BRINK’S GLOBAL SERVICES SINGAPORE
Global innovation facilitates regional sustainability
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or the best part of 30 years, Brink’s has operated its globallyrenowned and marketleading secure logistics services in Singapore, the city-state acting as a hub for a wider region at the forefront of fintech innovation. Expanding and diversifying its reach since inception in the region in 1989, Brink’s can now boast three branches - at Enterprise One, Northstar and FreePort - and with a fourth ATMfocused facility at Tai Seng, the business has never been better equipped to live up to its industry-first billing. At present, its 264-strong workforce, its 32 - and ever-expanding - strong fleet of secure vehicles, and soon-tobe four vaults affirms this reality of market dominance; and its extensive presence has been rewarded aptly over the years by attaining contracts with the likes of Singapore Exchange, International Commodities Exchange, and DBS Bank. “By blending more than 155 years of global risk management experience with new technologies and operating systems, Brink’s can offer marketleading solutions to drive efficiency while enhancing safety and security within every client’s business,” Country Manager for Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, Baskaran Narayanan said back in 2016 when attributing Brink’s success in the region.
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apore Country Manager Baskaran Narayanan, Sing
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AND PROFITABILITY
Brink’s Global Services Singapore is taking logistics to a new level via a host of technological innovations that will see man and machine work in more secure harmony than ever before Writer: Matthew Staff Project Manager: Tom Cullum
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PT ADVANTAGE SCM
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T Advantage SCM is a leading cash management Company in Indonesia, established in November 2004, offering cash and valuables management services. In partnering with Brink’s Global Services (BGS), we have become an established presence in servicing their operations across Indonesia, with a network of 31 full-branches and 21 service outlets, located in 50 cities. As a part of our cargo business, the Company services national and multinational banks and other companies including mining companies on their valuables logistics such as bank notes, gold bars, jewellery and silver. T +6221 3802469 E +cargo@advantagescm.com
www.advantagescm.com Significant growth in ATM management
“Many Singapore-based corporations operating within the valuable sectors have benefited from Brink’s renowned ability to provide the most innovative and efficient end-to-end logistics solutions spanning such a vast range of markets. “Our technological expertise means we can provide additional asset management services while increasing operational efficiencies across our customers’ ATM network.” Over the course of 2015, the number of ATM machines under Brink’s management increased three-fold, epitomising the level of continuous improvement and expansion strived for within the Group. And this focus was heightened even further in 2016 where the number doubled once again. Narayanan added: “We have grown quite significantly in both the ATM and end-to-end cash management areas, which includes picking up branch and
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Many Singaporebased corporations operating within the valuable sectors have benefited from Brink’s renowned ability to provide the most innovative and efficient end-to-end logistics solutions...
retail cash, and integrating that into our overall cash solutions portfolio.” He adds: “2016 saw us grow the ATM side of the business once more to confirm our position as the leader in Singapore; taking 100 percent of the service market. “Additionally, our new facility at Tai Seng has been built purely to manage cash within and out of Singapore, and we are also seeing expanding and new trends like Singapore becoming a strong hub for precious metals. “We have therefore, across the market, managed to form a stable service on the side of gold, silver and foreign currencies. Adapting to these kinds of trends enforces our overall emphasis which continues to be on business growth and profitability.”
Continuous improvement
The wider Group’s ability to provide market-leading innovative solutions to diverse multi-market environments, while constantly looking to enhance
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Cash Management Services ATM REPLENISHMENT / CARGO SERVICE / CASH IN TRANSIT / CASH PROCESSING
Headquarters: Jalan Cideng Barat No. 48 – 49 Central Jakarta 10150, Indonesia Phone: +6221-3802469 Fax: +6221-3805762, +6221-3522033 Email: cargo@advantagescm.com www.advantagescm.com
both reporting and security within their respective supply chains, has been a leading factor in its successful expansion to more than 100 countries. This has seen Brink’s secure a marketleading position within the region for currency movements. “We are the market leader across
Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia leveraging our international knowledge and experience, and delivering the highest levels of customer service for valuable storage, cash processing and distribution both domestically and across the region,” Narayanan said.
Brink’s has successfully expanded into more than 100 countries
Complementing the rapidly rising financial operation, other sectors falling under Brink’s’ remit - both globally and, by proxy, in Southeast Asia - include mining, diamond dealers, jewellery, manufacturing, printing, government operations, airlines, technology and precious metals. Across each of these sectors, Brink’s’ renowned portfolio of services are available, spanning secure logistics, walk-in service centres, trade show services, evaluation centres, storage services, inventory management, customs clearance, brokerage, currency processing and warehousing to name just a select few. And across each of these parameters, increasing profit margins are an ever-present year-on-year, epitomising not just the level of services being offered externally, but also the continuous improvement that occurs internally, behind the scenes. “Our continuous improvement is based on this ambition of good
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operating profit margins, and comprises five steps,” Narayanan explains. “Step one revolves around cultural and management change as well as increased productivity; step two includes the efficient utilisation of resources, fleet enhancement, and more efficient route planning; and step three focuses on price negotiation and customer services, especially the formulation of positive partnerships with our clients.” Step four continues along this theme in as far as maximising resources and converting its facility into a 24-seven operation for the good of the end consumer. “And step five,” Narayanan concludes, “is to prove our worth in the market, something which has been achieved via a successful pilot project with DBS Bank and accelerated growth across our ATM network from 10 percent market share, to 100 percent”.
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Tested, reviewed and proven
Optimising the wider Brink’s Group’s market-leading reputation and services within the context of an Asia-Pacific market is something that Singapore Global Services has successfully balanced over its 28 years since inception; its robust domestic operations ensuring both global expertise and local differentiation. “Other market differentiators come in abundance, both as a consequence of the Company’s international reputation and its clear local capabilities, stemming all the way from pricing, to compliance levels, to customer collaboration,” Narayanan stated. “As an international Company we are able to bring in our technical knowhow and introduce technologies, while our experience in being a market leader is applied very well in the Singapore market. Beyond that, the brand name alone carries so much weight for us in the industry.”
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This technical knowhow is currently being planned for across a number of new innovations, venturing away from its conventional style to adopt highspeed machines, and more integrated systems. “The introduction of the TFS Cash Management System in Singapore is one example we’re looking to implement this year, integrating with CIT (cash in transit) businesses by firstly installing the TFS cash deposit machine (CDM); then connecting it to the TFS cloud system; then the CIT picks up and takes it back to the cash centre for processing; before the cash is deposited into the designated bank account,” Narayanan details. “This new system has been tested, reviewed and proven and will completely transform retailers’ cash handling.” Further evidence of Brink’s foray into forward-thinking technologies includes its managed services centre which facilitates real-time monitoring of its
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CIT operations, as well as more efficient pickups and the option of provisional credit. Once again in collaboration with DBS Bank, the Company’s strive to innovate on a continuous basis ensures that it not only retains its marketleading status, but does so in a way that reassures the surrounding financial sector of its sustainability in the longterm.
automated robotic arm; compounding the manual operator’s role of replenishing empty cassettes, removing filled ones, and sealing the lids. With human input and employee optimisation an equally pivotal part of the Brink’s ethos, this harmony between man and machine would form the crux of the Company’s long-term strategy in the region. Narayanan said: “We are always looking to diversify and expand in new areas and we see Singapore as a hub for the sector that we can really have a positive influence on. Similarly, in Malaysia and Indonesia, we will be looking into more security solutions; leveraging the good work we have done in addressing this big issue in Singapore to meet the same demand in these two countries.” To facilitate such expansions, the Company has embarked upon a series of investments in its fleet of vehicles, as well as into its premises to ensure it can
Long-term, sustainable future
Automated robotic cassette management is yet another example of this ongoing diversification in line with what its core clients need both now and ahead of time; and is being explored at present from a future viability perspective. As part of this technological progress, the process of TU and cassette verification, place-stacking of bank notes, and the removal and replenishment of cassettes would be carried out by an
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meet the demands put upon Brink’s, both internally and by its customers; all of which will gear the business up for further sustained success in the future. These are epitomised by the Company’s SWOT analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats; which highlight what the business does well within a Singaporean context, and what challenges there are to still overcome moving forward. “In terms of our future investments and innovations, we are already seeing currency equipment automation and robotic cassette management ahead of time, while things like retail CDM enhancement and FOREX dispensers are in the pipeline in the future too,” Narayanan adds. “We are fully committed to keeping this region sustainable in terms of its growth. As a niche player we have many, many future opportunities to realise, and the foundations are in place to build a long-term, sustainable future.”
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BRINK’S SINGAPORE PTE LTD 1 Kaki Bukit Road 1 #02-33 Enterprise One Singapore 415 934 T: +65 6286 7666 E: brinks_singapore@bringksglobal.com
www.brinkssingapore.com.sg
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