified, the Bill of Lading captured and was the vehicle authorized?

A surveillance camera will film the activity in the yard, but has someone watched the recordings live to detect and verify any suspicious activity?

These are the kinds of questions that need to be answered at the facility level.

While supply chain visibility helps organizations to see where the goods are in the process, facility supervision is needed to make sure that these goods have been delivered safely.

Cargo Theft and Facility Risks Are Operational Problems

Cargo theft is an important problem for organizations in terms of supply chain security, but it also affects the operations.

If freight is stolen, the damage will go far beyond the value of the lost cargo, because it will result in additional costs, delays in deliveries, potential insurance claims, compliance issues and strained relations with the customers.

As CargoNet reported, losses caused by cargo theft in 2025 soared up to nearly $725 million, and the average value of a theft has grown, since organized groups began targeting higher value freight: CargoNet 2025 Theft Trends.

And this tendency matters, because in most cases theft takes place in the course of exploiting some vulnerabilities related to gates, yards, trailer staging areas, after-hours access, weak documentation, fake carrier activity and lack of visibility.

Although your company may have great tracking once the freight is loaded onto the truck, without proper verification of what is happening at the gate and in the yard, you will never know that your supply chain suffers from a serious vulnerability.

But with Birdseye, you can deal with it.

GATECORE: Securing the First Point of Supply Chain Control

One of the most important control points in the supply chain is the gate.

Each driver, truck, trailer, visitor, shipment and carrier that come to the facility create a question that must be answered: should I give access to this person or vehicle? Is this driver or trailer authorized? Have the seal and Bill of Lading been verified?

Traditionally the gate process involves guards, paper logs, manual checks, phone calls and disconnected cameras, which seems to be normal procedure. However, these methods usually cause delays and inconsistencies in documentation.

With GATECOREBirdseye helps you to manage the gate process in a smarter way.

GATECOREhelps you to verify drivers, vehicles, trailers, access events, Bills of Lading, seals and gate transactions. AI-powered monitoring will organize and identify all types of activity, and trained remote agents will help to implement the necessary site-specific procedures and provide human verification. The result will be a more efficient and well-controlled gate process.

This kind of solution is very helpful for logistics companies, because it will help you to increase visibility at the crucial point of the supply chain.

Your records of each shipment will become much more detailed, because they will include information on who had entered the facility and what has happened at the gate.

YARDCORE: Visibility After the Gate

It is very important to control the activity of drivers and other vehicles that enter the facility, but there are many risks even after the vehicle passes the gate.

There can be many problems that occur in the yard: trailers can be dropped off or left without driver, the vehicle can be moved from one dock to another or to staging area. Vendors can enter the facilities to deliver some equipment, employees can cross traffic areas, etc.

If your facility only tracks the gate event, you may face the problem of losing visibility as soon as the vehicle enters the yard.

YARDCORE is here to help you with this.

YARDCORE helps you to have real-time control over the activity in the yard. With YARDCOREy ou will be able to monitor all movement, check safety procedures, document incidents and ensure visibility in large outdoor areas.

This solution is especially important for warehouses, distribution centers, trucking yards, automotive logistics yards and manufacturing facilities, where yard activity is also an important operational process.

Supply chain is only as visible as its handoff points. And YARDCORE will help you to have the control over your handoff points.

SAFECORE: Protecting the Perimeter of Your Facility

Another important thing in supply chain security is the perimeter protection.

All fence lines, trailer rows, outdoor storage areas, employee parking lots, side gates and other restricted areas can become your point of exposure. Your facility may have a great gate control, but if there is a possibility to approach the yard after-hours from the perimeter or access the restricted area, you will be still vulnerable.

According to CISA’s physical security resources, it is extremely important to strengthen physical security and resilience as one of the ways of protecting facilities and infrastructure: CISA Physical Security Resources.

SAFECORE can help you to do this.

With SAFECORE Birdseye uses AI-powered monitoring, human verification, live Voice-Down intervention, escalation procedures and incident documentation. If something suspicious occurs in the perimeter, Birdseye will help you to detect, verify and respond while the event is still taking place.

This kind of real-time reaction can be a crucial point to prevent an incident instead of discovering its traces on recorded footage.

The Portal: Turning Facility Activity Into Operational Intelligence

The better visibility of your supply chain depends on the quality of information you get.

However, many companies use disconnected systems to manage security and operations in facilities. Video recordings are stored in one platform, the gate log is stored in paper format, incident report may be in an email or somewhere else. All of these things complicate the analysis of what has actually occurred in the facility.

The Portal will help you to gather information about all significant events that took place at your facilities.

With The Portal you will be able to review gate transactions, yard events, perimeter alerts, incident records and operational activity in your facility network. This feature will help security, operations, safety, compliance and leadership teams to work with the same set of information.

Instead of watching hours of video recordings or searching for the needed information among incomplete notes, the managers will be able to analyze structured events that occurred during the facility operation.

Compliance and Documentation Are More Important Than Ever

Supply chain security is not only the prevention of thefts. In many cases, the documentation of the process can be equally important.

For example, for companies that are engaged in international trade, logistics and transportation operations, documentation may be required for compliance with regulations and CBP’s CTPAT program focused on the supply chain security practices and minimum security criteria for trade partners: CBP CTPAT Minimum Security Criteria.

This kind of approach proves that supply chain operations require reliable control and documentation.

Birdseye will help you with this, because with our solutions, your facilities will be able to document gate activity, driver verification, trailer details, BOL capture, seal check, yard incidents and perimeter events.

In case of disputes, claims, compliance review and internal investigation, better documentation will help you to act quicker and more efficiently.

Why Birdseye Is Different

Many companies can offer you surveillance cameras, some of them can provide guards, others can provide access control, alarms and software dashboards.

Birdseye offers something different for industrial and logistics facilities.

• GATECOREhelps to control and document access at the gate.
• YARDCOREhelps to supervise vehicles and trailers movement in the yard.
• SAFECORE helps to protect perimeters and restricted areas.
• The Portal helps to consolidate visibility, reporting and event history.
• AI helps to detect important events.
• Human agents help to verify events and provide real-time responses.

This combination is the reason why Birdseye is different from many competitors.

The visibility is not the aim for us, visibility is valuable only when it results in better actions, better documentation and control.

Supply Chain Resilience Begins at the Facility Level

The resilient supply chain can be built not only in transportation dashboards or corporate planning systems, but also at every gate, dock, yard and handoff of the facilities where freight is changing its status.

If these facilities will not be safe and visible, the supply chain will remain vulnerable. Birdseye will help you to make these facilities more resilient.

Combining AI-powered monitoring, human verification, GATECORE, YARDCORE, SAFECORE and The Portal, Birdseye will help you to have a smarter way to protect the physical side of the supply chain.

Move From Visibility to Control

Supply chain visibility helps your organization to see where freight is moving. Birdseye will help you to control facility events where the movement of the goods takes place.

If your company invests in the supply chain visibility, you should make sure that your facilities will be able to support visibility through verified access, real-time monitoring, proactive response, yard supervision, perimeter protection and clear documentation.

With Birdseye solutions your organization can turn facility activity into operational intelligence and improve your supply chain.