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Month: March 2022

Have you been Security Breached?

Posted on by Maxim Kazachek

In today’s digital age, security breaches are becoming more common, and it’s often a matter of when, not if, your business will be targeted. With the amount of personal data exchanged in cyberspace, companies are responsible for complying with regulations and protecting customer information. In the event of a breach, like the one experienced by LinkedIn, the business holding the data is held accountable.

What is cyber liability insurance?

Cyber liability insurance cover (CLIC) has been available on the market since about 2006. CLIC policies cover a business liability for a data breach in which the firms customers personal information, such as Social Security or credit card numbers, is exposed or stolen by a hacker or other criminal who has gained access to the firms electronic network. This insurance allows to mitigate risks related to security breaches, namely, by transferring the risk (quantified in financial value)  insuring against it. Such risks are primarily related to the mandatory data breach requirements in most countries (Canada, US, EU) if you have been breached, you must notify your clients, and the costs of notification can be very high (including loss of revenue, lawsuits, etc.).

Such costs force many business owners to consider CLIC among the other risk management tools flood, fire, theft insurance. Cyber insurance cover is enormously beneficial in the event of a large-scale security incident, as it provides a funding mechanism to recover from major losses, helping businesses return to normal operations.

What CLIC cover from

Presently, CLIC can include:

  • Data breach/privacy crisis management cover (expenses related to the management of an incident, the investigation, the remediation, data subject notification, call management, credit checking for data subjects, legal costs, court attendance and regulatory fines)
  • Multimedia/Media liability cover (third-party damages, like defacement of website and intellectual property rights infringement)
  • Extortion liability cover (losses due to a threat of extortion, professional fees related to dealing with the extortion)
  • Network security liability (third-party damages as a result of denial of access, costs related to data on third-party suppliers, costs related to the theft of data on third-party systems).

Apart from that, cyber liability cover can include expenses related to mitigating data breach risks, such as security audit costs (BALANCED+ has done such audits for its clients).

Who needs cyber liability insurance?

All businesses carry confidential client information, however there are different classes of such information. For example, breaches related to data such as credit card information, medical information, social insurance numbers will be of higher risk that breaches related to name and address. For example, in Ontario there exists the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA), which puts very stringent requirements on handling of individuals health information.

Our Thoughts:

Cyber liability insurance is an essential risk management tool for businesses in today’s digital age. BALANCED+ offers security audit services and can help determine the appropriate coverage needed for your business. Contact us to learn more and protect your business from potential cyber threats.

Are you managing on the Tip of the Iceberg?

Posted on by Artemy

While keeping track of sales and production numbers and completing financial statements is necessary, it only scratches the surface of valuable information that can help improve performance, reduce costs, and optimize throughput in plastics manufacturing. Hidden measurements of production, material usage, and hours offer insights beneath the surface that can help you achieve a more efficient operation. Ignoring this data poses a risk to the health of your business.

Overall management of production and inventory is really the sum of the management of individual resources within the business individual machines, people, materials, and goods. And just as the chain is only as strong as its weakest link, challenged or underperforming resources can negatively affect the performance of the entire organization.

It is important, therefore, to measure and manage each resource as closely as possible in order to detect any variance from expectations and be able to take corrective action before productivity and throughput are affected. In todays digital factory, it is easier than ever to achieve that goal. The best modern ERP/MES systems are built to continuously monitor key measures of machine rate, output, efficiency, quality (reject rates), utilization and other factors and alert operators and managers when conditions or accomplishments vary from expectations.

Arguably the most important internal measurement to watch is Machine Efficiency: tracking of cycle time the interval between successive pieces produced or similarly the amount produced per hour in either units or pounds. Since actual production time is a major factor in product cost, a variance from the assumed or optimum run rate can make a big difference in cost-of-goods and profit.

But running faster than normal may not always be good if the result is lower yield or a higher scrap rate. So tracking rejects is also very important. And reject tracking should be as real-time as possible. The sooner a quality problem is detected, the sooner corrections can be made and fewer bad parts will be made.

Even though raw material cost is typically a relatively small component of cost-of-goods, availability is critical running out of material before the required quantity is produced can be disastrous. Acquisition and maintenance of raw material are tied to forecast or backlog, and usage rate. If the usage rate is incorrect, there is risk of material shortage. In addition, an inaccurate usage assumption in the recipe or bill-of-material can lead to incorrect pricing and misleading margin assumptions.

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Monitoring actual material usage validates bill-of-material assumptions and provides insight into actual usage including start-up losses and normal scrap all information that can be used to refine costing and material management. Monitoring of usage in real-time may also provide early warning of process problems that can lead to rejects or operational problems.

It may sound complicated to continually watch multiple factors at multiple resources, but in fact, continuous measurement and reporting are much simpler it sounds. Technology gathers the detailed information and does the initial assessment by matching actual measurements against expectations and past experience. Only deviations or unexpected results are immediately communicated to responsible individuals for follow-up or further investigation. Accumulated information is always available, of course, for study and performance improvement efforts. Contrast that with the need to respond to a quality problem, production delay or cost overrun after the fact without any hint as to the source and location of the problem.

The Titanic had its unfortunate encounter with the hidden underside of the iceberg at a time when radar, sonar and modern navigation and communications did not yet exist. A sinking caused by an iceberg encounter is unimaginable today simply due to the technology available and in use in all ocean-going vessels. Plastics manufacturers have access to the equivalent of sonar and radar for monitoring activities and resources in the plant that can reveal the existence and even the emerging possibility of hidden perils like an unexpected variance in run rate, change in scrap or yield, or unusual material usage. Smart management will use these signals to proactively fine tune performance to reduce scrap, lower costs, improve on-time completion, and preserve margin.

Source: Cyframe.com

Our Comment:

BALANCED+ has extensive expertise in developing software to collect information on physical quantities and monitor production in plastics manufacturing. You can learn more about by reading our case study on Nuform which you can click here to read