Emerging Research: Role of C-TPAT in Preventing Supply Chain Disruptions

Dr. Santosh Mahapatra is currently engaged in examining the impacts of C-TPAT (Customs and Trade Partnership Against Terrorism) on supply chain performance. C-TPAT is a voluntary compliance program that allows firms to manage the security proactively to avoid what competitive firms with complex supply chains dread the most: disruption, delay and demurrage!
From the C-TPAT perspective, notes Dr. Mahapatra, a supply chain is defined “from the point of origin (manufacturer/supplier/vendor) to the point of distribution.” 

“C-TPAT involves a series of measures that require a firm to proactively engage in inspection, surveillance, auditing, monitoring and tracking, resulting in significant expense of money and employee hours,” says Dr. Mahapatra of the voluntary initiative. “Yet despite the costs, implementation of C-TPAT leads to several direct and indirect benefits that justify the expenses,” he notes. For example, the benefits often include lead-time reduction, less inventory, less pilferage, etc. because of significant reduction in time consuming, expensive inspections at borders. “These benefits are more than just avoiding supply chain disruption due to a security event,” he adds.