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Supply Chain Masters very successful

On the 5th of June 2008, the ex KLM Boeing 747 stationed et the Aviodrom in Lelystad, the Netherlands, was the venue for the Supply Chain Masters event on transportation with the subtitle of 'Trust and Transparency in the Supply Chain'. On opening the event, chairman Rens de Jong of Business News Radio said that “in the world of flying, everything revolves around trust and transparency”. The event was organized by TruEconomy Consulting in co-operation with Supply Chain Magazine.

“KLM built trust by having a good track record”, according to de Jong. He claims that trust is easily lost and that transparency is essential in building trust. “But do you want to be completely transparent?” An altered flight safety card showing what really would be happening in a plane crash, is highly transparent but will not build trust.

Dr. Larry Lapide

Dr. Larry Lapide of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center of Transportation and Logistics in the US, gave an inspiring insight in the actual MIT project 2020 in which possible future supply chains are developed. “American companies are not interested in the year 2020 nor in the future”, Lapide said with cynicism. Six macro factors, among them demographic aging and oil prices, are used in the three future scenarios the research group is working on.

Joep Schrijvers Joep Schrijvers, author of the bestseller ‘How do I become a rat?’ presented his views on the three generations of check in society. “The first generation was characterized by the traditional cycle of measurement and interventions. During the second generation, institutes were established checking up on the monitors taking the measurements. The current third generation consists of a network in which all objects deliver information”. As an example of system idiocy, Schrijvers mentioned an event that took place in Amsterdam. Amsterdam trams had to stick to their schedule. As a result, there was no time for the trams to stop for passengers and they drove around empty.

In the duo-presentation by Sijtze IJkema of Friesland Foods and Gerbert de Vries of Bidon Logistics, it became clear that both parties have an open communication with each other and are pen for criticism. In the 2003-2005 time frame, the co-operation was aimed at cutting cost. After that period, the focus shifted towards the building of a long term relationship. “Traditional tendering and tough negotiating with shippers belong to the past” said de Vries. Friesland Foods and Bidon have an indefinite contract but can be terminated on a year’s notice. They look upon it as a marriage more than a business contract.

Onno Meij, managing director of Ceva Logistics Benelux and France, focussed in his presentation on the internal change processes after Ceva spun off from TNT. He pursues an ethnic and open company culture by an honest and open communication focussed on the Ceva people. “When people are going in the right direction, the business will follow”, according to Meij. To create internal trust, it is essential to display management by example. “How can I trust someone if that person cannot trust me?” The event was very well received by an interesting audience of Supply Chain professionals. TruEconomy and Supply Chain Magazine have again displayed high quality in organizing this event that received high ratings.