Coles Group guest speaker for November SCLAA NSW breakfast

Peter Quine, Business Program Director, Supply Chain Systems, Coles Group will discuss his organisation’s Supply Chain Transformation program at the November SCLAA NSW breakfast which will be held on Thursday 15^th November at the WaterView Convention Centre, Homebush. 

One of the biggest Supply Chain projects to have ever been run in Australia, the transformation of the Coles Supply Chain has included the building and opening of 5 Distribution Centres within a six month time frame, the implementation and integration of a wide array of business systems and a significant change management initiative.

Register now for the SCLAA NSW breakfast to find out about some of the key learnings in the execution of this successful project and apply them to your next major change management endeavour.

To book your attendance simply email nsw@sclaa.com.au or log on to www.sclaa.com.au 

Supply Chains have the ability to ‘cut across the grain’ for shippers

The roles logistics and supply chains play in a corporate environment is one which cuts “across the grain” and ultimately plays a large role in customer satisfaction, which is the leading indicator of a company’s success, according to Carly Fiorina, former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard.

Speaking at the Council of Supply Chain Management’s (CSCMP) Annual Conference, she detailed how supply chain operations were arranged when she arrived at HP in 1999 and how they evolved between that time and when she left the technology giant in 2005. In 1999, she said that HP was comprised of 87 disparate units, each with its own supply chain.

With so many supply chains in place, she noted that it seemed difficult to understand how this type of set-up could not work, as human nature interceded, and each unit viewed its presence as protecting their “own turf.”

She explained how over time HP reduced its 85 supply chains down to five, which saved the company $1 billion annually on logistics and supply chain costs and improved purchasing power as well. To build a world-class supply chain, companies often run into a lot of internal resistance and need to change what is available to them. She said this change requires a holistic approach that thinks through strategy, culture, process, and methods.

Global airfreight volume to grow to 36m tonnes

Air freight volume worldwide is set to grow to 36m tonnes within five years, representing an annual growth rate of less than 5% according to new forecasts by IATA (International Air Transport Association). Freight, however, will be affected by lower economic growth, with annual average global growth rates of 4.8%.

As to be expected, the driver of traffic will be operations in and out of Asia-Pacific with a growth rate of 5.4%. Both Europe and North America will show lower than the average growth rates at 4.3% and 3.9% respectively. Within Europe however, Central and Eastern Europe will show buoyant growth of between 6 to 8%. These projections are largely based on extrapolations from existing trends combined with assumptions about future levels of macro-economic growth. They do point to certain mis-matches between passenger and freight which will also affect the market.

Dubai key plank in global logistics growth

Dubai, the commercial capital of the United Arab Emirates, has become a catalyst in the transformation of the Middle East logistics industry into a vital global voice, said Michael Proffitt, CEO of Dubai Logistics City (DLC) on the eve of the FIATA (International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations) World Congress 2007 opening, an annual gathering of the worldwide logistics and freight forwarding fraternity being held this year at Dubai’s Grand Hyatt from October 18-22. The event is held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai and will be opened by HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman Dubai Aviation Corporation – Dubai World Central.

Shanghai ports up 21%

Shanghai ports had $378.17 billion in foreign trade in the first three quarters of this year. That is up 20.9% on the same period of last year. The total included $238.5 billion in export value, up 22.8%, and $139.68 billion dollars in import value, up 17.8%. September was the big month with figures reaching $17.63 billion dollars in September, up 15% year-on-year.

The two major trade partners between January and September were, unusually enough, the Republic of Korea and the European Union. In the nine months bilateral trade between Shanghai and the European Union ports amounted to $81.88 billion, or 21.7% of Shanghai’s total external trade volume, up 30.2%. The growth rate was 9.3 percentage points higher than the year-earlier level.

Qantas buys DPEX Worldwide

The Qantas Group announced today that it had acquired 100 per cent of the Asia-based express freight operator, DPEX Worldwide.

Qantas Executive General Manager Freight Enterprises Grant Fenn said the investment in DPEX, whose worldwide network included 18 countries across Asia, represented an important development for Qantas Freight Enterprises.

“The DPEX Worldwide acquisition will provide us with an exciting opportunity to enter the Asian express market and significantly expand our footprint in the region,” he said.

“This is a high-growth market that complements Qantas’ focus on Asian air freight and our Australian express operations and provides a great building block for expansion and growth.” Mr Fenn said that the purchase of DPEX Worldwide followed the successful acquisition of 37.5 per cent of the DPEX franchisee in China on 30 May 2007.

He said that the CEO of DPEX Worldwide, Mr Donald Tay would continue to lead the business.

First African Logistics centre in Tianjin

China’s first African logistics terminal, which is seen as an important development in Sino-Africa trade relations, has opened in Tianjin, north China’s biggest port city. The Tianjin Port GMT Africa International Logistics Terminal, located in the Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone, covers an area of 60,000 square metres including a 5,500-square-metre warehouse. The terminal will deal with Sino-Africa imports and exports. Trade between China and Africa has witnessed rapid development in recent years. Statistics show Sino-Africa trade volume brought in $55.5 billion in 2006, up 40% over the same period of 2005. Sino-African trade volume through Tianjin port reached 3.36 million tons in 2006, up 63.3%.

Challenges to multiply as China Supply Chain extends inland

WHILE beneficial to billions of people, the China trade surge has created unprecedented complexity, additional costs and potential choke points in thousands of international supply chains that touch the country, APL Logistics president Brian Lutt told a conference in Shenzen last week. Speaking at the First Transpacific Marine Asia Conference, Lutt said these challenges would be magnified as China looked to spread wealth beyond the coast. “Getting products to market from China quickly, reliably and cost-effectively already keeps logistics providers and their customers up at night,” he said. “But the main production and consumption zones are still clustered in the east of the country. “So, the challenges we face today will be multiplied many times once China’s vast hinterland is unlocked.” On transportation infrastructure, Lutt commended the Chinese Government’s forward planning, fast decision-making and committed program of investment. “While the rest of the world failed to anticipate the speed of the production shift and build sufficient capacity, China has put money and minds to the task of staying ahead of trade demand growth,” he said. “China has recognised that transportation infrastructure is closely linked to its future economic and social prosperity.” Lutt said China had been particularly successful in developing its container ports, but pointed out that China’s 11th Five Year Plan (2006-2010) outlined ambitious initiatives to develop its roads and railways. For example, there were plans to introduce dedicated container traffic corridors and double-stack trains throughout China to increase the flow of products within the country and the east coast for export. But Lutt said building infrastructure was only part of the solution to China’s challenges. “From a container logistics perspective, this additional road and rail capacity must be matched by precise connectivity with ocean transportation and other value-added logistics services,” he said. “Without this connectivity and integration, supply chains will falter.” He said there was an opportunity for China to draw on the knowledge and expertise of international transportation and logistics players to create a world-class and highly integrated inland transportation system to match its ports. He also suggested that China’s outsourced logistics, already valued at around US$140 billion, is set to grow substantially as the country’s supply chain moves further inland. “Players who have a range of ways to take products from China’s interior and transport them quickly to domestic or international destinations, while completing all the value-added logistics services along the way, are set to make the biggest gains,” Lutt said. He outlined to the conference several strategies that companies were implementing in China to achieve supply chain connectivity, reliability, and speed to market. These included time-definite ocean-truck services that offered speed to market with the guarantees of airfreight, but were for regular shipment, not just emergencies. Further information available on SupplyChainLogisticsNews

250 people came out to help launch SCLAA NSW

Friday the 28^th of September represented a most significant milestone for the Supply Chain & Logistics Association of Australia as it was the inaugural event for SCLAA NSW. 

With close to 250 people in attendance to show their support for the SCLAA, the breakfast function exceeded all expectations for an inaugural event. 

SCLAA NSW identified a fresh new venue – the WaterView Convention Centre, a healthy breakfast and lakeside views for their launch. Steve MacPherson, National President and David Doherty CEO of the SCLAA co-hosted the function. 

Prof. John Gattorna, author of Living Supply Chains, was the guest speaker for the morning and spoke about ‘people powering contemporary high-performance supply chains’. His presentation provided a suggested approach, and demonstrated best and worst practice, examples from around the world.  

The new SCL Job Board for the SCLAA was officially launched, in conjunction with SupplyChainJobz. The SCJ Job Board has been designed to provide the industry with one-point-of-call when looking for, or placing jobs, across Australia.   

According to Steve MacPherson, National President of the SCLAA, “the overwhelming response to the SCLAA and SCL Job Board launch in Sydney was a gratifying endorsement of the SCLAA Partners Program.”  

“The approach of the SCLAA is to facilitate the efforts of like-minded organisations seeking to pursue their goals in mutually beneficial activities, to the benefit of SCL Professionals and Practitioners who are the members of the Association and the industry as a whole,” 

“The SCLAA can not thank their partners enough – Logistics Recruitment, Manhattan Associates, SupplyChainJobz – who worked with the SCLAA to organise the event, to Prof. John Gattorna for being our guest speaker and by no means last to the 250 people who came out and showed their support of the SCLAA. The SCLAA look forward to the next event in Sydney, on Coles Supply Chain, and then on to the 2007 ASCLA Awards event in Melbourne on the 22^nd of November.” Mr MacPherson said. 

“It was our pleasure to co-sponsor the SCLAA launch in Sydney. The event featuring John Gattorna’s presentation on Living Supply Chains and the launch of the new SCL job board was a great success and we congratulate all involved in hosting the event. Logistics Recruitment has been sponsoring industry events via it’s business units based in Amsterdam, Dubai, Shanghai, Singapore and throughout Australia since 1999 – and this event was one of the highest quality we have been involved with anywhere. It was great to see so many senior executives enjoying the networking event at the WaterView Convention Centre.” Kim Winter, Group Managing Director, Logistics Recruitment – Worldwide. 

“The SCLAA launch breakfast in Sydney was a fantastic event that Manhattan Associates were proud to be a part of. Not only was John Gattorna’s presentation relevant and interesting, but the venue was great and the overall atmosphere was buzzing – we are definitely looking forward to the next one.” Jennifer Noonan, Marketing Manager, Manhattan Associates. 

“The board of directors would like to thank the board of SCLAA for partnering with SupplyChainJobz and we look forward to a strong mutually beneficially relationship.” Phillip Parsons, Chairman, SupplyChainJobz. 

SCLAA NSW is a division of what was once known as the Logistics Association of Australia in VIC, SA, QLD and WA which was re-named to the SCLAA in November 2006. The SCLAA is run for Members by Members. 

For more information on how you can join the SCLAA in NSW and become a member of a truly national association for Supply Chain & Logistics professionals and practitioners email nsw@sclaa.com.au or log on to www.sclaa.com.au