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Managing Assets for the Most Expensive Olympic Event to Date

The 2014 Winter Olympics, hosted in Sochi, Russia, will involve fifteen events over the course of 17 days. Hosting the 22nd Winter Olympics is no simple task: throughout this time there will be a tremendous volume of construction, utility routing, infrastructure maintenance, and asset management challenges to be handled. With waste and corruption in Russia being a significant threat, and the Sochi, Russia project itself costing the country $51 billion, proper asset management becomes an essential component to the process. The 2014 Winter Olympics will be the most expensive Olympic event to date and is estimated to have over 80 nations in attendance.

Managing assets through customs and into Russia

There will be a tremendous volume of materials brought into Russia for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Skis, bobsleds, electronics, training equipment, and more will all need to pass through Russian customs, be stored appropriately, and be sent back to their originating countries. Customs management into Russia depends largely on how the items are transported, the goods transported, and from where the items are transported. All customs regulations should be thoroughly reviewed and followed to ensure there are no delays or additional fines regarding transportation. If possible, items should be sent in advance.

Types of assets moving into Russia

A large volume of the assets moving into Russia are not Olympic equipment, sports training equipment, or professional equipment but rather marketing materials, promotional goods, consumable items, gifts, and other similar items. The 2014 Winter Olympics will be an incredible marketing platform, and thus a large volume of items will be shipped and will require tracking. There are many merchandising and marketing opportunities during the games and most of these goods will be imported rather than locally sourced.

Asset management challenges in Russia

With widespread corruption now plaguing the region, asset management becomes even more difficult. Not only do assets need to be tracked as they enter and exit the country, but owners and managers need to be certain the assets will be safe throughout the 17 days of the event itself. It becomes necessary to verify the presence of the assets at every turn and to constantly check they have reached their destinations. Not only do large items, such as sports equipment, need to be tracked but smaller items, such as merchandising materials, need to be both tracked and verified by quantity. This is an incredible enterprise that, without the proper tools, may ultimately lead to theft and loss. This is especially true if goods are transferred early on, as they will need to be stored. Applying traditional asset management techniques Barcode systems and related inventory and logistics solutions are the easiest ways to track large volumes of inventory going in and out of Russia. This type of solution is ideal for both those that have expensive items they need to track and those that have small, lesser value items that need to be handled. Barcodes can be used to streamline the process of verifying inventory throughout the events and could be tied into inventory and asset management solutions, like Wasp’s Asset Management software and Inventory Control systems. These inventory and asset systems would be of further utility for those that are selling consumer goods at the games or those that are giving out promotional materials: items could be tracked as they are given out or as they are sold, along with profits. The 2014 Winter Olympics offer significant asset management challenges for those bringing assets into the games. Everything brought into Russia needs to pass through customs both ways. Participants in the games may have expensive items of equipment they need to bring in, while vendors will have large volumes of merchandise that need to either be given out or sold. Either way, asset and inventory management is absolutely essential; especially in an area that is known for corruption and other related complications. If you missed the first part in this series, check out Sochi Olympics Security & Regulations Will Complicate Logistics.