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Revolutionizing Your Supply Chain Planning

Processes are disconnected because their supply chain planning has grown up in a siloed manner, says John Sicard, president and CEO of Kinaxis. Consequently, it’s futile to follow that model and think you can optimize the supply chain one link at a time.

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SDW Recruitment Ltd

Since SDW Recruitment commenced trading in 2002, SDW Recruitment has established itself within the industry as one of the major providers of experienced shipping, forwarding, supply chain and logistics personnel throughout the UK.

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Supply Chain

How AI and automation could impact supply chain roles

Article | May 22, 2023

Innovations such as AI and automation have been tipped to kickstart the Fourth Revolution. While the technology is being widely adopted, it is constantly evolving. Therefore, there is uncertainty surrounding its overall impact, particularly on professional roles within the supply chain. Some fear that the technology will replace its human counterparts, while other experts suggest it will work in unison with humans, supporting them to focus on higher value opportunities. Amidst all of this uncertainty one thing is for certain: AI and automation will change how we operate.

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Transportation

3 Ways to Benchmark to Boost Supply Chain Performance

Article | April 26, 2023

You might be wondering what the benefits are of benchmarking. Well, imagine you are training for a 100 metre sprint in your district. What would be the key number, or metric that you would need to know? It would, of course, be what the winning time was when this race was last run in your district. Without that information, you don’t know what you’re trying to target. It would be impossible to know if you’ll have any chance at all of winning the race. It’s exactly the same in business. If, for example, you are concerned about the pick rates in your warehouse, or your transport costs, or your inventory accuracy, benchmarking can help you because it can show you exactly where your performance is compared to others in your industry. A few years ago, I was working with an automotive parts business. They had a little issue with their picking productivity in the warehouse. They wondered how good it was, whether they could improve it. They actually thought it was okay. We looked at the figures and compared them with other businesses. This helped us realise that their picking productivity should be three times better than it was. And believe it or not, over a few months they did begin to improve their productivity. Why? Because benchmarking opened their eyes to the fact that they were at a level quite far below others in the industry. That’s the beauty of benchmarking. Until you know what others are doing, you can’t be sure how good your performance is. If you’ve never tried benchmarking, there are three ways you could do it. 1. Informal Benchmarking This exercise would involve you measuring particular functions or aspects of your business and comparing that against other parts of your business. Let’s say you have a warehouse operating in one city and another operating in another city. You might start to measure the same metrics and see which one is performing better. You might know other people in the industry who are also operating warehouses so you might agree to share some data with them. This is probably the easiest way to start off, but it has some downsides: You’re only measuring against a very small sample size. If all of you in the pool are not that good, how would you know what good is? You have to make sure that the businesses are similar and you are measuring things in exactly the same way. It’s very important in benchmarking to have a standard way of applying the metric. 2. Formal Benchmarking This can work for much larger businesses. Perhaps you have operations in many different countries. You could agree a formal structure for how you are going to measure performance. You could do monthly or quarterly benchmarks with all the parts of your international organisation. You could learn from each other and share best practice. This method is okay but you’re not getting access to a very large pool of results to measure yourself against. You will find that companies are very reluctant to give out benchmarking data. You might also be operating in an environment where the performance is quite low right across the business. 3. Hire a Professional Benchmarking Firm This is the ultimate way to do it, although there are not a lot of professional benchmarking firms such as ours around. If you do manage to find one, you will quickly realise that there are significant benefits to be had by bringing in the professionals: The metrics are put together in exactly the same way: When we do a benchmarking exercise for our consulting clients, we go through a very robust data-gathering process and then make sure all the costs, for example, are in the same buckets as everyone else’s in the database. You gain access to a big pool of results: Professionals have measured hundreds, if not thousands, of companies. This enables you to say, ‘Our company is this size, it operates in this industry, these are the characteristics of our supply chain, who else in that pool of results is like us? We want to be measured against them.” It’s no good measuring the performance of a grocery retailer, for example, against an industrial product supplier. They have different supply chains. You need to be measuring like with like.

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Supply Chain

A New Mobility Landscape Is Coming (but not fully yet)

Article | May 26, 2023

A sector which has been heavily disrupted in the last years is the mobility sector. Following decades of "car being king", we have reached a saturation and mentality shift. People want to be more healthy and more ecological (sustainable) and also avoid losing precious time in traffic jams. As a result a whole eco-system of companies has been created to find solutions for this. This article tries to provide an overview of the trends in this market, with a focus on the Belgian market. First of all when looking at mobility and the offers on the market it is important to make a distinction between private and professional displacements. This last category can additionally be split up between the daily commute and professional displacements during working hours. When looking at private mobility (the so-called B2C market), the car remains an important pilar. Especially for families with (young) children it remains difficult to do everything without a car. Obviously, there is a trend to be more sustainable, which is reflected in more sales of hybrid and electric vehicles, more usage of (e)bikes and (e)steps and an increasing usage of shared mobility options (like shared bikes, steps or cars). Statistics from China, which is already the furthest in the post-Covid era, show that most mobility options have lost terrain (compared to pre-Covid), with the exception of the car and bike. The car, although still not very sustainable, is still the most flexible and has the least chance for contamination. Especially the flexibility will become more important as office hours also become more flexible. Additionally due to the increased home working, in some cities traffic jams have considerably reduced, making room again for more people to switch back from public transport to their car. Additionally there is the bike. This is a very flexible, individual, healthy and sustainable mode of transportation that many have discovered during the crisis. Furthermore with ebikes becoming more and more common, bigger distances can be covered without needing to be in excellent physical shape. The professional mobility (i.e. B2B(2C) market) is however even more in evolution, as governments provide all kinds of fiscal incentives to change the mobility habits of employees and employers. Furthermore employers want to offer more flexibility (in working hours, in working location and in mobility options) and less administrative burden to their employees, allow them to profit from those fiscal incentives (resulting in an increased buying power) and become more sustainable. As a result a variety of new offers to be more flexible and optimally profit of those extra-legal advantages has come to the market. This makes it very complex for an employer to find his way in this tangle. Obviously, every company is unique, with multiple axes determining which mobility options are possible and best suited for the company: The location of the company, i.e. Is the company situated in a city with a lot of mobility difficulties (traffic jams)? Is the company situated near public transport options? Is the company situated in a city where a lot of shared mobility options are available? Are the employees typically living close or far away from the company? Which kind of parking facilities does the company have? Does the company have multiple offices geographically spread over the country? The type of work done at the company, i.e. Does the work require physical presence at a specific location (i.e. time- and location-dependent work)? Is remote work possible? Does the work require a lot of displacements to customers (and/or partners, suppliers…) during working hours? The type of employees working at the firm, i.e. Are the employees typically living close or far away from the company? What is the age distribution of the employees within the company (e.g. lot of young people, lot of employees with children…)? How strong is the war for talent for the desired employees, forcing the employer to offer a lot of extra advantages to attract people? The size of the company, i.e. a bigger company has the means to setup more complex mobility plans/options, as they often have dedicated people within HR specialized in these setups. This makes it difficult to define a "one-solution-that-fits-all" approach, but rather a more tailored approach is required, with some degree of customization per customer. Some examples: Promoting commuting by bike via bike leasing and a bike allowance is mainly interesting for companies with employees not living too far away from the company and not requiring doing customer or other professional displacements during working hours. Additionally it depends on the profile of the employees and the safety of the trajectory between the home of the employees and the office. Note that 54% of Belgian employees does not want to use a bike to come to work, with the main reason people finding it too dangerous. At the other hand a similar percentage of employees indicates they would be very interested in options like bike leasing and bike allowances. Shared mobility options are of course only interesting in the bigger cities, where those options are also strongly available. As a result incorporating those options in a mobility plan does not make much sense when the employer is situated in a location where those options are (almost) not available. The same applies for "multi-modal transportation" (and the associated multi-modal route planners), which are also only interesting in the larger cities where multiple mobility options are readily available. Furthermore a company introducing this multi-modal mobility concept should be able to put a whole change management trajectory in place, as it requires discovering new mobility options and changing existing commute habits (for most employees the commute is a routine activity, which they do in "auto-pilot") Setting up a Cafeteria plan or Mobility budget can be quite complex, making the costs and effort, especially for smaller firms, not always outweigh the benefits. New digital solutions can provide a (partial) solution to this, but they typically do not take away the uncertainties for employers to deal with something they do not fully understand. Electric cars are still difficult for people doing large distances on a regular basis, due to their limited action radius and the too low number of charging stations (especially in the South of Belgium). On the other hand for companies where employees come to the office the whole day and that have the required space to setup charging stations, this can be a very interesting option both fiscally and ecologically. Collective organized transport is typically only economically viable for large companies, for which a large number of employees are coming from the same region. Platforms exist to manage this cross-employers, but this raises a number of other concerns and reduces the added-value. Options like "no-mobility" (i.e. home working) and "less-mobility" (flex-offices / co-working places) depend on the work culture and the type of work to be done. For some companies the shift to homeworking during the Covid-confinements was already a serious stretch, which will take years to get fully absorbed. Introducing new concepts like "flex-offices" (co-working places) is probably a bridge too far, especially as there is still a lot of unclarity of who will be paying (and what the fiscal implications are) for the office space (employee paying out of his mobility budget or employer paying) and even more for the added-services like drinks, snacks, catering… … In general employers have a big interest to do something around mobility, but when having to deal with all complexity (fiscal and operational concerns like policies, load administration…), many employers drop out. Employers fear especially all exceptions, as they often represent hidden costs and lot of extra effort. E.g. what happens if an employee leaves the company? What if someone is fired? What about the liability in case of accidents/theft/vandalism? What will be the exact total cost for me as an employer? How do I need to manage VAT? What is the exact value of benefit of all kind for the employee? Which proofs do I need to collect for the tax authorities? Does it fit with the agreements made in the collective labor agreement of the joint committee?… These questions mainly originate from the existing unclarities in the fiscal regime, which is due to the fact that many HR managers are not yet acquainted with these new offers, the fact that new mobility offers are created continuously (making it impossible for the government to stay up-to-date) and the continuous change in regulation (e.g. "Mobility Budget", "Company Car Legislation"…). This lack of maturity in the industry puts a break on the adoption and this maturation might take years to unfold. E.g. meal vouchers took 40 years to arrive to a market penetration of 50%, while this is a much simpler HR product than most mobility options. Until this maturity level is reached, resulting in more well-known, better integrated, more frictionless and cheaper offers, the traditional company mobility options of reimbursing public transport subscriptions and salary cars will remain mostly used. Those are still most widely known by HR managers, are fiscally still very interesting and fit well the needs and desires of most employees. This last argument is important, as no mobility option will become mainstream unless employees are happy with it. This means the mobility option should not only give a solution for "Professional displacements" but also for the "Private displacements" (in evenings, weekend, holidays…), often with the whole family. Nonetheless we see the market is maturing and transforming, as millions of euros of VC money are invested in promising new start-ups. Almost all of those start-ups are not profitable yet but given the market potential a few of them could grow out to become unicorns. Today’s students are more acquainted and open for these new mobility services, so likely some of them will become mainstream in the next decade. Today a whole eco-system of young start-ups and existing incumbent players are offering mobility services, like Car leasing companies: Alphabet, ALD Automotive, ING Lease, KBC Autolease, LeasePlan, ARVAL… Car rental companies: Sixt, Avis, Dockx, Hertz, Rent a car… Car sharing companies (in the form of cars that can be easily used for individual trips up to platforms facilitating sharing your private car or co-driving): Cambio, Poppy, Partago, Zipcar, Cozywheels, Getaround, Dégage, Share Now, Stapp.in, Tapazz, BlaBlaCar, Klaxit, TooGethr, Carpool (Mpact)… Taxi services: Uber, Wave-a-Cab, Taxi.eu, Heetch, Bolt, Free Now, Allocab… Bike leasing companies: Ctec, O2O, Joulebikes, KBC-Fietsleasing, B2Bike, Cyclis, Lease-a-bike, Cyclobility, Cycle Valley… (e)bike, (e)step and scooter sharing & renting: Lime, Dott, Bird, Felyx, Scooty, Villo!, Billy Bike, Mobit, Blue Bike, Swapfiets, Spinlister… Fuel card and Electric charging card issuing companies: Network Fuel Card, Modalizy, Fleetpass, Belgian Fuel Card (BFC), XXImo, EDI (Electric by D’Ieteren), New Motion, Plugsurfing, Blue Corner, Luminus, EVBOX, Cenergy, Eneco, Dats24, EV-Point,… Parking companies (either companies providing public parkings or platforms to share individual and company parkings): Yellowbrick, Indigo, QPark, BeMobile, BePark, Pasha, ParkOffice… Companies helping to define mobility plan and manage setup of policies and mobility plans/budgets: Social Secretariats (SD Worx, Partena, Securex, Acerta, Liantis…), Payflip, Mbrella, MaestroMobile (Espaces-Mobilités)… MaaS (Mobility as a Service) players: Modalizy, Skipr, Optimile, Olympus, Be-Mobile, MyMove, Vaigo (Eurides), Moveasy… (Inter-modal) Route planners: Google Maps, Coyote, Waze, Mappy, Jeasy, Skipr, Stoomlink… Co-working place companies (either companies providing co-working places or platforms allowing to reserve spaces over multiple co-working places): Bar d’Office, Workero, Cowallonia, Burogest, Regus, Welkin, Meraki, Frame 21, Fosbury & Sons, Start it, Coffice, Spaces, House of Innovation, Ampla House, WeWork, Betacowork, Startbloc, SilverSquare… Expense management solutions for local and international (mobility) expenses: Rydoo, XXImo, MobileXpense, N2F, Certify, SAP Concur, Travel Perk, Trippeo, SpenDesk, Splendid, Declaree, SRXP, Dicom, WebExpenses, Notilus, Expensify, ExpensePath, Abacus, ExpensePoint… It will be interesting to see which of those companies will still be around in 10 years (i.e. which of the start-up have sufficient funding to bridge the long-time gap to profitability) and to which form they have evolved. Clearly regular pivoting will be required as this market is in full evolution.

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Software and Technology, Transportation

What’s the Latest on EV Charging Infrastructure in Rural Areas?

Article | December 7, 2022

Contents 1. Accessing The State and Federal Benefits 2. A Learning Portal to Educate Rural Communities On EV Charging 3. The Significance of an Equitably Relevant EV Charging Network Electric Vehicles (EVs) are making waves in cities and are more than just the latest trend in transportation. With the advancement of the EV charging network and its deployment across urban areas, experts are asking what’s next and how this growth can be replicated in rural areas. 1. Accessing State and Federal Benefits Based in Oregon, Forth is an EV research and advocacy group that recently announced a partnership with General Motors to build grant templates that can help rural communities win and access state and federal grant money to build EV charging networks. The templates will be provided free of charge and cover 80% of a complete grant. Geoff Gibson, the senior program manager for Forth, believes this will give rural communities the impetus to seek out the grant money and get over the initial hurdle of framing a grant proposal. 2. A Learning Portal to Educate Rural Communities on EV Charging Forth also announced the slated launch of a learning portal that will address the lack of know-how on deploying a charging program for EVs. The portal will empower communities with not just the knowledge of implementing charging programs but also their significance and long-term impact on the community. The learning portal will tentatively go live in 2023 and will be free for local communities, counties, cities, and states, as well as community organizations. The program will be accessible for a year and could be further extended. According to Steve Lommele from the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, he reiterated the importance of building a national EV charging network. He states that this is the first time a major program has been put in place that covers all 50 states in the U.S., including Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. 3. The Significance of an Equitably Relevant EV Charging Network Deploying EV charging stations in rural areas has to be meaningful for the communities that will be using them. Forth’s Geoff Gibson emphasizes that the needs of the communities need to be given priority when designing the charging network. For instance, DC charging or charging that is publicly accessible should be preferred at trailheads. EVs as part of our transport in the future is inevitable and charging networks and program need to be prioritized to ensure all communities are able to access its benefits equally.

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Supply Chain

Complexities in Integrating Supply Chain Analytics from Data to Action

Article | May 22, 2023

Innovations such as AI and automation have been tipped to kickstart the Fourth Revolution. While the technology is being widely adopted, it is constantly evolving. Therefore, there is uncertainty surrounding its overall impact, particularly on professional roles within the supply chain. Some fear that the technology will replace its human counterparts, while other experts suggest it will work in unison with humans, supporting them to focus on higher value opportunities. Amidst all of this uncertainty one thing is for certain: AI and automation will change how we operate.

Read More
Transportation

Enhancing Supply Chain Optimization with Emerging Technologies

Article | April 26, 2023

You might be wondering what the benefits are of benchmarking. Well, imagine you are training for a 100 metre sprint in your district. What would be the key number, or metric that you would need to know? It would, of course, be what the winning time was when this race was last run in your district. Without that information, you don’t know what you’re trying to target. It would be impossible to know if you’ll have any chance at all of winning the race. It’s exactly the same in business. If, for example, you are concerned about the pick rates in your warehouse, or your transport costs, or your inventory accuracy, benchmarking can help you because it can show you exactly where your performance is compared to others in your industry. A few years ago, I was working with an automotive parts business. They had a little issue with their picking productivity in the warehouse. They wondered how good it was, whether they could improve it. They actually thought it was okay. We looked at the figures and compared them with other businesses. This helped us realise that their picking productivity should be three times better than it was. And believe it or not, over a few months they did begin to improve their productivity. Why? Because benchmarking opened their eyes to the fact that they were at a level quite far below others in the industry. That’s the beauty of benchmarking. Until you know what others are doing, you can’t be sure how good your performance is. If you’ve never tried benchmarking, there are three ways you could do it. 1. Informal Benchmarking This exercise would involve you measuring particular functions or aspects of your business and comparing that against other parts of your business. Let’s say you have a warehouse operating in one city and another operating in another city. You might start to measure the same metrics and see which one is performing better. You might know other people in the industry who are also operating warehouses so you might agree to share some data with them. This is probably the easiest way to start off, but it has some downsides: You’re only measuring against a very small sample size. If all of you in the pool are not that good, how would you know what good is? You have to make sure that the businesses are similar and you are measuring things in exactly the same way. It’s very important in benchmarking to have a standard way of applying the metric. 2. Formal Benchmarking This can work for much larger businesses. Perhaps you have operations in many different countries. You could agree a formal structure for how you are going to measure performance. You could do monthly or quarterly benchmarks with all the parts of your international organisation. You could learn from each other and share best practice. This method is okay but you’re not getting access to a very large pool of results to measure yourself against. You will find that companies are very reluctant to give out benchmarking data. You might also be operating in an environment where the performance is quite low right across the business. 3. Hire a Professional Benchmarking Firm This is the ultimate way to do it, although there are not a lot of professional benchmarking firms such as ours around. If you do manage to find one, you will quickly realise that there are significant benefits to be had by bringing in the professionals: The metrics are put together in exactly the same way: When we do a benchmarking exercise for our consulting clients, we go through a very robust data-gathering process and then make sure all the costs, for example, are in the same buckets as everyone else’s in the database. You gain access to a big pool of results: Professionals have measured hundreds, if not thousands, of companies. This enables you to say, ‘Our company is this size, it operates in this industry, these are the characteristics of our supply chain, who else in that pool of results is like us? We want to be measured against them.” It’s no good measuring the performance of a grocery retailer, for example, against an industrial product supplier. They have different supply chains. You need to be measuring like with like.

Read More
Supply Chain

Top 15 Supply Chain Events to Attend in 2023

Article | May 26, 2023

A sector which has been heavily disrupted in the last years is the mobility sector. Following decades of "car being king", we have reached a saturation and mentality shift. People want to be more healthy and more ecological (sustainable) and also avoid losing precious time in traffic jams. As a result a whole eco-system of companies has been created to find solutions for this. This article tries to provide an overview of the trends in this market, with a focus on the Belgian market. First of all when looking at mobility and the offers on the market it is important to make a distinction between private and professional displacements. This last category can additionally be split up between the daily commute and professional displacements during working hours. When looking at private mobility (the so-called B2C market), the car remains an important pilar. Especially for families with (young) children it remains difficult to do everything without a car. Obviously, there is a trend to be more sustainable, which is reflected in more sales of hybrid and electric vehicles, more usage of (e)bikes and (e)steps and an increasing usage of shared mobility options (like shared bikes, steps or cars). Statistics from China, which is already the furthest in the post-Covid era, show that most mobility options have lost terrain (compared to pre-Covid), with the exception of the car and bike. The car, although still not very sustainable, is still the most flexible and has the least chance for contamination. Especially the flexibility will become more important as office hours also become more flexible. Additionally due to the increased home working, in some cities traffic jams have considerably reduced, making room again for more people to switch back from public transport to their car. Additionally there is the bike. This is a very flexible, individual, healthy and sustainable mode of transportation that many have discovered during the crisis. Furthermore with ebikes becoming more and more common, bigger distances can be covered without needing to be in excellent physical shape. The professional mobility (i.e. B2B(2C) market) is however even more in evolution, as governments provide all kinds of fiscal incentives to change the mobility habits of employees and employers. Furthermore employers want to offer more flexibility (in working hours, in working location and in mobility options) and less administrative burden to their employees, allow them to profit from those fiscal incentives (resulting in an increased buying power) and become more sustainable. As a result a variety of new offers to be more flexible and optimally profit of those extra-legal advantages has come to the market. This makes it very complex for an employer to find his way in this tangle. Obviously, every company is unique, with multiple axes determining which mobility options are possible and best suited for the company: The location of the company, i.e. Is the company situated in a city with a lot of mobility difficulties (traffic jams)? Is the company situated near public transport options? Is the company situated in a city where a lot of shared mobility options are available? Are the employees typically living close or far away from the company? Which kind of parking facilities does the company have? Does the company have multiple offices geographically spread over the country? The type of work done at the company, i.e. Does the work require physical presence at a specific location (i.e. time- and location-dependent work)? Is remote work possible? Does the work require a lot of displacements to customers (and/or partners, suppliers…) during working hours? The type of employees working at the firm, i.e. Are the employees typically living close or far away from the company? What is the age distribution of the employees within the company (e.g. lot of young people, lot of employees with children…)? How strong is the war for talent for the desired employees, forcing the employer to offer a lot of extra advantages to attract people? The size of the company, i.e. a bigger company has the means to setup more complex mobility plans/options, as they often have dedicated people within HR specialized in these setups. This makes it difficult to define a "one-solution-that-fits-all" approach, but rather a more tailored approach is required, with some degree of customization per customer. Some examples: Promoting commuting by bike via bike leasing and a bike allowance is mainly interesting for companies with employees not living too far away from the company and not requiring doing customer or other professional displacements during working hours. Additionally it depends on the profile of the employees and the safety of the trajectory between the home of the employees and the office. Note that 54% of Belgian employees does not want to use a bike to come to work, with the main reason people finding it too dangerous. At the other hand a similar percentage of employees indicates they would be very interested in options like bike leasing and bike allowances. Shared mobility options are of course only interesting in the bigger cities, where those options are also strongly available. As a result incorporating those options in a mobility plan does not make much sense when the employer is situated in a location where those options are (almost) not available. The same applies for "multi-modal transportation" (and the associated multi-modal route planners), which are also only interesting in the larger cities where multiple mobility options are readily available. Furthermore a company introducing this multi-modal mobility concept should be able to put a whole change management trajectory in place, as it requires discovering new mobility options and changing existing commute habits (for most employees the commute is a routine activity, which they do in "auto-pilot") Setting up a Cafeteria plan or Mobility budget can be quite complex, making the costs and effort, especially for smaller firms, not always outweigh the benefits. New digital solutions can provide a (partial) solution to this, but they typically do not take away the uncertainties for employers to deal with something they do not fully understand. Electric cars are still difficult for people doing large distances on a regular basis, due to their limited action radius and the too low number of charging stations (especially in the South of Belgium). On the other hand for companies where employees come to the office the whole day and that have the required space to setup charging stations, this can be a very interesting option both fiscally and ecologically. Collective organized transport is typically only economically viable for large companies, for which a large number of employees are coming from the same region. Platforms exist to manage this cross-employers, but this raises a number of other concerns and reduces the added-value. Options like "no-mobility" (i.e. home working) and "less-mobility" (flex-offices / co-working places) depend on the work culture and the type of work to be done. For some companies the shift to homeworking during the Covid-confinements was already a serious stretch, which will take years to get fully absorbed. Introducing new concepts like "flex-offices" (co-working places) is probably a bridge too far, especially as there is still a lot of unclarity of who will be paying (and what the fiscal implications are) for the office space (employee paying out of his mobility budget or employer paying) and even more for the added-services like drinks, snacks, catering… … In general employers have a big interest to do something around mobility, but when having to deal with all complexity (fiscal and operational concerns like policies, load administration…), many employers drop out. Employers fear especially all exceptions, as they often represent hidden costs and lot of extra effort. E.g. what happens if an employee leaves the company? What if someone is fired? What about the liability in case of accidents/theft/vandalism? What will be the exact total cost for me as an employer? How do I need to manage VAT? What is the exact value of benefit of all kind for the employee? Which proofs do I need to collect for the tax authorities? Does it fit with the agreements made in the collective labor agreement of the joint committee?… These questions mainly originate from the existing unclarities in the fiscal regime, which is due to the fact that many HR managers are not yet acquainted with these new offers, the fact that new mobility offers are created continuously (making it impossible for the government to stay up-to-date) and the continuous change in regulation (e.g. "Mobility Budget", "Company Car Legislation"…). This lack of maturity in the industry puts a break on the adoption and this maturation might take years to unfold. E.g. meal vouchers took 40 years to arrive to a market penetration of 50%, while this is a much simpler HR product than most mobility options. Until this maturity level is reached, resulting in more well-known, better integrated, more frictionless and cheaper offers, the traditional company mobility options of reimbursing public transport subscriptions and salary cars will remain mostly used. Those are still most widely known by HR managers, are fiscally still very interesting and fit well the needs and desires of most employees. This last argument is important, as no mobility option will become mainstream unless employees are happy with it. This means the mobility option should not only give a solution for "Professional displacements" but also for the "Private displacements" (in evenings, weekend, holidays…), often with the whole family. Nonetheless we see the market is maturing and transforming, as millions of euros of VC money are invested in promising new start-ups. Almost all of those start-ups are not profitable yet but given the market potential a few of them could grow out to become unicorns. Today’s students are more acquainted and open for these new mobility services, so likely some of them will become mainstream in the next decade. Today a whole eco-system of young start-ups and existing incumbent players are offering mobility services, like Car leasing companies: Alphabet, ALD Automotive, ING Lease, KBC Autolease, LeasePlan, ARVAL… Car rental companies: Sixt, Avis, Dockx, Hertz, Rent a car… Car sharing companies (in the form of cars that can be easily used for individual trips up to platforms facilitating sharing your private car or co-driving): Cambio, Poppy, Partago, Zipcar, Cozywheels, Getaround, Dégage, Share Now, Stapp.in, Tapazz, BlaBlaCar, Klaxit, TooGethr, Carpool (Mpact)… Taxi services: Uber, Wave-a-Cab, Taxi.eu, Heetch, Bolt, Free Now, Allocab… Bike leasing companies: Ctec, O2O, Joulebikes, KBC-Fietsleasing, B2Bike, Cyclis, Lease-a-bike, Cyclobility, Cycle Valley… (e)bike, (e)step and scooter sharing & renting: Lime, Dott, Bird, Felyx, Scooty, Villo!, Billy Bike, Mobit, Blue Bike, Swapfiets, Spinlister… Fuel card and Electric charging card issuing companies: Network Fuel Card, Modalizy, Fleetpass, Belgian Fuel Card (BFC), XXImo, EDI (Electric by D’Ieteren), New Motion, Plugsurfing, Blue Corner, Luminus, EVBOX, Cenergy, Eneco, Dats24, EV-Point,… Parking companies (either companies providing public parkings or platforms to share individual and company parkings): Yellowbrick, Indigo, QPark, BeMobile, BePark, Pasha, ParkOffice… Companies helping to define mobility plan and manage setup of policies and mobility plans/budgets: Social Secretariats (SD Worx, Partena, Securex, Acerta, Liantis…), Payflip, Mbrella, MaestroMobile (Espaces-Mobilités)… MaaS (Mobility as a Service) players: Modalizy, Skipr, Optimile, Olympus, Be-Mobile, MyMove, Vaigo (Eurides), Moveasy… (Inter-modal) Route planners: Google Maps, Coyote, Waze, Mappy, Jeasy, Skipr, Stoomlink… Co-working place companies (either companies providing co-working places or platforms allowing to reserve spaces over multiple co-working places): Bar d’Office, Workero, Cowallonia, Burogest, Regus, Welkin, Meraki, Frame 21, Fosbury & Sons, Start it, Coffice, Spaces, House of Innovation, Ampla House, WeWork, Betacowork, Startbloc, SilverSquare… Expense management solutions for local and international (mobility) expenses: Rydoo, XXImo, MobileXpense, N2F, Certify, SAP Concur, Travel Perk, Trippeo, SpenDesk, Splendid, Declaree, SRXP, Dicom, WebExpenses, Notilus, Expensify, ExpensePath, Abacus, ExpensePoint… It will be interesting to see which of those companies will still be around in 10 years (i.e. which of the start-up have sufficient funding to bridge the long-time gap to profitability) and to which form they have evolved. Clearly regular pivoting will be required as this market is in full evolution.

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Software and Technology, Transportation

What’s the Latest on EV Charging Infrastructure in Rural Areas?

Article | December 7, 2022

Contents 1. Accessing The State and Federal Benefits 2. A Learning Portal to Educate Rural Communities On EV Charging 3. The Significance of an Equitably Relevant EV Charging Network Electric Vehicles (EVs) are making waves in cities and are more than just the latest trend in transportation. With the advancement of the EV charging network and its deployment across urban areas, experts are asking what’s next and how this growth can be replicated in rural areas. 1. Accessing State and Federal Benefits Based in Oregon, Forth is an EV research and advocacy group that recently announced a partnership with General Motors to build grant templates that can help rural communities win and access state and federal grant money to build EV charging networks. The templates will be provided free of charge and cover 80% of a complete grant. Geoff Gibson, the senior program manager for Forth, believes this will give rural communities the impetus to seek out the grant money and get over the initial hurdle of framing a grant proposal. 2. A Learning Portal to Educate Rural Communities on EV Charging Forth also announced the slated launch of a learning portal that will address the lack of know-how on deploying a charging program for EVs. The portal will empower communities with not just the knowledge of implementing charging programs but also their significance and long-term impact on the community. The learning portal will tentatively go live in 2023 and will be free for local communities, counties, cities, and states, as well as community organizations. The program will be accessible for a year and could be further extended. According to Steve Lommele from the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, he reiterated the importance of building a national EV charging network. He states that this is the first time a major program has been put in place that covers all 50 states in the U.S., including Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. 3. The Significance of an Equitably Relevant EV Charging Network Deploying EV charging stations in rural areas has to be meaningful for the communities that will be using them. Forth’s Geoff Gibson emphasizes that the needs of the communities need to be given priority when designing the charging network. For instance, DC charging or charging that is publicly accessible should be preferred at trailheads. EVs as part of our transport in the future is inevitable and charging networks and program need to be prioritized to ensure all communities are able to access its benefits equally.

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SDW Recruitment Ltd

Since SDW Recruitment commenced trading in 2002, SDW Recruitment has established itself within the industry as one of the major providers of experienced shipping, forwarding, supply chain and logistics personnel throughout the UK.

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Logistics, Supply Chain, Transportation

AIT Worldwide Logistics Acquires Global Transport Solutions Group

Business Wire | February 05, 2024

AIT Worldwide Logistics, one of the world’s leaders in global supply chain solutions, has acquired Global Transport Solutions Group (GTS), a prominent international freight forwarder specializing in time-critical marine spare parts logistics. Headquartered in the Netherlands, GTS and its more than 600 teammates across 16 locations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America, serve over 2,000 ports around the world. The GTS network also includes nine consolidation hubs totaling more than 45,000 square meters of warehouse space. AIT Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Vaughn Moore, said, “I’d like to welcome our new GTS teammates to the global AIT network. This is the largest acquisition in our company’s history and GTS’ marine spare parts business is an excellent complement to AIT’s time-critical supply chain solutions.” The company’s business is divided into two sub-brands: Marinetrans (founded in 1991), excelling in “door-to-deck” spare parts logistics for ship owners and managers, and Best Global Logistics (founded in 2007), providing time-critical solutions and general forwarding for other industries, including life sciences shippers. According to AIT’s Chief Business Officer, Greg Weigel, the acquisition provides the company with new geographic presence in Greece, Japan and the Nordic region while adding significant capacity and subject matter expertise to existing AIT networks in China, the Netherlands and Singapore. The deal also provides a strong foundation to expand GTS’ world-class marine spare parts solutions via AIT’s expansive global freight network. “The acquisition of GTS creates an incredible portfolio of solutions serving the maritime industry with delivery of time-critical spare parts across all geographies. This is a perfect complement to AIT’s vertical strategies focused on expedited mission-critical services like our Critical Solutions Group, government and AOG team, and Life Sciences Division,” Weigel said. “We plan to rapidly invest and expand GTS’ North American operations by capitalizing on AIT’s robust salesforce in the United States and offering maritime customers a world-class spare parts logistics solution in every port.” AIT President and Chief Operating Officer, Keith Tholan, noted that the GTS core values – customer first, operational excellence, and partnership and collaboration – closely mirror AIT’s core values. “We are delighted to welcome GTS teammates to AIT,” Tholan said. “Their deep marine logistics expertise and three decades of proven on-time performance in a very demanding segment will complement the diverse solutions we offer across our vertical sector strategy. We also expect our best-in-class global air freight procurement will instantly benefit their time-critical operations.” According to GTS co-CEO John Burgstra, the acquisition is an opportunity for GTS to further expand their worldwide operations. “We aim to provide our clients an unrivaled experience when it comes to global visibility, transparency and on-time performance, fully unburdening them of the required logistical handling of their vessels’ spare parts,” he said. “We are excited about becoming part of a larger group and the global development opportunities this acquisition will provide for our teammates.” “Because of the highly fragmented and international nature of our clients’ requirements, they need a trusted partner with a vetted and effective global network,” added GTS co-CEO Vegard Prytz. “GTS will gain enormous benefits from leveraging the global AIT infrastructure, creating an even more integrated and seamless solution for clients around the world.”

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Logistics, Operations, Supply Chain

Metro Supply Chain Acquires SCI Group

PR Newswire | January 10, 2024

Metro Supply Chain Inc. ("Metro Supply Chain"), a strategic supply chain solutions partner to some of the world's fastest growing and most reputable organizations, is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement to acquire SCI Group Inc. ("SCI"), a leading Canadian third-party logistics (3PL) company, from Canada Post Corporation ("Canada Post") and Purolator Holdings Ltd. This transformational transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024, subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals. "We are thrilled about the prospect of acquiring SCI," said Chiko Nanji, Metro Supply Chain Founder and Group Chairman. "There is an excellent strategic fit between SCI and our existing operations and culture, and we are excited about the future as a combined entity. This acquisition will strengthen our position as a true champion in strategic contract logistics services." The combined entity, with deep Canadian roots and a shared focus on customers, will be ideally positioned to compete in the global supply chain sector. "The strategic alignment between Metro Supply Chain and SCI is strong. We look forward to leveraging our complementary strengths and shared emphasis on operational excellence to generate growth for clients in multiple sectors, including technology and healthcare, and expand our e–commerce offering," said Metro Supply Chain President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Fenton. "The addition of SCI to the Metro Supply Chain group will offer opportunities to enhance our expansion efforts south of the border." Headquartered in Québec, with significant regional support offices in the Greater Toronto Area and operations across Canada, the United States and United Kingdom, the combined entity will create a diversified supply chain solutions provider. Metro Supply Chain is highly engaged and committed to its people and the communities in which it operates. It is mindful of its social, economic and environmental impact and seeks ways to work more sustainably and create a positive impact on the planet, customers, teams and communities. Chris Galindo, President and CEO of SCI, will remain with the combined entity, ensuring the continuity of SCI's commitment to excellence. "There is a strong strategic alignment between Metro Supply Chain and SCI, from our strong people–first cultures to our focus on innovation, best-in-class systems, and contractual business models and complementary technology, client and vertical mix," explained Galindo. Metro Supply Chain is grateful to its existing and new financial partners, LDC Logistics Holdings Inc., CDPQ, Investissement Québec, and the National Bank of Canada, for their support in this transaction and the future growth of the combined entity. "With this 10th acquisition by Metro Supply Chain since it began working with CDPQ in 2018, the company is actively pursuing its strategic development plan," said Kim Thomassin, Executive Vice-President and Head of Québec at CDPQ. "We are proud to support the company in its efforts to strengthen its position as a Canadian leader, accelerate growth projects and expand activities, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom." To support its global strategic vision, Metro Supply Chain has concluded an agreement with the Government of Québec through Investissement Québec, for an investment by way of a private placement in Metro Supply Chain. "To ensure the economic and sustainable development of Québec, it is essential that we be able to rely on Québec companies and robust supply chains. With this investment in Metro Supply Chain, we are helping a Québec company to become an international leader in the logistics sector," stated Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Minister Responsible for Regional Economic Development and Minister Responsible for the Metropolis and the Montréal Region. "This transaction aligns with Investissement Québec's mission to create a logistics champion and support its geographic expansion outside Québec. Metro Supply Chain is setting an example by making a significant investment to improve its productivity by automating its warehouses. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of supply chains, which are an essential link in the Québec economy," said Guy LeBlanc, President and CEO of Investissement Québec. "Metro Supply Chain welcomes Investissement Québec as one of its new strategic partners and is very pleased to be able to count on the continued support of LDC Logistics Holdings Inc., CDPQ, the National Bank of Canada, as we pursue our global growth ambitions," stated Metro Supply Chain CFO Mathieu Descheneaux. "This strategic investment enables us to acquire high–quality companies like SCI to expand the range and depth of supply chain solutions we can offer." Together, Metro Supply Chain and SCI anticipate a bright future, delivering innovative supply chain solutions that meet the most challenging needs of their customers.

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Freight, Supply Chain

Kuehne+Nagel pioneers carbon insetting for electric trucks to accelerate fleet electrification

Kuehne+Nagel | January 08, 2024

The new year starts with electrifying news as Kuehne+Nagel announces its Book & Claim insetting solution for electric vehicles. This makes Kuehne+Nagel the first logistics service provider to launch this solution, which previously was limited to low-emission fuels. Implementing decarbonisation solutions and helping customers achieve their sustainability goals is a key component of Kuehne+Nagel’s Roadmap 2026 Living ESG cornerstone. Developing Book & Claim insetting solutions for road freight was a strategic priority for Kuehne+Nagel. Last October, it launched an insetting solution for HVO—now followed by electric vehicles. The first-of-its-kind solution has been tested and validated in cooperation with leading external stakeholders. Customers who use Kuehne+Nagel’s road transport services can now ‘claim’ the carbon reductions of electric trucks when it is not possible to physically move their goods on these vehicles. Reasons for that could be insufficient charging infrastructure or a limited driving range and payload. The solution helps to bridge those challenges which today still limit the deployment of electric trucks. “We see battery-Electric Vehicles (BEVs) as the future to reduce emissions in road freight. Carbon insetting supports the scale-up of low-emission solutions like BEVs and helps to reduce the premium that customers pay for these solutions, thereby supporting the decarbonisation of road transport,” says Hansjörg Rodi, Member of the Management Board at Kuehne+Nagel International AG, responsible for Road Logistics. For now, only Kuehne+Nagel’s owned BEVs are part of the Book & Claim offer to keep full control and transparency over the accuracy of the data that is used in the calculations. However, the team aims to expand the solution to BEVs operated by its partners so that it can support them in their fleet electrification journeys too. “Purchasing electric trucks can be a heavy financial burden, especially for smaller carriers. Including carriers in our solution requires further complex developments in the accounting methodology, but it would help them to finance their transition. This is our next priority,” concludes Rodi.

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Logistics, Supply Chain, Transportation

AIT Worldwide Logistics Acquires Global Transport Solutions Group

Business Wire | February 05, 2024

AIT Worldwide Logistics, one of the world’s leaders in global supply chain solutions, has acquired Global Transport Solutions Group (GTS), a prominent international freight forwarder specializing in time-critical marine spare parts logistics. Headquartered in the Netherlands, GTS and its more than 600 teammates across 16 locations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America, serve over 2,000 ports around the world. The GTS network also includes nine consolidation hubs totaling more than 45,000 square meters of warehouse space. AIT Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Vaughn Moore, said, “I’d like to welcome our new GTS teammates to the global AIT network. This is the largest acquisition in our company’s history and GTS’ marine spare parts business is an excellent complement to AIT’s time-critical supply chain solutions.” The company’s business is divided into two sub-brands: Marinetrans (founded in 1991), excelling in “door-to-deck” spare parts logistics for ship owners and managers, and Best Global Logistics (founded in 2007), providing time-critical solutions and general forwarding for other industries, including life sciences shippers. According to AIT’s Chief Business Officer, Greg Weigel, the acquisition provides the company with new geographic presence in Greece, Japan and the Nordic region while adding significant capacity and subject matter expertise to existing AIT networks in China, the Netherlands and Singapore. The deal also provides a strong foundation to expand GTS’ world-class marine spare parts solutions via AIT’s expansive global freight network. “The acquisition of GTS creates an incredible portfolio of solutions serving the maritime industry with delivery of time-critical spare parts across all geographies. This is a perfect complement to AIT’s vertical strategies focused on expedited mission-critical services like our Critical Solutions Group, government and AOG team, and Life Sciences Division,” Weigel said. “We plan to rapidly invest and expand GTS’ North American operations by capitalizing on AIT’s robust salesforce in the United States and offering maritime customers a world-class spare parts logistics solution in every port.” AIT President and Chief Operating Officer, Keith Tholan, noted that the GTS core values – customer first, operational excellence, and partnership and collaboration – closely mirror AIT’s core values. “We are delighted to welcome GTS teammates to AIT,” Tholan said. “Their deep marine logistics expertise and three decades of proven on-time performance in a very demanding segment will complement the diverse solutions we offer across our vertical sector strategy. We also expect our best-in-class global air freight procurement will instantly benefit their time-critical operations.” According to GTS co-CEO John Burgstra, the acquisition is an opportunity for GTS to further expand their worldwide operations. “We aim to provide our clients an unrivaled experience when it comes to global visibility, transparency and on-time performance, fully unburdening them of the required logistical handling of their vessels’ spare parts,” he said. “We are excited about becoming part of a larger group and the global development opportunities this acquisition will provide for our teammates.” “Because of the highly fragmented and international nature of our clients’ requirements, they need a trusted partner with a vetted and effective global network,” added GTS co-CEO Vegard Prytz. “GTS will gain enormous benefits from leveraging the global AIT infrastructure, creating an even more integrated and seamless solution for clients around the world.”

Read More

Logistics, Operations, Supply Chain

Metro Supply Chain Acquires SCI Group

PR Newswire | January 10, 2024

Metro Supply Chain Inc. ("Metro Supply Chain"), a strategic supply chain solutions partner to some of the world's fastest growing and most reputable organizations, is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement to acquire SCI Group Inc. ("SCI"), a leading Canadian third-party logistics (3PL) company, from Canada Post Corporation ("Canada Post") and Purolator Holdings Ltd. This transformational transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024, subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals. "We are thrilled about the prospect of acquiring SCI," said Chiko Nanji, Metro Supply Chain Founder and Group Chairman. "There is an excellent strategic fit between SCI and our existing operations and culture, and we are excited about the future as a combined entity. This acquisition will strengthen our position as a true champion in strategic contract logistics services." The combined entity, with deep Canadian roots and a shared focus on customers, will be ideally positioned to compete in the global supply chain sector. "The strategic alignment between Metro Supply Chain and SCI is strong. We look forward to leveraging our complementary strengths and shared emphasis on operational excellence to generate growth for clients in multiple sectors, including technology and healthcare, and expand our e–commerce offering," said Metro Supply Chain President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Fenton. "The addition of SCI to the Metro Supply Chain group will offer opportunities to enhance our expansion efforts south of the border." Headquartered in Québec, with significant regional support offices in the Greater Toronto Area and operations across Canada, the United States and United Kingdom, the combined entity will create a diversified supply chain solutions provider. Metro Supply Chain is highly engaged and committed to its people and the communities in which it operates. It is mindful of its social, economic and environmental impact and seeks ways to work more sustainably and create a positive impact on the planet, customers, teams and communities. Chris Galindo, President and CEO of SCI, will remain with the combined entity, ensuring the continuity of SCI's commitment to excellence. "There is a strong strategic alignment between Metro Supply Chain and SCI, from our strong people–first cultures to our focus on innovation, best-in-class systems, and contractual business models and complementary technology, client and vertical mix," explained Galindo. Metro Supply Chain is grateful to its existing and new financial partners, LDC Logistics Holdings Inc., CDPQ, Investissement Québec, and the National Bank of Canada, for their support in this transaction and the future growth of the combined entity. "With this 10th acquisition by Metro Supply Chain since it began working with CDPQ in 2018, the company is actively pursuing its strategic development plan," said Kim Thomassin, Executive Vice-President and Head of Québec at CDPQ. "We are proud to support the company in its efforts to strengthen its position as a Canadian leader, accelerate growth projects and expand activities, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom." To support its global strategic vision, Metro Supply Chain has concluded an agreement with the Government of Québec through Investissement Québec, for an investment by way of a private placement in Metro Supply Chain. "To ensure the economic and sustainable development of Québec, it is essential that we be able to rely on Québec companies and robust supply chains. With this investment in Metro Supply Chain, we are helping a Québec company to become an international leader in the logistics sector," stated Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Minister Responsible for Regional Economic Development and Minister Responsible for the Metropolis and the Montréal Region. "This transaction aligns with Investissement Québec's mission to create a logistics champion and support its geographic expansion outside Québec. Metro Supply Chain is setting an example by making a significant investment to improve its productivity by automating its warehouses. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of supply chains, which are an essential link in the Québec economy," said Guy LeBlanc, President and CEO of Investissement Québec. "Metro Supply Chain welcomes Investissement Québec as one of its new strategic partners and is very pleased to be able to count on the continued support of LDC Logistics Holdings Inc., CDPQ, the National Bank of Canada, as we pursue our global growth ambitions," stated Metro Supply Chain CFO Mathieu Descheneaux. "This strategic investment enables us to acquire high–quality companies like SCI to expand the range and depth of supply chain solutions we can offer." Together, Metro Supply Chain and SCI anticipate a bright future, delivering innovative supply chain solutions that meet the most challenging needs of their customers.

Read More

Freight, Supply Chain

Kuehne+Nagel pioneers carbon insetting for electric trucks to accelerate fleet electrification

Kuehne+Nagel | January 08, 2024

The new year starts with electrifying news as Kuehne+Nagel announces its Book & Claim insetting solution for electric vehicles. This makes Kuehne+Nagel the first logistics service provider to launch this solution, which previously was limited to low-emission fuels. Implementing decarbonisation solutions and helping customers achieve their sustainability goals is a key component of Kuehne+Nagel’s Roadmap 2026 Living ESG cornerstone. Developing Book & Claim insetting solutions for road freight was a strategic priority for Kuehne+Nagel. Last October, it launched an insetting solution for HVO—now followed by electric vehicles. The first-of-its-kind solution has been tested and validated in cooperation with leading external stakeholders. Customers who use Kuehne+Nagel’s road transport services can now ‘claim’ the carbon reductions of electric trucks when it is not possible to physically move their goods on these vehicles. Reasons for that could be insufficient charging infrastructure or a limited driving range and payload. The solution helps to bridge those challenges which today still limit the deployment of electric trucks. “We see battery-Electric Vehicles (BEVs) as the future to reduce emissions in road freight. Carbon insetting supports the scale-up of low-emission solutions like BEVs and helps to reduce the premium that customers pay for these solutions, thereby supporting the decarbonisation of road transport,” says Hansjörg Rodi, Member of the Management Board at Kuehne+Nagel International AG, responsible for Road Logistics. For now, only Kuehne+Nagel’s owned BEVs are part of the Book & Claim offer to keep full control and transparency over the accuracy of the data that is used in the calculations. However, the team aims to expand the solution to BEVs operated by its partners so that it can support them in their fleet electrification journeys too. “Purchasing electric trucks can be a heavy financial burden, especially for smaller carriers. Including carriers in our solution requires further complex developments in the accounting methodology, but it would help them to finance their transition. This is our next priority,” concludes Rodi.

Read More

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