We need to talk about people more often in logistics. We can do little with technological ingenuity if we forget about the people who need to embrace technology. Mieke Damen, chair of the Programme Committee on Entry and Image at the Top Sector Logistics, wants to make a case for the underexposed role of people in the sector.
According to Damen, logistics is stimulated by technological innovation, from shuttle systems to AGVs and drones. "That is also interesting and it is good to push on that," she says ahead of her lecture at the Logistics Day. "But companies should not forget that the whole organisation has to keep developing. You can invest in big projects or new computer systems, but in the end a wrong manager or staff who are not properly briefed will cost your company a lot more."
Damen knows the sector inside out. She held logistics roles for companies like NIKE, Mexx and Vlisco and has been active for years in the professional association vLm and the Top Sector Logistics, before that the van Laarhoven committee, where she has always hammered on the role of people. "'I am the person who at the meeting table constantly shouts: Where is the human being in this story?'"
Social innovation and lifelong development, as Damen calls it, is more than the occasional course or visit from a supplier who comes to explain a new system. "It is an umbrella term for investing in your people. It's about being economical with people; letting your business change with the people you have, rather than flying in a new load of staff. It requires a different way of working, with smaller steps. Say you want to start working 40 per cent more efficiently. That will never work if you impose such a thing from the top down or turn over your entire organisation, with all the restiveness and backlash as a result. Instead, it is better to discuss with your staff how to work more efficiently in small steps."
Tight labour market
The tight labour market did wake up companies, says Damen. "For a long time, there was little coming back. A new can of people could just be opened up if the current staff did not have the right skills. Now people understand that extra steps are needed, simply because companies no longer have that luxury."
The issue plays out in all sectors, but logistics has some extra steps to take. "Our sector has to deal with a lot of small companies, which employ a lot of low-skilled staff. Staff development is sometimes forgotten there. HBO students come to do research, but nothing then happens with the results when the internship is over. Larger companies often do more in the field of social innovation and lifelong development. Although even there, they sometimes forget why a particular project was started."
Opening the door
What can those small businesses in the sector do about social innovation and long-term development? "There are so many small steps you can take or join as a company. One of the things we have set up with the colleges is the Talent Innovation Pool (TIP), a club of young people working at different small companies who spend an afternoon every fortnight together and exchange ideas. They get new stimuli from that and it costs nothing. Or you join Girlsday, a day when companies open their doors to girls aged 10 to 15, to give them a better idea of the opportunities in the logistics sector. It's a mindset, not shutting the door, but opening it."
Logistics Day
On 12 February, Mieke Damen will be present at Logistics Day to inform companies about social innovation and how to invest in people. With the theme "Game on: new and existing players changing the logistics playing field", Logistics Day will address the three main challenges: Sustainability, People and Digitalisation.
Readers of LogistiekProfs can attend with a €50 relationship discount. Book your place by 24 January at www.logistiekdag.nl and enter promotion code LogistiekProfs on the registration form (last page of the form).
