Inside out 2016 issue 1 (English)

GOSSELIN MAGAZINE

May 2016

n

issue 1

Horizon 2020 Ready for the future

Are you IN? Gosselin Group on LinkedIn

From Russia with love Gosselin Mobility at the Foreignerslife exhibition

FOREWORD

Dear colleague,

We are proud to present the first issue of Inside Out, a new in-company magazine for all Gosselin employees. This magazine will help you stay up-to-date on important news and learn interesting facts about our company.

It will make our operations transparent, so that everyone will have a clear idea of what Gosselin stands for. It will also introduce you to the people behind the employees.

We will continue to post messages on the intranet. The intranet is ideal for urgent messages and personal details. This magazine offers a platform for longer articles, detailed background information and great images. We will also make sure that employees without a computer can read Inside Out.

We hope this magazine will come to be the voice on the phone

CREDITS Volume 1 - no. 1 - 2016 Inside Out is a magazine for all employees of the Gosselin Group and appears three times a year.

Layout Micha Verbruggen

that you recognize but can’t put a face to; a bit more of a coworker, in other words. And that your co-worker will become more of a person, and together, we will become more of a group.

This is our goal.

Happy reading,

Editing & project management Dirk Van Der Borght Editorial board Anne Van Gils Ann de Schutter Photography Stefaan Van Hul

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Marc Smet

@Gosselin

THE HOURS JUST FLY BY Interview with Werner Peeters In every edition of Inside Out, we turn the floor over to co-workers who tell us about their experiences working for Gosselin. For this first issue of our magazine, we decided to interview warehouse supervisor Werner Peeters.

Werner works in the military warehouse in Deurne. Every day, wood crates arrive here, packed with the personal belongings of American soldiers who are moving. “My day starts at 5:00 in the morning,” he begins. “We start unloading the trucks, measure the crates, and move them to the warehouse. After that, we make a plan for loading the crates that have to be shipped. I really love this work. There is a lot of variation in this job. Even though I work long days, the hours just fly by.”

Werner started working here seven years ago, and has since worked his way up to warehouse supervisor.

“I first found out about the company from my father, who was also warehouse supervisor here. I found my professional challenge at Gosselin. There is also an excellent dynamic within the team. There are six of us, and the group works really well together.

We are always willing to help each other out, and jump in when necessary.”

Reliable, flexible and honest When we ask him to describe Gosselin in three words, Werner says he doesn’t have to think too long.

His answer? “Reliable, flexible and honest.” “Over the past few years, we have made tremendous progress when it comes to professionalism and safety. Gosselin used to be a family business. It still is, but the work is done in a much more professional The man behind the colleague manner now. A few new Werner is 39 and lives in Schelle. Soccer is his hobby, and he coaches an indoor people have joined us soccer team. He is also a passionate cyclist. “I try to cycle to work three days who have made a posia week. It’s about 11 miles. I don’t have any problems finding a good balance tive contribution to the between my work and private life. Gosselin is flexible about hours, leaving me company’s operations. enough time for myself and my family.”

You can tell that the comWe would like to take this opportunity to thank Werner’s father, Mon Peeters, pany is growing, and that for his years of service at Gosselin. He started working here in 1990, and recently also makes my job a lot retired. Enjoy it, Mon! easier.”

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HORIZON 2020 Gosselin is getting ready for the future

HORIZON 2O2O

Stephan Geurts Sr., Guido Van Nuffelen and Ann De Schutter were there at the inception of Horizon 2020.

“We have experienced incredible growth in the past few years. Unfortunately, the organizational structure hasn’t always kept up with this evolution. Today, the Gosselin Group consists of around 40 companies,” Stephan Geurts Sr. tells us. “We aim to present a single, strong company to our customers, consisting of two divisions: Gosselin Logistics and Gosselin Mobility, both of which offer a broad range of professional services. In order to support these efforts, we are launching a new project called Horizon 2020.”

“It goes without saying that the company has experienced major growth in the last 30 years. Gosselin evolved from being a Belgian company offering local services to an international company with 32 offices. Gosselin used to be a moving company; these days, we also offer logistics services in addition to our mobility activities.

The number of employees has also risen substantially.”

Stephan Geurts Sr.: “A plan for the future” “We deserve to be very proud of this rich history,” Stephan conti-

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nues. “But in order to make further growth possible, we can’t be afraid to take a critical look at our company, and take new steps. We are bundling these steps together under the name Horizon 2020. This is a plan for the future we are all involved in. Here are a few of the Horizon 2020 projects we will be rolling out: defining our mission, vision and values; establishing a clear organizational structure; determining everyone’s responsibilities; preparing business plans and a greater focus on our internal and external communication.”

Horizon 2020 “It’s a pretty tall order. All of these improvement projects will demand attention and energy from all of us, but I am confident that Horizon 2020 will help make our company a truly well-oiled machine.

The official starting shot was fired during the management meeting on April 28. Future editions of Inside Out will contain progress reports, and further details on each of the individual projects.”

selin’s vision, mission and values.

This document describes what we hope to achieve as a company, how we plan to achieve our goals, and which efforts are necessary to do this. This basic outline was then presented to and discussed extensively by management during three workshops. We now have a final formulation of our mission, vision and values. In the very near future, we will further communicate the mission, vision and values, and every employee in the entire group will be involved.”

Guido is also active in other Horizon 2020 projects. One pilot project involves our container ter-

Ann De Schutter: “A positive evolution for the company” The Gosselin Group organizational structure was also introduced at the management meeting on April 28.

“The most important image on our organogram is the one that shows the two divisions and lists the services each offers,” HR Director Ann De Schutter tells us. “The organogram makes the company structure transparent. Everyone will now have a better understanding of where they are in the organization, and a greater sense of involvement will develop with the company.”

“Horizon 2020 is an umbrella term for a vast array of improvement projects that are in the pipeline. I hope GOSSELIN GROUP / General Structure

Version 1.1 / 2016

GOSSELIN GROUP Legal Counsel

3.1. FACILITY MANAGEMENT

2. LOGISTICS

1. MOBILITY SALES

3. SUPPORT SERVICES SALES

1.1. RELOCATION

2.1. CUSTOMS

3.2. FINANCE

1.2. MOVING

2.2. FORWARDING

3.3. HUMAN RESOURCES

1.3. CONSOLIDATION & EXCESS BAGAGE

2.3. LASHING & SECURING

1.4. SELF STORAGE

2.4. TERMINAL OPERATIONS 2.5. TRANSPORT SERVICES

Network: Western & Eastern Europe, Caucasus & Central Asia

2.6. WAREHOUSING 2.7. INDUSTRIAL PACKAGING

3.4. IT

3.5. LEGAL & RISK 3.6. MARKETING & COMMUNICATION 3.7. QHSE

2.8. CONTRACTING FIS/ NVOCC 2.9. INDUSTRIAL PROJECTS

Guido Van Nuffelen: “Everyone will be involved” As an organizational development consultant, Guido has been involved in the creation of Horizon 2020 since the very beginning.

“During the summer of 2015, I got together with management to put together a basic outline of Gos-

minal, and will ensure better coordination between the activities at the wharf, the warehouses and the office. Guido will supervise the improvement process for this project. There is another project in the works that will allow us to better anticipate our customers’ expectations.

that everyone sees the positive side of this. Gosselin is an exciting, growing company that is undergoing major changes. It is a company that constantly sees opportunities, and creates them. It is always possible to take new steps here, and that’s a really great feeling.”

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G osselin Mobility

THE AMBITIONS OF GOSSELIN MOBILITY Sales meeting 2016 On February 22, 23 and 24, sales staff from all the domestic and international offices met at the Gosselin Mobility offices in Antwerp for an annual meeting. During this informative three-day event, the existing friendly ties were strengthened and new ambitious plans were devised.

“We held the first sales meeting last year in Budapest,” Jaff Van Durme says. “We had noticed that there wasn’t very much communication between the offices, and wanted to change this for the better, initially by getting to know more about each other. I am proud to say that we suc-

ers. The objective of this sales meeting in Antwerp is to take it all a step further, and turn these good intentions into concrete business plans.”

The starting shot has been fired On Monday morning, CEO Marc Smet welcomed all those present,

der Wijngaard explained the ways our marketing department can support sales. He placed a major accent on the positioning of Gosselin Mobility as a strong brand, and encouraged everyone to engage in more conscious customer segmentation. There are four customer groups at Gosselin

Chantal Pas, Jaff Van Durme, Guido De Ryck, Arie Jan van der Wijngaard and Luc Premereur provided the practical content of the sales meeting.

and emphasized the importance of smooth communication and teamwork between all of our offices and branches. The starting shot for an exciting three-day event had been fired! This was followed by presentations from each country, outlining their business plans and targets.

The goal is to achieve an overall increase in sales of 7% next year.

On Tuesday morning, Arie Jan van

Mobility: companies, diplomats, private individuals, and our partners or agents. He also recommended putting more effort into the diplomats and companies segments since these have the potential to represent larger projects and repeat business. Michael Cazalet, head of the division, also emphasized the potential the Relocation Management Companies offer. These are companies that manage the mo-

ceeded in achieving that goal. After the sales meeting in Budapest, more information about customers was shared, and a more pro-active approach was taken to our custom-

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bility activities for the top 500 multinationals, thus offering the chance to sign significant contracts.

Getting to work!

The presentations and the theoretical portion of the event were followed by a few workshops. These sessions enabled all of the participants to share their ideas on topics that concern Gosselin Mobility.

Chantal Pas gave a workshop on relocation services, Arie Jan gave one on corporate gifts, Luc Premereur focused on diplomats, and Olivier Ravon zeroed in on customer focus. These workshops met with very positive reviews.

In the early afternoon on Wednesday, all the participants were introduced to several Gosselin Group business units they might not have been very familiar with before, such as the legal and forwarding departments. Around 12:00, Stephan Geurts Sr. closed the event with a few final motivating words: the ambitions are there, and the expectations are very high. It was time to put it all into practice.

We would like to thank all of the participants for their efforts during the sales meeting, and we wish everyone the best of luck in achieving their goals!

Gosselin Mobility’s offices are located throughout Europe.

An informative three-day event

An impressive group of participants from Italy, Russia, Poland, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, the Netherlands, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Belgium.

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Social

media

ARE YOU

?

Gosselin on LinkedIn The Gosselin Group maintains a profile on the social network site LinkedIn. You can follow, like or share the messages posted there.

LinkedIn is an online platform you can use to expand your professional network. Gosselin also has a profile on LinkedIn. We use this channel for posting information on the company, and to share information about Gosselin with our customers, suppliers, employees and anyone else who’s interested in Gosselin.

What kind of information will you find here? Announcements about our presence at trade fairs, a success story about a unique partnership, and natu-

Follow us on LinkedIn: like, share and follow rally also any job openings we might have.

Would you also like to be able to see posts from Gosselin? If so, go to www. linkedin.com and log in (or create an account if you don’t have one yet). Fill in “Gosselin Group” in the search field

Do you know any news about Gosselin that could be posted on LinkedIn? If so, please send them to Dirk Van Der Borght in the Marketing & Communication department.

He will handle the editing, and post it on the LinkedIn profile.

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at the top right of the screen. When you see the page with the company profile, click “follow”. It’s that easy.

You can also fill in Gosselin on your profile as your employer. Normally, the company logo will automatically appear in your profile when you do this.

dirkvdb@gosselingroup.eu

Trade

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

fairs

Andrey Khomenko and Christina Likhovid welcomed numerous visitors from more than 30 countries.

Gosselin Mobility at the Foreignerslife exhibition The Foreignerslife exhibition was held in Moscow from February 5 through 7, and was the first Russian exhibition for expats. Naturally, our colleagues from Moscow were there, ready to welcome the numerous visitors and provide them with information.

People planning to live in another country usually have so many questions. Not only do all the practical aspects of the move have to be arranged, there is also all sorts of paperwork to take care of, from visas to social security and tax issues.

The Foreignerslife exhibition was

including potential customers such as ambassadors, business people and private individuals.

While Andrey, Christina and Sylvia provided visitors to the Gosselin booth with information, a packing employee demonstrated how he packs customers’ personal belon-

The Foreignerslife exhibition was held to help expats in Russia held to help expats in Russia. It was the ideal opportunity for our Russian colleagues to introduce themselves to more than 2,000 visitors,

gings. The Gosselin corporate video played in the background, leaving a major impression on anyone who came to the booth.

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G osselin Logistics

YOU LEARN THE MOST ON THE WORK FLOOR Interview with Siebren Van Mechelen Gosselin Logistics offered internship positions to the International Transport and Logistics program. The partnership with education immediately led to the recruitment of one new co-worker.

Siebren Van Mechelen (no relation to Walter Van Mechelen, editor’s note) recently started at the Gosselin Logistics division as a member of the forwarding export team. “Originally, I worked as a manual laborer at a port terminal. Although it was a positive experience, I still wanted more,” Siebren tells us.

“I decided to take my career in new direction with the International Transport and Logistics program. This new program was an initiative taken by several schools, businesses and associations in the Antwerp area to offer a solution to the rising number of job openings in the logistics sector.”

Two internships are a key require-

ment in this program. “Even though you can acquire a lot of knowledge in a classroom, you learn the most on

and interesting, and there is a good click with my co-workers.”

That click was felt from both sides.

Gosselin’s multifaceted nature makes the work interesting the work floor,” Siebren continues.

“I decided to do my internship at Gosselin because the multifaceted services the company offers really appealed to me. It turned out to be a good choice. The work is exciting

After his internship, Siebren was offered a temporary contract as a junior forwarder, giving him the chance to get to know the company even better. We wish him the best of luck at Gosselin!

The forwarding export team “The export team is responsible for the shipment of goods all over the world,” Lieve Donckers, team manager, explains. “In most cases, this involves full containers, but we also offer breakbulk and RORO (Roll-on, Roll-off) services. The shipments are carried out on the orders of companies from Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Switzerland. We also get orders from our global agent network. One day it might be a shipment of food products, and the next, carpets or a load of steel. The diversity of goods and destinations is what makes the job so varied.”

From left to right: Siebren Van Mechelen, Annie Depooter, Kim D’ Hulste, Lieve Donckers, Frank Mentink, Gene Dierckx and Ellen Deruelle.

News

VISITORS FROM CHINA On March 11, a delegation of logistics experts from three transport companies from Chongqing paid us a visit.

With around 30 million inhabitants, Chongqing is one of the most important economic centers in China. A presentation given by our logistics division and a tour of one of our corporate sites was followed by an interesting discussion focusing on imports from China, one of our areas of specialization.

ORIENTATION FOR STAFF

From left to right: Granel Issanbaiev (seated), Andreas Kruger, Arno Antheunis, Marija Kirkovska, Sylvia Antwi, Glen Bauwens, Jessica Claro Morejon, Tim Jacobs, Sophie Noë (Human Resources) and Stefanie Wijnen.

On March 24, employees who have started out in the past few months were given orientation training. This is a new effort from Human Resources to initiate new employees into the ins and outs at Gosselin.

The early afternoon started with presentations given by Stephan Geurts Sr., Ann De Schutter, Marc Beyers and Nathalie Luyckx. Later in the afternoon, Sophie Noë and Peter Vandegoor took the dozen trainees with them to see Gosselin’s corporate site in Deurne. Once there, they were given detailed information on the self-storage facilities for consumers, the various warehouses and of course the container terminal.

NEWS TO REPORT? Do you have any news to report, or would you like to give us your feedback on the contents of Inside Out? You are always welcome to do so.

Let us know what you think!

THE

EAM

Dirk Van Der Borght would love to hear your input and responses: dirkvdb@gosselingroup.eu

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Marketing

LAUNCH OF NEW WEBSITES Gosselin recently launched two new websites.

One website for the logistics division www.gosselinlogistics.eu

One website for the mobility division www.gosselinmobility.eu

Be sure to take a look. Happy browsing!