MTMD02_2011

March/April 2011 $8.00

The ultimate beer run

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Challenger moves six giant vats for Molson Coors

Plus: Genco ATC takes advantage of hydrogen Air cargo’s horizon

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Taking Stock

Reeling now, Japan will recover B

y any measure, the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that followed have been heartbreaking calamities. Japan and the world have yet to fully absorb the scale of the devastation of a 8.9-magnitude quake and the following 10-metre high tsunami, capped off by a looming nuclear crisis.

Likewise, the scale of the economic devastation has yet to sink in fully. In terms of manufacturing, the country has seen shutdowns across many key industries, including steel, parts for electronic goods, vehicles and auto parts (just as the auto industry picks up).

The disaster has hit ports and airports along Japan’s northeastern coast. This disrupts not only the transportation of goods to airports and ocean gateways, but also slows the movement of employees and supplies to production plants. It will be a

while before Japan’s economy and supply chain are able to recover.

But recovery will come. While reeling at the moment, Japan’s economy rests on firmly entrenched fundamentals. A disaster of this magnitude would easily crush the economy of a less-developed nation. Fortunately for Japan, it’s industrial base, transportation infrastructure and global economic inroads run deep.

Factories and transportation links in Japan’s northeast are important.

Yet, the region is far from much of Japan’s industrial heartland, which lies further south and west. Tokyo, Kawasaki and Yokohama are Japan’s most populous and industrialized regions, producing 20 percent of its manufacturing output. The Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe regions are the second-largest economic centre and also removed from the disaster’s ground zero.

Transportation hubs in those regions, including port terminals in Tokyo and Yokohama, have been operating normally.

The death and personal loss are horrifying; on the economic front, the devastation could have been much worse for Japan.

March/April 2011 | Volume 56 | Number 2

Contents Features

Columns

14 Keep those suds rolling Here’s what it takes to move six enormous beer vats 108km through Canada’s most populated area.

29 Legal Link Restricting a former employee’s actions depends on your contract with them.

31 Learning Curve The advantages of LCVs. 33 Materials Handling Get ready for an oil price shock.

34 Firefighter Pulling off the impossible.

17

• •

Walmart’s sustainable DC. Keeping track of the cold chain.

23 Reaping hydrogen’s benefits Genco ATC takes advantage of hydrogen fuel cell technology for forktrucks.

27 Air cargo update A look at the trends and challenges facing the air cargo sector.

MM&D | March/April 2011

Departments 3 4 6 9 10 12

Taking Stock Supply Chain Scan Global Focus Done Deals Benchmarks Movers + Shakers

3

upply S Chain Scan

Gettin’ off the road US hours of service rules could hit supply chain Page 8

Who’s news p.12

Inside | Best-in-class logistics Page 10

US dredging issue reaches crisis stage

By Deanna Rosolen

T

he Great Lakes industry on the US side is pushing for more funds from its federal government for dredging—calling it a “crisis situation”.

The last time the Great Lakes ports had sand and silt dredged completely was 2009, says Steve Fisher, executive director of the Washington-based American Great Lakes Ports Association.

Fisher explains the amount that needs to be dredged each year on average is 3.3 million cubic yards of sand and silt out of the navigation channels in the various harbours. But this year, the federal budget “only contains funds to dredge about half that amount”.

In the US, dredging is performed by the Army Corps of Engineers. Because it falls under the federal government it is subject to the ups and downs of the federal budget and so it fluctuates from year to year.

Fisher says it’s been under-funded nationally and especially in the Great Lakes area for a number of years. This happens to be a tougher year.

In fact, Glen Nekvasil, vice-president corporate communications for the Cleveland, Ohio-based Lake Carriers Association, says the federal budget allocated is the lowest ever in recent memory. It means only 11 of the 83 US ports on the Great Lakes will be dredged.

“This is just a crushing blow for our industry,” he says. “We’re calling it a dredging crisis.”

Fisher says for every year the dredging budget is under-funded, the sand

Port of Metro Vancouver plans ahead

Port Metro Vancouver has some big plans. Container traffic through Canada’s Pacific Gateway is expected to double over the next 10 to 15 years and nearly triple by 2030. And the port is preparing now with its newly launched Container Capacity Improvement Program.

The program is a long-term strategy to increase container handling capacity in the Lower Mainland to meet growth and demand. The program will look for operational efficiencies at the port’s existing container facilities and will emphasize investment and infrastructure improvements at Roberts Bank in Delta, BC. The port says roughly four million TEUs of additional capacity is needed to meet container demand forecasts for 2030. As part of the program, the port is also preparing a seven-round public consultation over six years, with First Nations consultations running parallel to that process.

4

and silt still accumulate. “Mother Nature keeps depositing sand and silt into the navigation channels and if the government doesn’t come in every year and remove it, over time the harbours will actually silt up,” says Fisher. “The consequence is that ships can’t operate in the harbour because the depth isn’t adequate.”

And that is hurting the shipping industry. It affects the economy and makes shipping much less efficient.

It also means shipping is more costly and those costs will have to be passed onto the consumer.

Nekvasil says shippers are having a difficult time getting by, literally. For the ships to make it through the channels and harbours they’re having to reduce their carrying capacity. If the lakes were dredged as they should be, Nekvasil says the biggest ships would be carrying 70,000 tons of iron >

Air cargo volumes up in Moncton For the Greater Moncton International Airport, 2010 was a healthy year. The airport reports a 5.2-percent increase in cargo with volumes finishing at 22,789 tonnes.

That’s compared to 2009 when the year ended at 21,730 tonnes.

MM&D | March/April 2011

www.mmdonline.com ore or coal. But last year the best loads just topped 66,000 tons.

So the industry is losing 5,000 to 6,000 tons on its biggest ships.

There have also been times when water levels were so low those same ships were only carrying 60,000 tons.

Nekvasil says the Great Lakes Delegation, which is made up of senators and members of congress who represent the eight Great Lakes states, will be heading to Washington to push for new legislation, Bill S.412, the Harbor Maintenance Act of 2011; and Bill H.R.104, the Realize America’s Maritime Promise Act or RAMP Act. Both bills, says Nekvasil, require that the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund be used on navigation infrastructure. The trust fund was created through the Harbor Maintenance Tax, which is a federal tax imposed on shippers based on the value of the goods being shipped through ports. The tax is placed in the trust fund to be used for maintenance dredging of federal navigational channels.

According to Nekvasil, the trust fund is “not coming back to us. It’s not being spent on dredging.”

“It boils down to sometimes we are not able to meet all of our customers’ requirements,” he says. “We have just so many days a year that we can sail and we can’t make ships go faster—they would burn so much fuel that it just becomes uneconomical.

And it’s not as if you can say ‘let’s make five more trips this year to carry as much cargo as we did last year, so kick her up a few notches.’ You can’t do that. Our backs are to the wall.”

MM&D | March/April 2011

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Publisher/Editor-in-Chief: Emily Atkins (416) 764-1537 emily.atkins@rci.rogers.com EDITOR: Michael Power (416) 764-1538 michael.power@rci.rogers.com MANAGING EDITOR: Deanna Rosolen (416) 764-1533 deanna.rosolen@rci.rogers.com ART DIRECTOR: Stewart Thomas (416) 764-1547 stewart.thomas@industry.rogers.com SALES MANAGER: Dorothy Jakovina (416) 764-1550 dorothy.jakovina@rci.rogers.com SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER: Catherine Martineau (647) 988-5559 catherine.martineau@rci.rogers.com PRODUCTION MANAGER: Karen Richards (416) 764-1688 karen.richards@rci.rogers.com CIRCULATION MANAGER: Celia Ramnarine (416) 932-5071 rogers@cstonecanada.com Rogers Publishing Limited President and Chief Executive Officer: Brian Segal Rogers Business & Professional Publishing Senior Vice-President: John Milne Vice-President, Financial Publishing, Brand Extensions & Online Services: Paul Williams Director of Audience Development: Keith Fulford (416) 764-3878 keith.fulford@rci.rogers.com Executive Publisher, Industrial Group: Tim Dimopoulos (416) 764-1499 Group Editorial Director: Lisa Wichmann (416) 764-1491 lisa.wichmann@rci.rogers.com Corporate Sales General Manager, Corporate Sales: Sandra Parente, (416) 764-3818 Web General Manager, Online Operations: David Carmichael, (416) 764-3820 research Senior Director, Rogers Connect Market Research: Tricia Benn (416) 764-3856 tricia.benn@rci.rogers.com How to reach us: Materials Management & Distribution, established in 1956, is published 8 times a year by Rogers Media Inc. Rogers Publishing Ltd., One Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto, ON, M4Y 2Y5.

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Supply Chain Scan Global Focus WWL opens heavy equipment centre in Texas Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL), the global shipping and logistics provider, has opened a heavy equipment processing facility at the Port of Galveston, Texas.

This is one of 11 high and heavy processing facilities operated by WWL, serving the processing needs of manuRSC-M&D Ad RockClimbing_HalfPage:Layout 3/1/11 2:00 facturers and forwarders of heavy rolling4equipment.

“These facilities allow manufacturers to store products closer to the end buyer, shorten delivery times and save on priority shipping expenses,” says John Felitto, EVP of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics Americas.

WWL’s centre at Galveston offers convenient access to ocean, rail and truck transportation. The facility can PM Page 1 accommodate storage for 7,000 units and provides other key services such as inventory management, inspections, repairs, preventative maintenance, cleaning and dealer distribution.

Achieve Peak Performance.

The facility is located in a ForeignTrade Zone, providing duty exemption on re-exports for units temporarily stored at the site, as well as deferral of Customs duty.

Rise to the Challenge.

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Know the Terrain.

Execution is Everything.

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Air freight sees surge in 2010 International air freight increased by 20.5 percent over 2009, according to annual statistics released by the Airports Council International (ACI) in March.

Preliminary traffic results, based on reports from over 900 airports worldwide, show cargo rose strongly by 15.2 percent over 2009. The recovery was strongest in the freight sector where all regions showed a robust doubledigit increase in tonnage, led by Asia-Pacific (up 18.6 percent) and Europe (up 17 percent).

Hong Kong is now the world’s largest cargo airport, up 23.3 percent from 2009 with 4,168,394 tonnes of cargo loaded and unloaded. Memphis, Tennessee was second with 3,916,937 tonnes, up 5.9 percent from the previous year.

Shanghai was third with 3,227,914 tonnes, a 27.1 percent increase.

“Passenger and freight growth clearly surpassed global GDP growth in 2010,” said ACI world director general Angela Gittens.

GDP growth projections for this and the coming years are high, creating a positive outlook for demand for air transport.”

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MM&D | March/April 2011

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Supply Chain Scan

HOS changes could have negative impact: CTA

By Deanna Rosolen

P

Innovative NEW Products from Buckhorn Canada The Productivity, Shipping and Storage Choices You Demand…

roposed changes to the number of hours truck drivers spend behind the wheel will have a negative impact on supply chains in North America, says the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA).

The US Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has proposed reducing the daily driving limit for truck drivers from the current 11 hours to 10 hours.

The FMCSA says the regulations are based on a scientific review and are designed to ensure truck drivers get the necessary rest to perform safe operations. The regulations are also meant to continue the decline in trucking deaths.

But the CTA, which sent a submission to the FMCSA, says the proposed change would add costs to the supply chain and could add one to three days to the transit time for US goods destined for Canada.

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The Port of Montreal has established an interim committee to look at the possibility of establishing a logistics and transportation cluster. Sylvie Vachon, the port’s president and CEO, is chairing the committee. Vachon says the initiative confirms Montreal and its port as a transportation hub.

“Creating this industrial cluster fosters the inception of promising projects for Greater Montreal,” she said.

Vachon noted projects underway on Port of Montreal territory will make it possible to raise the annual maximum container handling capacity from 1.6 million to two million containers by 2016.

As well, in 2010 the port completed technical studies on its Contrecoeur site, where it could expand in the future. This project could bring the port’s maximum container capacity to more than three million containers by 2018.

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MM&D | March/April 2011

Supply Chain Scan The change would also increase costs to consumers and businesses, says the US-based National Retail Federation.

Transportation costs could increase anywhere from three percent to 20 percent, depending on the retailer’s supply chain network and operations. And it would mean using more trucks to move the same volume of goods during the same time period.

The CTA explains that the proposed change could have a detrimental effect on carriers’ ability to truck US exports.

This in turn could have a negative impact on the manufacturing industry in the US. David Bradley, CTA’s CEO, also says that the systems, routes and schedules carriers use in shipping US exports to Canada have been designed around the current hours of service rules.

Bradley says the CTA agrees with the American Trucking Association’s position that truck safety is improving and the current rules are working.

FMCSA issued its proposal late last year and will issue final regulations by July 2011.

NWT highway project gets environmental review The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the Inuvialuit Environmental Impact Review Board will establish a review panel process for the environmental assessment of the proposed Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway project in the Northwest Territories.

The proposed highway project is a joint effort of the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, the Town of Inuvik, and the government of the Northwest Territories. The three parties are proposing to build, operate and maintain a 140-kilometre, all-weather highway from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk.

The agreement, announced in early March, outlines the terms and conditions of the environmental assessment.

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency says $300,000 in funding is available to help groups and individuals to participate in the environmental assessment.

MM&D | March/April 2011

Done Deals BMW has awarded Kuehne + Nagel a three-year contract to manage its Vancouver-based Regional Distribution Centre. The DC serves BMW dealers in western Canada. Kuehne + Nagel is providing a more than 88,000sqf warehouse, which can be expanded up to 108,000sqf. The site holds about 32,000 SKUs, stored in a three-storey mezzanine with shelving, cantilever and pallet racking.

Vancouver-based Westshore Terminals Limited Partnership and Teck have renewed an agreement for coal shipments. Teck will ship coal volumes of not less than 16 million tonnes per coal-contract year, increasing to 17 million tonnes with the possibility to do more—all at fixed rates through Westshore. The agreement will run for four years from April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2016.

Intermountain Healthcare, a $4.3 billion nonprofit health system, has selected Montreal-based TECSYS’s supply chain management solutions for its Hospital Supply Network that will enable Intermountain’s transformation to a self-distribution model.

Subject to the approval of the Norwegian competition authorities, Panalpina will acquire 100 percent of Grieg Logistics, which has 14 locations offering freight forwarding, domestic transportation, warehousing, distribution and customs clearance. All of the approximately 100 employees in the Grieg Logistics will remain with the company. Grieg Logistics’s CEO, Rune Birkeland, will support a seamless transition of Grieg Logistics core businesses into Panalpina’s current Norway organization while remaining with the Grieg Group. The acquired entity will trade under “Panalpina Grieg” for an interim period.

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Supply Chain Scan

Report breaks down top-tier logistics practices

What are top-performing firms doing to position themselves as logistics leaders?

T

Best-in-class distribution centre strategies

hat’s one of the main questions answered in a new report by Industry Canada, the Warehouse process training Supply Chain & Logistics Association Warehouse technology training Canada (SCL) and Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) called Global Business Information gathered with mobile devices and systems is updated in real-time Strategy and Innovation: A Canadian 0 20 Perspective.

More than 6,000 Canadian firms contributed to the report, in the manufacturing, retail, wholesale, energy, logistics and transportation services, consumer products, pharmaceutical, automotive and aerospace sectors. It looked at key aspects of logistics such as business models, global sourcing, distribution facility investment, innovation and an analysis of best-in-class, top-performing firms.

Best-in-class firms are the top 20 percent competing at the highest level in three areas: logistics networks, DCs and global transportation and visibility strategies. According to the report, top-performing firms are more likely to invest in the ability to collaborate electronically with networks of key suppliers (65 percent do this) and with key customers (56 percent do this).

As well, these firms are more likely to invest in software, training and technologies. The vast majority also use WMS systems (80 percent) and warehouse process training (95 percent).

Warehouse management system

Investment in distribution centres has also increased dramatically in Best-in-class Laggards Canada over the 40 60 80 100 past five years, according to the report. Between 2005 and 2010, Canadian firms saw an increase in DC investment from $674 million to $1.39 billion, or 106 percent.

Ontario remains the leader in DC investment with 32 percent of the total, followed by Alberta at 25 percent. The motor vehicle manufacturing industry is outpacing all other sectors in terms of distribution centre investment.

The report also notes that an increase in Canada’s international trade has led to growing port traffic, especially on the west coast where it jumped 592 percent between 1990 and 2010. That’s compared to east coast ports, which saw 83 percent growth in port traffic in the same time frame. MM&D

Benchmarks The Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC) has certified Kenco Logistic Services LLC’s Whirlpool Corporation distribution centre in Orlando, Florida. Being a WERC certified facility means an independent third party has conducted a facility inspection and process assessment. The program is voluntary and certifies an individual warehouse facility’s capabilities and its ability to perform core warehousing functions.

Lufthansa Cargo presented its Cargo Climate Care Award, worth 16,000 Euros, to young researchers, customers and staff for innovative ideas aimed at making airfreight more climate-friendly. This is the second time the company has presented the award at its environmental conference in Frankfurt. This year’s winners included: Austria-based cargo-partner GmbH, which won the customer category; Bernd Oberwinkler from the Montanuniversitat Leoben, who won the aircraft technology category; and Lucas Burgey, Joseph Geier and Erwin Kober from the industrial engineering faculty at Munich University, who won first prize in the logistics category.

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DSC Logistics, an integrated logistics and supply chain management company based in Illinois, has won Kellogg Company’s Top Gun Award for the fourth time.

The award is Kellogg Company’s highest honour, given to third-party logistics providers. It recognizes excellence in service, cost, quality and innovation in the retail category. Winning first place for the 2010 Top Gun were DSC’s Atlanta/Atlanta Annex Logistics Centers.

DSC’s Logistics Centers in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and West Jefferson, Ohio, finished second and third.

The Panama Maritime Authority has awarded the Panama Maritime Green Shipping Award to Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL). The award recognizes companies that are outstanding performers based on several criteria, including: developing environmental security and protection plans on an international, regional and/or national level; implementing technology to reduce maritime and atmospheric contamination; and establishing emergency strategies. WWL provides global shipping and logistics solutions for car, truck and heavy equipment manufacturers and specialized cargo.

MM&D | March/April 2011

Advertorial

Calyx Transportation Group Expertise + Experience = Smart Solutions

Calyx Transportation Group, a $250-million+ transportation and logistics firm with more than 1,000 employees across Canada, leverages leading-edge technology and its decades of expertise and experience to get your goods where they need to go at the right time and at a competitive cost.

“As a whole, we are more than the sum of Calyx’s many parts, so we can assist customers with their entire supply chain strategy to boost efficiencies and ultimately drive out costs,” says Dean Juliano, Vice-president, Sales and Marketing, Calyx Transportation Group, Concord, Ont. “Whether you’re moving product into, out of, or across North America, we will provide the most timely, cost-effective Calyx offering.”

Calyx helps its customers, which includes some of Canada’s largest corporations in retail, consumer packaged goods and many other industries, gain a competitive advantage with solutions that meet their challenges and align with their overall objectives.

In the past few years, Calyx has focused on the delivery of four core offerings through its brand-name operations to maximize the reliability, flexibility and transparency that our customers demand and depend on: 4PL/Transportation Management: Hyphen is a non-asset based 4PL and transportation management firm. Its consultative expertise, leading-edge technology and economies-of-scale allow customers to fully focus on their core competencies.

3PL/Warehousing and Dedicated Transportation capabilities: Our asset-based Indis and Muir’s divisions offer more than 1,000,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space Canada-wide with full pick, pack and ship capabilities as well as dedicated fleet/closed loop transportation offerings. Customized solutions interface with customers’ host systems to allow information to flow in real-time.

International Freight Forwarding: Euroworld’s long-term relationships with global steamship lines and air carriers gets your products to and from North America, while providing customized reporting, full shipment visibility and a proactive business management approach.

Ground Transportation: Calyx Ground Transportation Solutions can handle a single skid to a full load, by rail, road or expedited through our national terminal network. Since the consolidation of National Fast Freight rail and Totalline road services last fall, Calyx Ground Transportation Solutions is focusing on delivering continuous improvement and a wider service offering, while driving out costs to bring more value to our customers, says President Patrick Cain, who has more than 27 years of logistics and supply chain experience.

The streamlined company’s one-call, one-pickup approach, regardless of mode, delivers simplicity, improved processing and freight flow through our terminals. Callers get all of the necessary information from that first, single point of contact, then benefit from the efficiencies offered by an integrated technology platform (telecom, internet, email, track and trace), enhanced reporting capabilities including real-time information in customizable formats, and opportunities for simpler invoicing.

“We customize solutions to meet clients’ needs, whether it’s speed to market or the most economical option on your national TL and LTL shipping requirements,” says Cain.

Calyx is a unique, one-stop corporation that offers highlevel consultative, customizable management services in combination with a wide range of specific logistics and transportation offerings – all through its expert, experienced and dedicated divisions. In fact, Calyx Ground Transportation Solutions recently helped a large Canadian retailer reengineer its supply chain to achieve more than $1 million in annualized savings.

“Our customers appreciate how easy it is to do business with Calyx as well as our accountability to customer satisfaction and continuous improvement, which includes full KPI reporting and quarterly reviews,” says Juliano.

For more information on Calyx’s consultative, logistics and transportation services, please contact Dean Juliano at 905-761-3692 or deanj@calyxinc.com

Supply Chain Scan Movers + Shakers Miguel Baert is the new president with Mississauga, Ontario-based Katoen Natie Canada. Baert will oversee all of the company’s operating divisions and the more than two million square feet of warehousing capabilities at its Canadian facilities.

Mike Franczak, currently CP’s senior vice-president, operations, has been promoted to executive vicepresident, operations. Franczak succeeds Ed Harris who retired on April 1. Franczak will be responsible for operations across CP’s 23,680-km North American network.

Jim Eckler has joined Tompkins Associates, a North Carolina-based global supply chain and business strategy firm. Eckler is the former CEO of Toronto-based SCI Group.

Jim Eckler

Lynden International of Seattle has promoted Rob Clarke to international

CITT11E-PA02-profitability - OUT1 1

business development director for Canada and has hired Charles Odom as its new business development director for Oil & Gas. Clarke will be based in Toronto and will develop trade lanes between the US and Canada. Odom will be based in Houston and will help identify new opportunities for oil patch business.

Intelligrated has appointed Ryan Judge to sales account manager for Mississauga, Ontario-based Intelligrated Canada Limited. Judge will work with clients in the distribution and fulfillment markets and oversee system sales.

Ryan Judge

Port Metro Vancouver’s board elected Craig Neeser as its incoming chair in March. Neeser joined the Port Metro Vancouver board in 2009. He most recently served as chair of the major capital projects committee and member of the governance/ conduct committee.

3/9/2011 3:42:41 PM

Professional Development Directory Advertorial

What it means to be a designation holder A professional designation is one of the highest achievements a person can attain in their field. It signifies that its holder has completed a rigorous academic program and adheres to the highest professional standards. A few key elements of a professional designation are as follows.

Completion of a rigorous academic program: To attain your Certified Supply Chain Management Professional designation you must complete a three-year academic program. This program covers a wide range of SCM competencies and prepares you for success in senior roles. The competency-based learning allows you to benefit from real-world examples by analyzing cases.

Relevant work experience: Employers hiring someone with the Certified SCMP designation can be assured they have relevant, in-field experience. As a core component of the accreditation program, those with the Certified SCMP have a minimum of three years experience. Accreditation candidates must be working in the field while pursuing their designation, which allows them to implement new knowledge and provides an enhanced learning experience.

Ongoing professional competence: To maintain your designation you must continually update your knowledge and skill set. New practices and processes are emerging daily and you must stay at the forefront to remain competitive in your career. This ensures your employer has highly trained, enthusiastic professionals who are ready to drive profitability.

Membership: Part of maintaining your designation is membership with the association. Membership provides you with many benefits, including resources, networking, cost savings and latest news, and also provides your employer with the security that you are adhering to a strict Code of Ethics.

Choosing to pursue your designation puts you and your employer on the path to success. Not only do you receive recognition, the average salary for a Certified SCMP is $88,900 (Source: 2010 PMAC/Purchasing b2b/MM&D Salary Survey). Make a strategic career move and begin your pursuit of the Certified SCMP today.

For further information on the Certified SCMP or other Ontario Institute of PMAC education offerings, please contact info@oipmac.ca or 416-977-7566.

Invest in Yourself With the need for trained professionals at all levels in the field of Supply Chain Management growing, it is more important than ever to invest in yourself and your professional future.

Educational offerings include:

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Learn more at oipmac.ca or 416 977.7566 Do you offer professional development services?

Educators, professional associations and recruiters, this space is for you!

Find out about opportunities on this page.

Contact Dorothy Jakovina at 416 764 1550 or Dorothy.Jakovina@rci.rogers.com.

Can-do

Challenger Motor Freight hauls six giant beer vats for Molson Coors Molson Coors needed to move six massive beer tanks from the Port of Hamilton to Molson Coors’s Toronto facility. That meant travelling through six municipalities, affecting 250 stoplights and moving 1,614 service wires. Michael Power looks at the logistics and operations involved in the project.

W

hen Mark Sandrock of Cambridge, Ontario-based Challenger Motor Freight met with Molson Coors representatives in July 2010, he was amazed by what the beer maker was proposing.

Molson Coors was importing six enormous beer vats—45 metres long, eight metres high and more than seven metres wide, each capable of holding 1.4 million bottles of beer—from the Ziemann Group in Germany to Molson Coors’s facility on Carlingview Drive in Toronto.

Fortunately, Sandrock already had a few big moves under his professional belt. He had once been involved in a project for another beer company in which a convoy of trucks moved eight beer tanks from Toronto to London, Ontario.

But even with that experience, Sandrock was surprised at the scope of the project Molson Coors was proposing.

“It was beyond my belief of how much work it was,” he recalls. “It was that much more than the prior times that I’ve done this. It was more miles, more jurisdictions than I went through (previously).”

Sandrock showed the Molson Coors representatives pictures of the London move— roads closed with enormous tanks crossing traffic medians under hydroelectric lines—and told them to expect similar scenes.

14

To add to the complexity, the move was to take place within the Golden Horseshoe, the most densely populated part of Canada.

“They were asking if we could do it—if we could get this from A to B—and our reply was: anything is possible,” Sandrock says.

And it’s a good thing Challenger had a can-do attitude because by the time Molson Coors discussed the project with Challenger, the brewery was committed to importing the vats. In fact, the order for the beer vats had already been completed.

Permission Once Challenger agreed to take on the project, the company had to secure a permit from the Ontario Ministry of Transport (MTO). More permits had to be sought from individual municipalities through which the vats would travel, says Frank DeVries of Challenger’s superload business development division, who oversaw operations for the move.

As well, the company needed permission from phone and internet service providers to move overhead wires so the vats would have room to pass underneath.

DeVries wrote a 50-page traffic plan for the MTO

MM&D | March/April 2011

covering items like how Challenger would deal with issues during the move such as railroad and bridge crossings, crossing Ontario’s 400 series highways, how they would protect public safety, communications plans and plans for vehicle breakdowns and emergencies. The traffic plan also covered how many police officers would guide the convoy as it carried the vats (20 officers guided the vats while another 15 officers provided additional traffic control).

“The actual plan probably took about a week,” says DeVries. “But there’s a lot of work that goes into preparing it, investigating everything that you need. Once it’s submitted it has to be approved; minor changes need to be made.”

Along with the permit from the MTO, Challenger got permits from the municipalities of Hamilton, Mississauga, Halton, York, Peel and Brampton. Although the beer vats travelled on just a few roads overseen by the MTO, most municipalities wait for the ministry to grant approval before issuing permits of their own, DeVries says.

“Municipalities won’t issue their permits until they know that you have the Ontario approval,” he notes. “That’s sort of the benchmark. If you’ve got an Ontario approval, they all just assume that, OK, they can give you a permit because if you’ve got one from Ontario you’ve done your homework.”

The route Sandrock spent much of August and September mapping the route the tanks would take from the Port of Hamilton to the Molson Coors facility in Toronto. But there were unexpected changes during the planning phase.

MM&D | March/April 2011

Once, after a version of the route had been mapped out, a utility company announced it wouldn’t work. The route required a power shut-down, and one of the company’s customers couldn’t afford to lose power. Since a four-hour shut-down would have cost $70,000, Challenger decided to change the route.

“We’d spent all of September figuring out this route,” says DeVries. “Now it’s the beginning of October and they come back and say no, you can’t go that way because we have a customer who can’t be interrupted. So now, we’d start over.”

When the route was finally set, Challenger drivers drove the route in pickup trucks several times to get comfortable with the trip, says David Einwechter, general manager, special commodities with Challenger. As one employee drove, another two employees would watch while another took notes, he says.

During those trips, the drivers gauged how tight the corners were, took note of crosswalk signs and intersections and watched for other obstacles they might encounter while moving the tanks. The drivers returned to Challenger’s offices in Cambridge and discussed what they had encountered.

“It’s not something you just put on Google maps and say, alright, I want to go from here to here,” says Einwechter. “We would send the drivers who were going to do it. These guys know what they’re doing; this is what they do for a living.”

The meeting Both Sandrock and DeVries note that disbelief was the most common reaction from municipalities and service providers while trying to arrange the permits.

To counter this, Challenger held a meeting November 16th with more than 80 utilities foremen, police officers and others from affected jurisdictions.

“We brought them all into our training room and said here’s what we’re doing and this is our plan,” says Sandrock. “We had to talk them into it—we had to convince them that it had to be done.”

Until then, many of those he had contacted about the move still didn’t believe the project would happen, says DeVries, who gave a presentation during the meeting outlining the project.

“That meeting opened everybody’s eyes to the fact that OK, this is for real,” he says. “‘They’ve been talking about it for the last two months, I don’t really believe them, but now I’m in this room with 79 other people and it’s happening.’”

All the while—during the route planning and discussions with utilities companies and governments—the vats were on their way to Canada.

“We’re getting regular updates from the manufacturer saying they’re getting insulated today, they’re on the barge, they’re coming up the main river, they’ve arrived in Antwerp, they’re being loaded on the ocean vessel,” DeVries says.

15

The vats arrived at the Port of Hamilton on November 24. The convoy set off with them January 7, and getting them onto the trucks was easy compared to what lay in store for the team, says Sandrock.

As soon as the trucks left the port, the tanks had to clear railroad signals above the road with 24ft between them. The tanks fit through the signals, he says, but only just.

sion to move the lights from the MTO or whichever municipality was in charge of the road.

One of the final hurdles loomed in Toronto, as the vats reached their journey’s final leg. Challenger discovered they could save time and money by taking the vats through Woodbine Racetrack.

DeVries met with representatives from the raceWires track, who agreed to let the vats travel through.

The challenges didn’t stop once the beer vats were on the open road. One of “In hindsight it saved us probably four more the main hurdles the crew faced was dealing with service wires hanging above nights of driving,” says DeVries. “I explained to the roads. Many of the wires had to be moved so the vats could pass on the them what was happening and why I would like road. But each utility would move only its own wires, and wouldn’t touch to use their facility. They gave us the approval.” wires belonging to other companies. At times, four or five different utilities “Things happen like that as you’re going would have wires attached to a single pole. As well, the utility companies along,” says Sandrock. “You have your plan, changed as the caravan left one jurisdiction and moved into another. your basic plan, this is what we’ve got right “It’s not like there’s a list out there that says, OK, on this pole all those now—and then things change. You have to adapt wires belong to so-and-so, and on that pole, some of those wires are so-and- to them really quick.” so’s,” says DeVries. “I mean, you need to research all that yourself. There’s Unloading the vats and putting them in place no form to it whatsoever.” at Molson Coors’s brewery took only a day, says Wires hanging above the road were unhooked from the poles and placed Sandrock. By the time the vats arrived on on the ground, and then the trucks hauling the beer vats would drive over January 17, the convoy had travelled 108km the wires. The wires had to be unhooked from three or four poles in each through six municipalities. The move was direction to create enough slack to reach the ground. The convoy used special originally scheduled to take four nights, but pads that allowed the trucks to pass over without damaging the wires. ended up taking 10 instead.

“If they drop down this big fibre optic cable and you crush that cable, you’re “It was a challenge even for Challenger,” says talking about thousands of people with no internet—and that’s business,” Sandrock.

MM&D said Sandrock. Once the convoy passed over the wires, a crew would remain behind to re-attach the wires before police officers allowed traffic on the road Beer vats by the numbers again. At times, the process held up traffic for up to four hours.

• 6: beer tanks moved.

• 45 tonnes: the weight of each tank.

Day and night, night and day • 45 metres long, 8m high, 7m wide: Since the convoy would hold up too much traffic during the day, the trucks travelled between 9pm and 6am. By day, Sandrock says he would take care the dimensions of each vat.

• 70: the average number of people of much of the preparation for the following leg of the trip, such as co ordinating with utility companies in the next jurisdiction. travelling with the convoy each night.

• 4: the number of nights the move Before the trucks got rolling each evening, the convoy of 50 to 70 people would hold a safety meeting, which they called a “tailgate meeting.” was originally scheduled for.

• 10: the number of nights the “I’d say, ‘you’ve got to go see Frank and tell him what your biggest concern is that night,’” says Sandrock. “So a guy would come up to Frank and say, ‘I’ve move took.

• 108: the number of kilometres the got something I want to talk to you about.’ They’d make sure we’re watching for this or that.” tanks travelled.

• 250: stoplights affected.

DeVries began a Twitter account so those involved in the project could • 20: police officers guiding the convoy. stay up-to-date. But it was sometimes challenging to predict how far the • 15: police officers for additional beer vats would travel by the following day.

Winds and extreme cold during the move also slowed the convoy’s progress. traffic control.

• 6: municipalities the convoy The vats were even sidelined for an entire night—unable to progress at all— because Peel Region was concerned about the snow. As well, utility workers travelled through.

• 108: kilometres the tanks travelled needed extra time to warm up and staff was rotated more often due to the cold. At 6am on the final morning of the move, the temperature was -20C from the Port of Hamilton to Molson with a wind chill.

Coors Toronto brewery.

• 1,614: service wires lifted, raised or “It slowed everything down,” says DeVries of the extreme weather.

Signs, streetlights (hundreds of them) and poles also had to be moved from dropped to make way for the convoy • 8.4 million: bottles of beer all six the path ahead of time. In their place, crews erected temporary lights and signs held in place with sandbags. The following day, the permanent lights once tanks can hold. again replaced their temporary counterparts. Challenger had to seek permis16

MM&D | March/April 2011

news New pallet rules The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) is calling for enough time to prepare for rule changes governing the treatment of wood packaging materials (WPM) crossing the Canada-US border.

The US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has proposed amending regulations that would remove an exemption allowing WPM from Canada into the US without meeting treatment and marking

requirements—requirements currently applied to all other countries. Chemical or heat treatment reduces the spread of harmful insects.

In a submission to the APHIS, the CTA cautioned that there will be serious disruptions at the land border unless industry is given adequate time to prepare for the change.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency plans to eliminate a similar exemption for WPM entering Canada from the US.

CWB invests in ships The Canadian Wheat Board is purchasing two ships to move its wheat on the Great Lakes. The Board expects the two new lake vessels to add on average at least $10 million per year to revenue pools. Farmers will also benefit from more efficient grain movement through a renewed fleet. The vessels will be ready for service in 2013.

Viterra in discussions Viterra Inc is in discussions to lease and operate the Montreal Port Authority (MPA) Grain Terminal. The MPA Grain Terminal is a CGC licensed transfer elevator that operates year round and has a storage capacity of 262,000 tonnes. The terminal connects directly to both CN and CP rail networks. In other news, Viterra has signed a Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with CN and CP to improve logistical efficiencies in Western Canada’s grain handling system. The MOUs both focus on supply chain optimization. The parties want to establish specific metrics to measure performance in areas such as order placement and handling, country execution, transit and port performance.

New Product Temperature control If a power door on a cooler or a freezer should unexpectedly go down, the risk is high that product can be spoiled or damaged.

According to Zoneworks, its new Door Blanket offers a quick and affordable way to protect temperature-controlled items. The company says the Door Blanket can eliminate the exchange of air at the door opening when an air or automated door won’t close.

It also allows coolers and freezers to maintain consistent temperatures.

Kuehne + Nagel expands Switzerland-based Kuehne + Nagel is taking over two Colombian companies, Translago SAS and Agencia de Aduanas Excelsia Ltda, as well as Mastertransport SA of Ecuador. All three companies specialize in perishables logistics activities and together control approximately 75,000 tons of air export of perishables a year.

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W

hen Walmart Canada Corp opened its new fresh food distribution centre (DC) in Balzac, Alberta late last year, the company also introduced Canada’s most innovative and sustainable facility.

In fact, the company says it’s one of North America’s most energy-efficient DCs. The new 400,000sqf facility began as a concept 18 months ago, says Karin Campbell, a spokesperson for Walmart.

The company’s senior vice-president of supply chain and logistics was just in the planning stage for building the new DC when he challenged himself and his team “to build the most sustainable one possible, with the added challenge of delivering a return on investment,” says Campbell.

The facility—which will serve as a hub for fresh and frozen food destined for 104 of the company’s stores in Western Canada, from Manitoba to BC—cost Walmart $150 million to build, and boasts some hightech, sustainable bells and whistles. The company estimates the facility will be 60 percent more energy efficient than its traditional centres, and expects its sustainability features to help the company eliminate approximately $4.8 million in energy costs over five years.

Power sources One significant sustainable feature is hydrogen fuel cells, a pilot project for the company.

According to Campbell, the DC has a fleet of 71 material handling vehicles, which all use hydrogen fuel cells for power. Using fuel cells reduces C02 emissions from the vehicle fleet by 55 percent, or an estimated 530 tonnes annually, the equivalent of taking 101 passenger vehicles off the road per year.

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MM&D | March/April 2011

Sustainable with top-notch sustainability features Traditionally, says Campbell, these vehicles would have had lead-acid batteries as a power source. “You’d have to physically change out the battery and have it re-powered. So there was the downtime of the vehicle. Now there’s a hydrogen fuel station within the building and it takes a matter of minutes to refuel. So there are a lot of operational benefits,” says Campbell. “Also we didn’t have to build a large square footage area to house a battery changing facility.”

The facility’s motion-activated LED lighting is another significant feature. LED lighting doesn’t create heat, a benefit in a cooled-down environment. It also has instant on capability. “Typically, for safety reasons, a traditional incandescent light would have to be left on because in a cooled environment it couldn’t strike back on instantly. LED lights can,” explains Campbell. According to the company, using LED lighting will save an estimated seven million kilowatt hours of electricity over five years, and help it avoid an estimated $645,000 in costs over the same period. Per year, that’s enough electricity to power approximately 121 average-size Canadian households.

Cool it down In addition, the site uses smart refrigeration, which means it uses ammonia instead of ozone-depleting freon. That translates into a system that is 33 percent more energy efficient. Designed with a demand-response capability, the refrigeration system is also able to draw electricity during off-peak grid times. Waste heat from the system is used to keep the sub-floor frost-free in the winter.

Over five years it’s estimated that using smart refrigeration will help avoid approxiMM&D | March/April 2011

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Walmart’s new distribution centre in Balzac, Alberta boasts some high-tech sustainable features and will be 60 percent more energy efficient than its traditional centres.

mately $2 million in costs.

Campbell says the company custom-designed its dock doors and doorways. Traditionally, dock doors have windows. But the Walmart team deter-

mined that the window was a huge point of cooling loss in a refrigerated building, so it worked with the manufacturer and redesigned the dock door to eliminate the window. The company custom-designed doorways between temperature zones to be more energy-efficient, and it reduced the gaps between transportation vehicles and dock doors to minimize the loss of refrigerated air. Insulation was then installed in levellers, further reducing energy loss. Finally, electronic monitoring ensures that dock doors are not left open unnecessarily, while automatic doorways between temperature zones produce an airflow pattern that keeps different temperature air in respective zones, minimizing energy loss in refrigerated areas.

Walmart has also installed thermal panels and a 30-kilowatt wind turbine on the facility’s grounds, with another on the way. Campbell says it’s the company’s first wind installation in Canada. The two turbines will generate about 100,000kwh per year each, or enough electricity to power 40 homes annually. Sixteen solar thermal panels on the facility will provide energy to heat domestic hot water for use in offices and maintenance areas. The solar array will produce a peak of more than 205kwh per day, equal to heating the water of 20 homes with 40-gallon tanks.

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Global initiatives There are no plans to build another facility like this, but Campbell says there are plans to take some of the best practices and retrofit other DCs in Canada. Even competitors are interested, and Walmart has welcomed them, school groups and the community in to view the site.

The new facility and its sustainable features all comply with Walmart’s three sustainability goals, launched globally in 2005: to be powered 100 percent by renewable energy; to be a zero-waste business; and to sell products that sustain

Named Walmart Canada’s Store Delivery Carrier of the Year!

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MM&D | March/April 2011

Walmart has installed its first wind turbine in Canada at the Balzac DC. Another wind turbine is on its way.

resources and the environment. “Certainly we’re a company committed to being more environmentally sustainable, and for us this is a large step forward,” says Campbell. “It’s important to us because we’re not going to get to some of these goals tomorrow. It’s crucial to pilot and look at the viability of renew-

able energies and energy efficient technologies. So this [DC] is really an important living laboratory of sustainability to help us determine what more we can do down the road as a business.” MM&D

Freshening up the cold chain Pallet tags store information about products’ temperature

By Michael Power

K

eeping perishable food products fresh and avoiding waste—or shrink—presents a challenge across the supply chain.

According to a recent study by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), more than half the world’s food production is lost, wasted or discarded through inefficiency in the human-managed food chain. The study reports that up to one-quarter of fresh fruits and vegetables in the US are wasted between field and table.

Another study, this one by the University of Florida Research Center for Food Distribution and Retailing, says one-third of shipped produce is wasted annually, amounting to a loss of US$35 billion each year.

Santa Clara, California-based Intelleflex aims to cut the risks with a new suite of readers and tags. The company’s new HMR-9090 hand-held reader and FMR-6000 fixed reader work with its tags for wireless monitoring of products. The readers also offer extended reading capability allowing them to read through objects and obstructions, says Intelleflex CEO Peter Mehring.

The readers work with both traditional tags and Intelleflex’s TMT-8500 tags, which can store information about a product’s temperature.

Mehring says this allows producers, shippers, distributors and retailers to monitor the freshness and quality of products on pallets and totes as they move through the supply chain. “What we allow is our tags to be placed within the produce so you don’t have to unpack it to read it,” he notes.

“With the hand-held reader you can just point it at the pallets—even from five or 10m away—and still reliably read not only the ID but the temperature history to say what the freshness of that pallet of produce is.”

Intelleflex’s extended-capability readers have a longer range than traditional readers—up to 150ft for the hand-held version and 300ft for the fixed reader. This allows pallets to be read at a distance, or in environments that contain obstacles, says Mehring. “Often in a warehouse there’s a lot of obstructions and those pallets often contain 22

dense material, produce, water, liquids,” he said. “The ability to read through those impairments equates to long range. Reading at 300ft is sometimes equivalent to reading through a pallet of oranges.”

Rather than storing certain data on a database shared with other companies, the tags also allow other information such as waypoint data to be written onto them. “That waypoint data translates into accurate traceability at the tag level, not at the database level,” adds Mehring.

Retailers can use the tags and readers to see whether the goods they receive have experienced any temperature swings, check how fresh those goods are and whether they have travelled with the proper ID. The tags also provide more on-board tag memory, says Mehring.

Ruthven, Ontario-based Clifford Produce was one of the first companies to begin using Intelleflex’s suite of cold chain products during its initial deployment. The company produces field and greenhouse vegetables, including tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.

“This new technology gives us the capability to have real-time inventory visibility within our facility, on-demand, combining that information with overall traceability and quality management,” says Mike Glass, sales manager with Clifford Produce Sales at the time the company began using Intelleflex’s technology. “Our plans are to continue working with Intelleflex to empower us to manage our inventory on a first-expiring, first-out—versus first-in, first-out—basis.”

MM&D MM&D | March/April 2011

Hydrogen proves its worth

Genco ATC reaps the benefits of hydrogen for forktrucks

By Deanna Rosolen

T

wo and a half years ago, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Genco ATC began a pilot project with hydrogen fuel cell-powered forklifts.

The company used just two of the forklifts to gauge whether the equipment was worth the investment.

Turns out it was, and in February this yearGenco ATC unveiled a fleet of 27 hydrogen-powered forklifts at its South Carolina distribution centre (DC). Genco manages the 450,000-sqf DC for its client, Kimberly-Clark.

The unveiling was about more than the hydrogenpowered forklifts. Genco also revealed a hydrogen fuelling station that not only provides the facility with hydrogen fuel, but also provides hydrogen to government agencies to power their vehicles, says Pete Rector, Genco’s executive vice-president and chief technology officer. The fuelling station project is a result of collaboration among Genco, the county and state governments, and a number of commercial organizations. For Genco, it also meant an innovative way to share the station’s cost.

Rector predicts in five years the fuelling station will be a “pretty active place”, as other local companies have expressed interest in adding fuel cell technology to their forklifts or adding vehicles equipped with it to their fleets.

In fact, most experts in the field expect the fledgling industry to grow—though they’re not quite sure how quickly or by how much. Dave Ghosh and Alan Guest are with the National Research Council Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation, based in Vancouver. Ghosh is the director of science and technology and Guest is hydrogen and fuel cells national program coordinator.

Ghosh says there are about 18 companies in North America using hydrogen fuel cell technology in forklifts today. Ten years ago there were none. The latest statistics from the Freedonia Group, says Guest, show total world demand for MM&D | March/April 2011

hydrogen fuel cells was US$510 million in 2009. Ten years ago it might have been under US$20 million. By 2019, world demand for fuel cells will be approximately US$3 billion.

“It’s a very rapidly growing field,” says Guest. “Ten years ago there was a lot of expectation and a lot of promise but now in 2011 that promise is starting to be realized.”

Eric Jensen, director of new technologies, research and development for New Bremen, Ohio-based Crown Corporation, says five years ago in the US you could count all the hydrogen fuel cell forklifts “on two hands”. Today, he says, “there’s probably more than 1,000, which is really small potatoes compared to the rest of the industry. In North America there are about 90,000 electric forklift sales per year.”

Cost factor Adopting hydrogen fuel cell technology—including having hydrogen trucked in—over lead-acid batteries can be a costly proposition. To make the move worthwhile, companies do need a minimum number of forklifts and two or three shifts in their operations. For companies that can do it, the technology offers several advantages and, says Guest, companies can expect a return on their investment in two years or, at the most, between three and five years.

Fuel cells are more costly than lead-acid batteries. An average battery is about US$4,000, while a fuel cell costs 10 times that amount. But each forklift needs to have three batteries and each of those batteries will last about four years. Fuel cells need to be refreshed after three years, but the cost is much less. So over a 10-year span, companies may find the costs of batteries equal to the initial cost of a fuel cell.

For Genco, Rector says the technology fits with all three areas of the company’s sustainability policy: good for the environment, good financial sense and socially responsible. It also freed up valuable space in the warehouse, since the company could tear down the battery room. Now there’s just a hydrogen dispensing station on the wall.

Through the company’s pilot project, Genco also discovered the technology was much more productive than lead-acid batteries. As energy from the battery is used up, the forklift moves slower and lifts less weight. Hydrogenpowered forklifts, however, “stay the same for the entire shift”, explains Guest.

As fuel is used up, “you don’t have a decrease in capability”.

Forklift operators also don’t have to spend time changing batteries during their shift. Jensen says operators might spend anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes on a battery changeout. Rector adds that not having to change batteries means Genco has picked up 15 minutes to a half hour per shift.

“It doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s probably somewhere in the area of five percent productivity—which is pretty big,” he says.

MM&D 23

Working on the railroad Yard operations from the inside Bob Moore and Mike Barnard take the CN yard operations course and share the experience.

N

One of the key strategies has been to assemble groups of cars for destinations as early as possible so that they can be classified as a block in any given yard, or in some cases, bypass classification entirely. This has enabled the classification tracks at Taschereau to be reduced substantially over the past several years, freeing up valuable land for the intermodal yard, the automotive yard and office space for staff. Taschereau used to be a hump yard—a yard with a small hill in the middle over which cars are pushed to facilitate sorting—before the blocking of trains by destination reduced the need for very efficient switching of large numbers of individual cars. CN has optimized that system.

othing brings home the sheer physicality of the freight rail industry as much as watching a massive wheeled crane pluck a 40-foot shipping container off of an intermodal train in less than 10 seconds and place it onto a waiting flatbed truck in about as much time. Thirty tonnes of steel and merchandise yanked into mid-air with precision and an odd grace by a skilled operator and a massive machine.

In November 2010 we had the pleasure of joining a group of three CN staff members and six employees from IBM at CN’s Yard Operations Course at CN’s Taschereau Yard in Montreal. Running for two days, the program included overviews of the systems used to view incoming trains and schedule work, along with visits to maintenance sites, the intermodal yard, the automobile compound and locomotives and trains in the yard itself.

Fuel futures The course reflects the CN vision and philosophy: every employee is a At one edge of the yard are enormous tanks used railroader first. The company’s management and non-unionized professional to store diesel. A local fuel vendor fills them from staff maintain a significant level of cross-training in running their railroad. trucks. However, one of the CN attendees at the Not only is this a necessity to understand the business, it is also a sign of course, Mathieu Lefebvre, intends to change that. solidarity with those who oversee running trains day in and day out. CN’s Lefebvre was recently hired as a strategic fuel CEO and CIO are both certified conductors. buyer. Formerly a national petroleum fraud investigator, Lefebvre is eagerly exploring opportunities Gaining efficiencies to take advantage of continental diesel price arbiEverywhere we looked we saw evidence of efficiency innovations. Trains of trage. He’s establishing strategic contracts with a fuel cars were hooked up into blocks of 16, so that filling and emptying was smaller number of larger suppliers of diesel, buydone with a single hook-up, instead of 16 individual hook-ups. Double- ing in the region with the lowest cost, shipping decker automotive trains were pulled into the automotive yard in groups tank cars of diesel to yards across North America of 25 cars, the ends of the cars removed and ramps put between them, so and filling the yard tanks with cheaper diesel. that automobiles could be driven all the way through the train and out the CN has a few expense line items that are in the end, instead of each car being decoupled and unloaded on its own. billion dollar range and diesel fuel is one of them.

In the intermodal yard, cars were in blocks of three, four or five that A one-percent difference makes a substantial were permanently linked. CN is still working out the kinks on a prototype impact on real expense, so Lefebvre’s business container coupler—used at each corner of a shipping container to link it to cases are solid. He doesn’t have enough time to containers above or below it—that is self-locking and unlocking with gravity. implement all of his ideas, but was using the course Currently, each coupler is put on top of a container by hand, then after a to make more contacts and look at the situation container is stacked on it a worker manually locks each coupler. on the ground to validate his thinking.

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MM&D | March/April 2011

Safety saves more than lives Before attending the course, we had to acquire steel-toed boots and CN provided us with safety goggles, hard hats and reflective vests. As we entered the yard, we were given a safety briefing and tested on it. Some things were obvious, such as look both ways before crossing track or don’t put your foot between switching rails. Others wouldn’t have occurred to us without the briefing, for example, step over the rails not on them.

Staff and contractors who ignore the rules face stiff penalties including being banned from the yard. Originally, these safety briefings were delivered on the shuttle bus on a large-screen TV at the front. However, experience showed that shuttle passengers didn’t pay attention, so safety briefings became live and frequent. These measures do serve more than one purpose: in addition to keeping staff safe, every avoided accident increases CN’s efficiency.

Of course, all of this big iron depends on big iron of another kind: mainframes, servers and applications that provide specific and integrated views of all of the rail assets, customers and schedules. With each passing year, the data is getting closer to real-time with increasing analytics that assist CN and other freight rail organizations to run even more efficiently. This is where IBM and CN’s other partners have been contributing, and continue to assist.

A new approach The Yard Operations Course has helped CN office staff and vendors to gain increased insights into the real business of CN. CEO Claude Mongeau has a strategy of working more closely with customers to integrate with their supply chains. As one piece of this strategy, CN is now opening up the Yard Operations Course to its customers and their representatives, with the goal of finding opportunities for increased efficiencies through joint operations.

Training office staff, vendors and now customers in the fundamentals is not common in the rail business. This appears to be a wise investment of time and money as well as an innovative approach to developing best practices and being poised for growth.

MM&D Bob Moore is senior manager, IT business development & partnerships, Canadian National Railways (bob.moore@cn.ca). Mike Barnard is innovation and modernization leader, distribution sector, IBM Global Business Services (mbarnard@ca.ibm.com).

MM&D | March/April 2011

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Turbulence ahead A look at trends and challenges facing the air cargo sector

By Michael Power t’s been a bumpy ride for the air cargo sector in recent years. The sharp drop in business brought on by the recession hit the sector hard— perhaps more than other modes. A few years ago, excess capacity pushed freight rates down, while fuel surcharges dropped.

Today, fuel surcharges are up again and the economy is on the mend, while the spotlight remains on security issues. What does the air cargo landscape look like today?

I

Security Ruth Snowden, executive director of the Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association, uses words like “uncertainty” and “volatility” to sum up the state of the sector. While cargo will continue to move by air if there’s a need to ship goods quickly, the demands of security have added complexity to freight forwarders’ jobs, she says.

Some practical issues can arise through a lack of clarity on security protocol.

For example, if cargo crosses the US border to be shipped by air from Canada, confusion can result if an American shipper isn’t registered in the Canadian known shipper database.

“It causes a bit of a burden in finding out how to handle this cargo,” Snowden says. “Can we still handle this cargo? How does it get screened?”

With added security come additional costs that increase as security becomes tighter, says a. hartrodt Canada president Stephen Valentine.

While many look down the supply chain for places to tighten security, the only way to ensure cargo is secure, is at the location where the product is manufactured and packed.

“You can’t expect the forwarders to do your security cover for you,” he notes. “It’s the shipper that needs to have the regulations attached to what they do.”

Bellville Rodair’s North America CEO Jeff Cullen notes the challenge of ensuring cargo is secure before it travels, and once cargo is en route it’s too late to fix security issues. But challenges also arise trying to mandate security at overseas factories. Likewise, mandating security at the point of origin is tough.

“We can’t even agree within Canada—as to what the proper protocol should be, let alone trying to MM&D | March/April 2011

negotiate and agree between Canada and the US,” he says. “Try adding in a whole bunch of other countries. We’re a long, long way away from mandating consistency on a domestic basis, let alone globally.”

Also important is ensuring security measures don’t lengthen the travel time for cargo, he says. Some potential measures, such as X-ray screening for all cargo, would lengthen transit times beyond what’s reasonable.

“We’re going to choke global trade if that becomes worse than it already is,” he says. “You just couldn’t imagine having to put the amount of air cargo that moves around the world through the limited number of X-ray machines out there today.”

Rather than enacting 100-percent X-ray screening, Richard Koroscil, CEO of John C Munro International Airport in Hamilton, Ontario prefers known-shipper programs. Dealing with known shippers keeps air cargo moving rather than adding to delays, as screening would, Koroscil notes.

“That’s the whole advantage of air, that it can move quickly,” he says.

“We want to try to maintain that flexibility.”

Fuel surcharges Events in the Middle East, such as uprisings in Libya and Egypt, have pushed oil prices higher. While security now accounts for a chunk of air freight costs, fuel surcharges have also risen, says Cullen. That makes costing out air cargo shipments more complex, he says. The price to ship cargo from, for example, Toronto to London was once fi xed. Today, that rate has additional costs for fuel surcharges and security tacked on.

“We’re getting back to a point where the fuel surcharges are now greater than the freight rates,” he says. “That’s certainly a huge factor as far as the volatility within the air freight market goes. And it bounces around all over.”

Since air cargo is the most expensive way for goods to travel, shippers tend to cut back on it first when times are lean. With added complexity, cost and security pressure, how much cargo are shippers moving to other modes of transport?

In the past, when fuel surcharges increased, there has been a migration of cargo to sea freight, Snowden notes. Since 2010, steamship lines have adopted “slow steaming” to save fuel, which adds time. But when cargo can’t wait, shipping by air continues to play an important role in moving goods.

“While there might be an overall trend toward that modal shift, I think it’s really fluid right now,” Snowden adds.

Shipping by air is expensive, agrees Jamie Porteous, executive vicepresident of sales and service at Mississauga, Ontario-based Cargojet. But it’s also fast. Shippers will continue to rely on air cargo to get goods to their destinations as quickly as possible when it counts.

Internet shopping has meant an increase in goods shipped by air, Porteous says. As well, a stronger economy has meant more volume, and Cargojet even saw a record day during the Christmas season last year.

“After a number of years of feeling the effects of the economy (the sector is) optimistic they’ve turned the corner,” Porteous says. “Everyone in transportation suffered, and people were asked to reduce prices. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get back some of the concessions.”

MM&D 27

Legal Link | Marvin Huberman

You’re gonna work for who?

Restricting departing employees depends on the contract

W

hen employment and corporate relationships break down, concerns can arise about restrictive covenants, in which one party promises to refrain from certain actions.

Employers often put these covenants into employment agreements to limit employees’ activity after the employee leaves. They’re designed to protect client relationships and confidential information, as well as prevent former employees from competing in the same business, within a certain timeframe and area, and from soliciting the employer’s employees, suppliers or customers.

They’re also found in agreements between buyers and sellers. A buyer places restrictions on the seller from competing, taking away customers, or starting a competitive business.

In deciding whether to enforce restrictive covenants, courts consider competing principles in Common Law: freedom to earn a livelihood and freedom to contract. The court will try to balance the interests of the employer or buyer against the right of an employee or seller to earn a living.

The general rule is all restraints of trade are contrary to public policy and therefore void. But they can be justified, depending on public interest and other factors.

Anyone looking to enforce a contract must prove a restrictive covenant is reasonable. But the responsibility to show the covenant is against public interest lies with whoever doesn’t want the covenant enforced.

As well, a restrictive covenant can’t go beyond what’s needed to protect an employee’s interests, or anyone else seeking to uphold the covenant.

To decide if a covenant is reasonable, we must ask some questions: • Does the party relying on the restrictive covenant have a legitimate proprietary interest to protect?

• Is the restraint reasonable in terms of duration, geography and activities?

• Is the covenant against competition?

Different rules for different agreements The law distinguishes between restrictive covenants in employment contracts and those in agreements for the sale of a business. Recently, Canadian courts have ruled restraints on former employees will be enforced less consistently than on sellers of busiMM&D | March/April 2011

nesses, which are generally enforced. This is especially true when a buyer of a business has paid for a restrictive covenant as part of the business.

This was shown in a BC case in which a defendant started working for the plaintiff to whom he also sold some business assets. The plaintiff made it clear a restrictive covenant was needed for the deal. Years later, the defendant stopped working for the plaintiff, opened his own competing business and did business in the geographic area covered by the restrictive covenant.

The judge said the enforceability depended on whether the restrictive covenant was in an employment contract or was part of the agreement to buy a business. Although the former clauses were void, the latter ones were valid. The defendant was therefore liable for the plaintiff’s losses.

In another case, in Ontario, the plaintiff bought shares of the defendant’s insurance brokerage and the defendant agreed to a four-year, non-competition covenant. After working for the plaintiff for a couple of years, the defendant resigned to work for a competitor. Some of the plaintiff’s clients told the plaintiff to transfer their business to the competitor, and the plaintiff launched a breach of contract claim. The trial judge held the defendant breached the contract, since he did exactly what he had promised not to do. It didn’t matter that the clients directed the transfer, or that they were friends and relatives of the defendant.

A restrictive covenant must also be clear, with the Supreme Court of Canada recently saying an ambiguous covenant would be unenforceable. In the court’s eyes, it’s up to whoever drafts the clause to make sure it’s clear.

There can be other ways to enforce restrictive covenants with less risk, such as providing financial pros or cons to continuing the restricted activity. In one case, the plaintiff, a major shareholder, director and officer of the defendant, retired and sold his shares to the defendant. The defendant agreed to pay $300,000, on condition the plaintiff continued as the defendant’s fiduciary.

The plaintiff agreed to a five-year, non-competition clause. But before the clause ended, the plaintiff began working for the defendant’s main competitor. When the defendant refused to pay the plaintiff’s next annual instalment due under the agreement, the plaintiff launched an action. An appeal court held there was no inconsistency, and any restraint of trade in the agreement was reasonable.

This case shows another way to enforce restrictive covenants, giving anyone seeking to uphold a covenant an edge over the other party.

Enforcing restrictive covenants is risky. It requires a delicate balance between the competing interests of earning a livelihood and freedom of contract. To be enforceable, these covenants must be clear and unambiguous, and the restraint must be reasonable in terms of duration, geographic scope, and the nature of activities. These points can only be decided by considering the nature of the business and character of employment. As well, restrictive covenants should not go beyond what’s needed to protect the interests of the party seeking to uphold them.

Anyone who takes these points to heart is in a better position to say to a court: take this agreement and enforce it.

MM&D Marvin Huberman, LLM (www.marvinhuberman.com), is a Toronto lawyer.

29

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Learning Curve | Tracy Clayson

The value of doubling up

Long combination vehicles offer several advantages

I

n Ontario, long combination vehicles (LCVs) are classified as tractor-trailers pulling two fulllength trailers, with the entire combination not exceeding 40 metres in length. These combinations are already used in most Canadian provinces. In summer 2009, LCV operators in Ontario began a LCV pilot project—in co-operation with Quebec and other provinces—that allowed LCVs on specific highways to and from approved destinations.

As of February 2011, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) has made that pilot program into an official LCV program. To date, 80 permits have been issued to 40 carriers. This year, another 40 fleets will receive two permits each.

Those fleets consist of carriers, private fleets and third-party logistics providers in Ontario. No more than 100 trailers in the LCV project are in service during off rush-hour times on Ontario’s 400 series highways.

The Ontario Trucking Association co-operated in the launch for the LCV presence in Ontario.

Many of the participants in the program are hoping for an increase in the number of permits issued to expand their fleets. Hopefully, this will increase ROI and provide more service to their clients.

The MTO is expected to continue allowing LCV permits after a winter break, based on regulations that limit LCV use from December to February.

Allowing LCVs is advantageous to fleet owners, since it allows them to optimize their transport service by increasing freight-per-kilometre, reducing fuel costs and freeing up resources.

Doubling up truck freight capacity lets private fleets keep more of their trucking in-house, reduces the need for more staff and eliminates some of the need for outside carriers to offset volume demands.

While the maximum weight allowance on LCVs is the same as single trailer loads—63,400kg—many shippers with lighter loads can take advantage of the additional space and efficiency.

As well, for-hire carriers can offer a wider range of clients more service and flexibility for both LTL and full-load shipments. The MTO reports the LCV program is a success, with 20,000 LCV trips covering six million kilometres made in Ontario in 2010.

Increasing trailer combinations appeals to many fleet owners looking for a way to offset rising MM&D | March/April 2011

fuel, insurance, equipment and labour costs, along with increased emission control regulations. The initial investment in equipment, planning, proposals and training forced some carriers to decline participation in the program.

But for many fleet owners, LCVs represent a long-term strategy to increase productivity and tackle ever-present driver shortages.

Members of the trucking community in several provinces have suggested harmonizing the LCV permit process among provinces, a process already underway in western and eastern Canada. LCVs take more trucks off the road and force fleet operators to organize routes using off-peak schedules.

Multiple benefits Reports show LCVs have a 60-percent lower collision rate than single-trailer trucks. The extensive training and additional qualifications needed by LCV operators mean only transport drivers with a proven track record and clear driving history can participate in the program. Certified driver trainers with qualifications related to LCV fleets take trainees through extensive orientation and instruction to prepare them for this certification.

The LCV program has helped to professionalize an occupation that at times has suffered from a poor public image, as well as an unregulated and non-standardized training structure for licensing preparation. Carriers, private fleets and 3PL operators are subject to a higher standard than other road transportation service providers. Provincial governments have developed guidelines on equipment upgrades, dimensions, coupling and routing to ensure LCV operators follow standard operating procedures.

Hopefully, the future of LCVs will involve a Canada-wide network of interprovincial permits, but this depends on government approval based on safety ratings and public opinion.

What does the future look like for LCV fleet operators? According to one private fleet owner, LCVs have reduced the need for outside carriers.

But their use hasn’t brought a change in modes of transportation. The limited number of LCVs in operation doesn’t give trucking companies an advantage over rail and probably won’t impact the rail business. But LCVs are ideal for time-sensitive freight, for regular lanes not covered by rail and when intermodal doesn’t make sense.

Rail meets the criteria for reduced emissions and congestion, as well as reduced risks to safety. Still, trucking is the dominant shipping means and will probably continue to expand.

The Ontario government is pushing a green energy agenda and trucking has seen equipment upgrades to meet new environmental standards.

Government has recognized the value of trucking and industry members are ready to embrace efficient and effective solutions. Expanding the LCV program is a great idea and current participants have shown they’re able to meet the objectives for industry, government and the public: less cost, waste and risk.

MM&D Tracy Clayson (tracy@in-transit.com) is managing partner, business development, of Mississauga, Ontario-based In Transit Personnel.

31

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Materials Handling | Dave Luton

Ready for an oil price shock?

Recent events in the Middle East also affect DCs

F

or decades, we’ve been fortunate with inflation.

But recent events in the Middle East may mean an end to favourable times. Along with obvious influences on transportation costs, petroleumbased products have significant impacts on warehousing.

While petroleum cost inflation has direct influences on warehousing, indirect costs are also worth noting. For example, gasoline in North America is no longer 100-percent gasoline, but often contains five to 10 percent ethanol. The ethanol is commonly made from corn and should be immune to petroleum price hikes. But farms consume large amounts of fuel. The yield is also strongly dependent on fertilizer use, which has petrochemical components like ammonia.

Indirect market effects can also influence price, so let’s use ethanol as an example once again. Brazil is one of the world’s largest producers of sugar cane.

Sugar prices have greatly increased and, as a result, sugar cane is being diverted to produce sugar and Brazil is starting to import ethanol from North America, again driving up the price.

The typical warehousing budget consists of space and non-space (mainly labour and equipment) costs. Or, we can look at warehouse costs by dividing them into the areas of capital and operating.

Looking at these classifications, the following are the main areas potentially affected by a major oil price increase.

Capital The prices of roofing and asphalt—both new and replacement—are directly affected by oil price increases. Asphalt is produced from petroleum and the common tar and pea gravel roofing also has a significant petroleum component. Some forms of building insulation have a petrochemical base (Styrofoam) and while there are non-petrochemical substitutes many of these are energy intensive.

As well, although to a lesser degree, a wide range of other building materials, such as cement and steel, are affected by oil prices. This is mainly because of freight and energy costs.

Even some things that don’t normally spring to mind do, in fact, contain petrochemical elements. Windows, for example, can contain vinyl.

MM&D | March/April 2011

As well, many elements of office interiors and washroom finishing have plastic components. Some floor sealants and lighting elements also contain plastic. While each item may represent only part of a warehouse’s costs, collectively they add up.

Operations This can be divided into two areas. First is costs associated with space, such as the energy for heating and electricity. The second category is non-space costs, such as the price of equipment fuel. The space costs associated with heating carry the most significant price tag affected by the oil and natural gas industry. Electricity is usually produced by other forms of energy, although some petroleum-related energy (mainly natural gas) is used to cover power requirements during peak demand times. Propane is probably the biggest petrochemical element in the equipment field, aside from plastic used to produce various components.

Oil vs natural gas In the US, there is a significant market price divergence between oil and natural gas, as plunging natural gas prices have resulted from a shale gas boom. While oil prices have risen, natural gas has stayed flat.

Natural gas comes from organic matter within fine-grained rocks classified loosely as “shale.” Shale is very fine, with small pores. We haven’t been able to produce gas from shale because there are no pathways for the gas to escape fast enough. A new process that fractures the shale allows the gas to escape and be captured.

Shale gas has pushed down US natural gas prices to under US$4 per million BTU from their record high of US$13.69. A thousand cubic feet (mcf) of US natural gas once sold for a tenth of the price of a barrel of oil.

Now that gap has widened tremendously: one mcf of natural gas sells for a twentieth—or less—of the price of a barrel of oil.

Because of shale gas, some interesting differences emerge between warehousing and other logistics areas. While transportation energy sources are mostly petroleum-based, warehouses are not so dependent on this source.

With the exception of some capital costs such as asphalt and roofing, warehouse energy is mainly natural-gas based. Lift truck propane is more complex because it’s sourced both as a by-product of petroleum and natural gas production. Therefore, it’s price has increased this winter, unlike natural gas’s flat pricing.

Even warehouse energy needs like electricity production are mainly natural gas-based (for peak power) rather than petroleum-based. Thus, electricity should only experience limited cost inflation in the shorter term.

In my next column, I’ll examine strategies for dealing with petroleum inflation. For example, the owners of propane powered lift truck fleets have options both in the short and long term, such as switching to natural gas or hydrogen fuelling or electricity-based battery power.

MM&D Dave Luton (dluton@cogeco.ca) is a consultant in the greater Toronto area.

33

Firefighter | Ajay Gupta

Doing what seems impossible Establishing a Swiss DC without leaving Toronto

B

eginning in 1996, I worked for enterprise software solutions company Hummingbird Ltd (later acquired by Open Text Corp) as senior manager, corporate logistics and fulfillment operations. The company was thriving, and we were fulfilling over 200 customer orders a day on a same-day basis from a corner within the basement of the company’s Toronto headquarters.

In 1998 we graduated to our first proper distribution centre, located across the street. The new DC quickly evolved into an outstanding success.

In 1999, the company decided to open a secondary DC in Europe in order to bring customer service closer to customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and take advantage of tax incentives.

My team was tasked with commissioning the DC in La Chaux-de-Fonds, a remote village in northwestern Switzerland. This involved creating a new facility, hiring and training staff, decentralizing the flagship product family for the EMEA region and tweaking the model to suit EMEA conditions.

Other tasks included: implementing new logistics requirements for the largest distributor for North America; integrating, in record time, three new acquisitions into our DC operations; and managing the existing operations of Hummingbird, a demanding task by itself considering its profile as a prominent high-tech company.

We had to complete all this within one fiscal quarter. At the same time, our ongoing business realities included same-day or next-day order fulfillment; more than 11,400 SKUs—huge for a mid-sized software company— and 5,400-plus active SKUs (including intangible ones). There were also over 1,500 shippable SKUs, including 46 tangible SKU variations for one major product alone.

Product version rev-ups were done once a year, or more often, and were staggered across product lines, so the DC had to be virtually reinvented a few times a year. We had no boots on the ground in Switzerland, or any other resources, for that matter. To top it all off, as the company focused on integrating the three acquisitions, all discretionary spending was frozen.

That meant no travel between Toronto and La Chaux-de-Fonds. As well, executive guidance was virtually inaccessible.

Talk about being asked to climb Mount Everest, without oxygen, in your shorts.

My reaction was to go into a tailspin. I was tempted to visit the CFO, my immediate boss, and say what he was asking was impossible, especially considering everything else we had to deliver. Still, I wasn’t completely convinced, and decided to mull it over the weekend before throwing in the towel.

I was on pins and needles for the next three days. I came to believe what we would be doing was creating in Switzerland a smaller version of the DC we had commissioned in Toronto, with some tweaking, and our experience was relatively fresh. Maybe it was worth a shot.

The following week, I assembled a cross-functional project team, and coopted as much help as possible. I asked our North American partners for introductions to their La Chaux-de-Fonds counterparts. I spread my tentacles in every direction, seeking any useful information I could get, and leveraged external contacts I had accumulated over the years. These included the canton’s 34

Economic Development Agency in the La Chauxde-Fonds area and local logistics associations.

I empowered our logistics team with added delegation, so regular operations could continue.

I went into communication overdrive for three months within Hummingbird and with the logistics team, sharing regular and frequent updates.

Our corporate taxation manager, during visits to La Chaux-de-Fonds, had short-listed some potential sites. We called contacts and had them courier building blueprints to us. We also unearthed a Swiss-trained architect now based in Toronto. Within three days of getting the blueprints we’d come up with a high-level prototype design for our DC and tentatively selected a site.

Although the first design went through several refinements, we had made a breakthrough.

With help from the La Chaux-de-Fonds Economic Development Agency and a local HR consultant, we interviewed candidates, short-listed one, made him a tentative offer, and brought him to Toronto for one-month probation and training.

He was outstanding, and once back in Switzerland helped us hire other personnel. He eventually rose to director, fulfillment operations, and still works for Open Text today.

Only time can establish the ultimate success of any project. Our DC in La Chaux-de-Fonds continued to serve customers successfully for many years, virtually unchanged. It was moved to another Swiss region after 10 years of operation—solely for tax considerations. It survived the acquisition by Open Text and was eventually given a larger mandate.

It mystified me how the seemingly impossible had been accomplished, and with relatively minor scars. Then one day I stumbled on a program called The Power of Intention, led by motivational speaker and author Wayne Dyer. His message on the show was: contemplate yourself surrounded by the conditions you wish to create. We all have our challenges, but we can conquer them when dedicated people work together with a common vision and concern for each other.

MM&D Ajay Gupta, MBA, CITT, P.Log (ajay.gupta@sterlingagility.com) is co-founder and director of Sterling Agility.

MM&D | March/April 2011

ImagIne there’s no lImIt There’s more to what we do than simply transporting goods worldwide. We provide integrated global logistics solutions. We coordinate all the people involved all the way along the chain and ensure true visibility of operations. Needless to say, we take an environmentally friendly approach. And last but not least, we know how to be creative at a planning stage, and flexible through execution. In meeting these challenges, our imagination creates a world without limits.

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