Standards Accelerator
Meet the latest addition to TAPA EMEA’s professional team, Panayiotis Laimos, to support Association’s goal to build on the strong growth in demand for its Security Standards.
All three TAPA EMEA supply chain security standards saw a double-digit growth in 2022.
Facility Security Requirements (FSR) jumped 18% year-over-year to 998 certifications across the Europe, Middle East & Africa region as more companies increased their use of the TAPA Standard to protect warehouse and distribution centre operations.
Across EMEA, over 18,000 trucks are now operated by companies with Trucking Security Requirements (TSR) certifications. There are now 267 TSR-certified operators in the region, up 24% over 2021.
Demand is also growing for TAPA EMEA’s Parking Security Requirements (PSR) with 87 truck parking sites in 15 countries – Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Parking Place Operators with TAPA-certified sites, as well as those which have signed a TAPA EMEA PSR Partnership Declaration, now offer over 9,200 parking place.
In 2023, and beyond, the Association aims to expand the number and reach of all three Standards and is now adding to its Standards & Training Team resources to support its growth goals.
This month, TAPA EMEA welcomed another new recruit to its professional Standards Team, Panayiotis Laimos. Pana is already very well-known to TAPA EMEA members having previously spent 17 years with G4S, where he undertook several top managerial positions in EMEA, leading activities such as Cash Security, Supply Chain Security, Telematics and AMICs, and Environmental and Technical Projects.
Pana has also served in a voluntary capacity as a long-term TAPA EMEA trainer and member of the EMEA Standards Team, working on updates to the FSR, TSR and PSR Standards and training materials as well as delivering training courses. At the invitation of the European Commission (DG MOVE), he has also spent four years as a member of the Civilian Experts Group on the Commission’s Safe and Secure Truck Parking Areas (SSTPA) Standard development.
“We are delighted to welcome Pana to the professional team at TAPA EMEA. He is a highly respected and award-winning authority in the field of Corporate and High Value Supply Chain Security. Over the last 12 years, he has been working on Facilities and Road Transportation Security Risk Assessment and Optimisation and developed a prototype methodology that supports manufacturers, 3/4PLs and carriers to identify the residual security and safety risks and implement appropriate mitigation measures. He has also completed numerous facilities and transportation security audits and provided valuable guidance towards the selection and application of preventive and corrective measures. He will be a great asset to us as we support our members’ TAPA Standards’ certification programmes. Further, he will be our main contact with regards to connecting the dots between our PSR 2023 Standard and the EC SSTPA programme and connected options to support members and Parking Place Operators on EC funding solutions,” said Markus Prinz, Senior Manager, Standards & Training, TAPA EMEA.
Pana is also looking forward to the value he can bring to this new role.
“I am a long-term practitioner of Supply Chain Security and Resilience, and it is my strong belief that the TAPA Standards have established a global threshold in this area, by excelling in two areas: the straightforward way of presenting the requirements and the ease of their understanding and application.
“TAPA EMEA’s goal is to optimise the use of the Association’s Standards to support the resilience of its members’ supply chains. One of my important tasks is to further improve the organisation and delivery of training. Personally, one of my first tasks has been to compare the PSR Standard with the European Commission’s SSTPA and to align these two standards to support the growth of secure parking in our region. I shall also be available to support members’ questions on the applications of the Standards as well as presenting best practices.”
He is also confident that if more companies took time to study and understand the TAPA Standards, they would realise they are already actually quite close to becoming TAPA-certified.
“Sometimes companies are overwhelmed by their day-to-day operations. They apply a lot of the requirements to defend themselves against supply chain criminals. If they find the time to consistently evaluate the measures they are already using, they might reach the pleasant outcome that they are very close to the TAPA Standards’ requirements. This is another issue that training can be very helpful with,” he added.
