CEVA Logistic: Change of name, not quality

Malaysian Business, Jan 16, 2008

CEVA's contract logistics and Eagle Global Logistic's (EGL) freight management operations have come together in a combined company that offers integrated and competitive end-to-end supply chain solutions for its customers around the globe. The new company has more than 50,000 employees and operations in more than 100 countries.

On 2 August 2007 CEVA merged with EGL, and on 30 November 2007, EGL also adopted the CEVA name. The new organisation will operate globally under the one brand: CEVA.

CEVA Logistics is a leading global logistics and supply chain management company. It designs, implements and operates complex supply chain solutions on a national, regional and global scale for multinational and large local companies. The Freight Forward business, formerly ran by EGL, has been a leading non-asset based global transportation, supply chain management and information services company, dedicated to provide flexibility and fewer shipping restrictions on a price-competitive basis.

John Pattullo is Chief Executive Officer of CEVA Logistics. Appointed on August 2007, Pattullo, who is based at CEVA headquarters in the Netherlands, has spent most of his career working in supply chain management with Procter & Gamble. He held a number of different positions with P&G in five countries, including managing the UK logistics operations, running a manufacturing plant in France, heading European purchasing and logistics, leading supply chain (manufacturing/quality/logistics/purchasing and engineering) for Asia and, in his last role, running the 9 billion (RM43.48 billion) supply chain for the P&G global beauty care business.

Pattullo left P&G for Exel where he was the CEO of the 6 billion (RM29 billion) EMEA division (freight forwarding and contract logistics). When Exel was acquired by Deutsche Post/DHL, he then ran the Euro7 billion (RM33.83 billion) combined Exel and DHL contract logistics business..

UNITY, GROWTH & EXCELLENCE

It has been five months since Pattullo took over the helm of CEVA and since then has spent as much time as possible talking to people in the organisation and customers, and "listening and learning". Pattullo has captured his observations in three themes that will characterise CEVA's future efforts, operations and culture: unity, growth and excellence.

He considers unity to be imperative for CEVA's immediate and long- term future: "We are a new company, born from the former TNT and EGL. I believe it is vital that we act as a single, integrated entity. First of all, our customers need to feel their business is safe and in good hands. And secondly, since we are smaller than many of our competitors, we can't afford to waste time and resources on internal inefficiencies. We need to function seamlessly, to punch above our weight, and to act as a single company, with a single vision and a single strategy, in which everybody knows how things are done and in what direction we are going."

Both freight management and contract logistics are critical areas for our financial success. That's why we have established a very important key account management program, in which we assign a designated global key account leader to each of our top 100 accounts - representing over 50% of our business - who coordinates the growth of business in that account. Each of them is backed by a senior executive sponsor, often from the executive board, who can unlock issues and give support where necessary,"adds Pattullo.

CEVA has also established a new team, called the `Big Deal Team', who will work on the one-off opportunities that emerge in the market occasionally and for which it is sometimes difficult to mobilise resources. Furthermore, we have set aggressive new targets and made them granular so each business unit has a clear picture of the numbers and expectations. And to tie it all together, we have also put in place new, sharper reporting procedures on our growth results."

And thirdly, Contract Logistics is in the early stages of deploying its programme of operations excellence. The programme centres on four building blocks: the continued implementation of the Lean methodology, the development of new Smart Solutions, the development of Zero Defect Start- ups, and the establishment of Standard Global Metrics. These programmes have recently seen 50 CEVA Lean experts train over 450 managers from over 20% of their sites, 10 major Smart Solutions sold and installed, implementation of 68 Zero Defect Start-ups, and 120 sites standardising their KPIs with 100% targeted for completion by end 2008.

In Pattullo's view, further deployment of the programme, and extending it to freight management, will play important roles in CEVA's future. "The program is better than anything the competition has. When we roll it out, it will be a key point of competitive advantage," he said.'

INTEGRATING CEVA ASIA PACIFIC

Following the merger, the company has adopted a single accountability approach to drive both the CEVA and EGL business units in Asia Pacific (AP), which resulted in the appointment of Vittorio Favati as chief operating officer for AP. With more than 15 years' industry experience, Favati moved to Singapore in 2001 to take on the role of executive vice president for EGL's Asia Pacific business. He was named president of the company's international business in 2005, and took on the role of president for EGL's Asia Pacific business in 2006.