October - November 2012 - Association of Dutch Businessmen

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Business A LEAN Journey to Excellence Interview with Jolle IJkema, Regional Director LEAN Asia Pacific at CEVA Logistics TEXT Aleid van der Schrier PHOTOs CEVA Logistics “Say what you do and do what you say” is how Jolle IJkema, regional director LEAN for Asia Pacific at CEVA Logistics, describes one of CEVA’s core values. Although the company name CEVA is not widely known outside the logistics industry, CEVA is the fourth biggest player in the logistics world. CEVA provides tailor-made logistics solutions, including designing the best supply chain for a variety of businesses and the organisation of shipments by air, sea or road, including customs clearance, contract logistics and end-to-end solutions. Creating a Logistics Giant CEVA was established in 2007, with the merger of TNT Logistics and Eagle Global Logistics. In 2006 TNT sold its contract logistics activities (TNT Logistics) to Apollo Management LP, a private equity investor, which renamed TNT Logistics as CEVA. In 2007 CEVA acquired the American freight forwarder Eagle Global Logistics, making CEVA one of the world’s leading logistics companies. CEVA is active in more than 170 countries and employs more than 51.000 people worldwide. Jolle, who had been working for TNT Logistics since 2000, has experienced the transition to private equity investor as a positive one. “Since the merger, the company has been very focused on realising growth and developing the organisation into the company it is today,” explains Jolle. Jolle is a logistician at heart. When he was young, he used to watch orange TNT trucks in awe. After obtaining a bachelors degree in logistics he started working at Mattel, manufacturer of toy favourites such as Barbie and HotWheels. He was posted to Jakarta in Indonesia, to work on process improvement and IT. “I lived in Jakarta for five years and really enjoyed living there. However, my job scope at Mattel had drifted away from logistics and I wanted to return to my passion. At that time, the logistics sector was better developed in Europe than it was in Asia. So, I applied to TNT Logistics, was hired and we moved back to the Netherlands.” Return to Asia In 2011 CEVA’s LEAN program brought Jolle, his wife and their two daughters back to Asia. He says, “I had worked with lean before. In short, the lean methodology focuses on eliminating waste: identifying and eliminating unnecessary activities in processes. In everyday life, there are many examples of elimination of waste. For example, look at how you can organize your office or kitchen. Items that you use frequently should be close at hand, while items you seldom use are positioned further away. This reduces the amount of walking and moving, thus making you more efficient.” In 2004 CEVA introduced a LEAN program, which aims to implement lean thinking throughout the whole company. When he was asked to manage the roll-out of the LEAN program in the Asia Pacific region he did not hesitate at all. “We enjoy working and living abroad and are happy to be able to share this experience with our daughters. Moreover, Singapore combines the charm of living in Asia with modern day convenience and solid organization.” A Company-wide LEAN Program The CEVA LEAN program is a well developed company-wide program. Lean experts are trained in the internally developed LEAN program, which takes three years to complete. Candidates for this program are recruited from within the organisation. Upon entering the program, the trainees are internationally trained for a period of one year. During this year, they take part in several lean projects around the globe. 10
Business Then they return to their original country and work on lean projects there. The program focuses on learning by doing and helps the participants to develop themselves into managers who will be able to take up middle management functions such as managing a warehouse. In this way, lean thinking is integrated deeply into the company’s operations. Each year, 20 to 30 employees are identified and enrolled in the program. The LEAN program was first developed and implemented in The Netherlands. Since then it has been rolled-out in four regions: Northern Europe, the Americas, SEMEA (Southern Europe, Middle-East and Africa) and Asia Pacific. Jolle is responsible for the roll-out in the Asia Pacific region, which extends from India to Japan, and includes Australia and New Zealand. His main focus is on managing the program on a day-to-day basis. However, he is also involved in training and coaching of employees in the region, as well as the further development of the program. “Especially in the Asia Pacific region, the cultural differences are huge. Training in India is completely different from training in Australia. It is an interesting challenge to integrate and sustain the lean way of thinking in all our sites in the region.” Jolle extrapolates, “one big advantage of having this worldwide LEAN program is that a lean community is being created. In the first year, trainees work on 5 to 6 different projects in different project teams in different countries. They build up an extensive network within the company, which they use to discuss problems and share ideas. In this way best practices are being developed, which are translated into what we call ‘CEVA SMART solutions’, which in turn are being used to provide our customers with the best possible solution for their logistical requirements.” The Power of Lean The origins of lean can be found in the car manufacturing industry. Lean thinking was developed by Toyota in the years after World War II and fueled Toyota’s growth in the last few decades. Isn’t it strange that a concept from the car industry is being applied in a non-manufacturing environment? “No,” answers Jolle, “Lean is a very powerful management philosophy, that can be applied everywhere. The ‘kaizen’ aspect of lean, which focuses on continuous improvement, applies not only to, for example, productivity, but also to quality, safety or environmental issues.” To consistently provide their customers with operational excellence, a focus on continuous improvement is a must. This is an integral part of the lean methodology. Jolle gives an example to elucidate upon the improvements that can be realized by using lean. “At one of our sites, the number of picking errors in the warehouse was too high. As some products looked very similar, workers would easily mix up the products and pick the wrong item. After analysing the issue, it became clear that the products only differ slightly in size. The employees suggested using a mold during the picking process. Then they could easily determine whether they had picked the right product. After the idea was implemented, the number of picking errors was drastically reduced by 89%. Of course, our customer was impressed by this considerable improvement in quality.” That is what CEVA’s LEAN program is all about. Thanks to this company-wide program, lean thinking and the focus on continuous improvement is at the heart of what every employee does. By making employees responsible for their own processes and results, eliminating waste becomes part of their daily routine. In the end, it is the customer who reaps the benefits. Isn’t that what business is all about? 11
Page 1: Association of Dutch Businesspeople
Page 4 and 5: Contents Vol. 22 / No. 6 / Oct-Nov
Page 6 and 7: Events Rinske Bloemendal Linda Pete
Page 8 and 9: Events An Evening with Steve “Pet
Page 10 and 11: Business Sustainability & Business:
Page 14 and 15: Business Project-based Working in S
Page 16 and 17: Business Interview with Marcel van
Page 18 and 19: Business Can you learn Charisma? Tr
Page 20 and 21: Extra NCA supporting local charitie
Page 22 and 23: Bizz News Greek eurozone withdrawal
Page 24 and 25: know your tax THE FLEXIBILISATION O
Page 26 and 27: Not to miss Rugby Sevens Tournament
Page 28 and 29: ADB News Name : Lennart Luten Why d
Page 30 and 31: ADB News Doing Business in Indonesi
Page 32: Making the purest water drinkable s

October - November 2012 - Association of Dutch Businessmen

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?