CEVA Logistics is not delivering a finalist for the Young Logistics Talent election for the first time; in 2015, Contract Manager Mario Wopereis won the election and in 2017, Operations Manager Luc de Jong made it to the final. This year, it is the turn of Joris Teurlings, who set up and rolled out a Benelux-wide improvement programme at the logistics provider.
Teurlings started the improvement programme BPE Waves in 2016 as a Benelux Project Engineer. Numerous improvements were already being implemented at CEVA Logistics, but each site did so on its own initiative. "As a result, all those sites ended up working in a slightly different way. From the Benelux headquarters, we looked at how we could combine that knowledge and expertise. That's how the Best Practice Engineering (BPE) Programme was born," says the finalist. Within this programme, a central team works with a site's local team on process improvements for eight weeks. "During that period, you zoom in on the processes together. You look at areas for improvement and start implementing them within those eight weeks. We take the best practices from all those sites back to other sites."
Some three years later, the CEVA Logistics team has visited every location and even done an extra round to make the concepts even more professional. The improvement programme has now visibly borne fruit. Teurlings: "The total cost savings amounted to four million euros. Customer satisfaction went up, because customers received their products either faster or cheaper. For me, the enthusiasm of the employees was a very waardeful boost. Initially, the BPE programme was seen as yet another initiative from head office. At the end of 2016, the sites actually knocked on our door because they saw the effect it had and the contribution it made to the energy at such a site."
In this, the finalist said. "I really set this up and rolled it out as an ambassador. I sat down with the Vice President as well as with the employees on the floor. To then find that people let go of their sceptical attitudes in the long run, I'm proud of that."
BPE Waves still exists, but these days the focus is more on innovation rather than existing processes or tools. "We are now looking outside the walls of CEVA," he says. Teurlings no longer plays a role in that. The success of BPE Waves has earned him the position of Site Manager. He is now responsible for two branches of CEVA Logistics in Born, comprising some two hundred and fifty FTEs.
Any win in this election sees the logistics talent as a piece of recognition for all the work put into BPE Waves. "But it is also a great way to show what you can achieve within a large company with so many different layers. Other companies can easily use this as an example."
You can read about the achievements of the Logistic Manager of the Year finalists here. On 28 March, all the finalists will climb onto the stage to convince the professional jury and the public one last time. The final day will take place in Media Plaza, Jaarbeurs Utrecht. More information about the programme and (free) registrationfind here.
