Plundering Powder

The cost of cement has been rising. Theft by fraud during loading has also been increasing, stealing from terminals, and depriving an already-overtaxed construction supply chain of a much-needed resource. That, in turn, completes the cycle and sends cement prices even higher.

Industry-wide, loading fraud is more prevalent than one would expect and automation systems are making it easier to prevent, but as the industry moves to adopt digitalisation, it is important to understand that companies deliver varying levels of effectiveness.

PSCL’s Cement Distribution Management (CDM) system is a fully-integrated control and monitoring solution for plants and terminals. Tied into site infrastructure and accounting systems via the ERP interface, operators know what trucks are where and what they are carrying in real-time, with built-in fraud and theft protection. This article will detail how criminals try to cheat the system and how PSCL’s CDM can stop them before they can begin.

Improper truck positioning

Problem

A truck pulls onto the weigh scale. Ideally, it should be positioned completely on the scale to record an accurate weight.

A driver can drop an axle off the scale and record a lighter starting weight in a bid to overload his container with more product than is being paid for. While this may result in ‘only’ a few hundred pounds of cement powder being stolen with each load, think of how many trucks go through a terminal in a day, each week, each month, for a year. As such this quickly becomes theft that easily runs into six and seven figures of lost revenue.

Schemes that lighten the initial weight benefit the driver by giving them more product than their employer is paying for. Conversely, increasing the initial weight benefits the terminal by recording more product than the truck receives. This is done by the truck pulling as far forward as they can while staying on the scale, then a second truck pulls forward, putting its front axle on the rear of the scale.

Solution

CDM combats positioning fraud in a number of simple ways. Improper positioning can easily be prevented with PSCL’s spout monitor – an alignment aid drivers use to line up the spout while pulling into the alley. This ensures the truck is in the correct spot for loading every time.

For intentional positioning fraud, the system prevents this with configurable expected rig weights. Rigs are associated with a driver’s access cards so the system will have basic data on what the truck/trailer should weigh unloaded and determine if the weights are not within the set threshold.

Scale tampering

Problem

One of the most common methods of fraud is rigging the scale to give an inaccurate reading. This can be accomplished by the driver stepping off the scale during loading/check-in or wedging a crowbar to lift the pressure on the sensor to affect the scale reading, making the truck appear lighter. Due to the sensitive nature of scales even a moderate amount of pressure applied on the scale can result in fraudulent readings, affecting the weight recorded by thousands of pounds.

If unnoticed, this allows the driver to receive more material than is being paid for, resulting in a loss for the terminal. Additionally, if the truck is overloaded and an accident happens or the truck is reweighed during its travels, the terminal can be held liable for overloading a truck past the legal limit without the correct permits.

Solution

The CDM loading solution detects sudden decreases in weight. If the weight on the scale decreases or does not increase as fast as it should based on the current flow rate, the system will notify an attendant that there may be tampering with the scale. CDM stops the load and requires approval to continue loading, allowing time for the truck and scale to be inspected for foul play.

When loading more than the legal limit in a jurisdiction where a permit is required, the overweight permit module ensures that only drivers with active permits can load past the legal limit.

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Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/special-reports/13092023/plundering-powder/