Our people realize more than anyone else that J. van de Put is a link in the supply chain in which work has to be swift, in accordance with Customs regulations and high standards of quality. Capitalizing on new regulations and developments in our sector means a constant need for innovation and improvement. For that reason we have started a project with the motto: Forward with Van de Put! This project is the driving force behind all improvements required to remain a progressive logistical partner, now and in the future.
The logistics industry for handling perishable goods is changing considerably. Increasing scale and mergers on the part of our customers are resulting in larger companies who are setting the bar ever higher; a greater degree of professionalism is expected, but this has to be supplied at more competitive pricing. Keeping the coolchain closed and increasing the reliability of supply chains is resulting in closer cooperation with logistics service providers and other links in the chain. Even Customs and other government bodies are setting increasingly tough requirements in terms of compliance with regulations and electronic communication.
In response to these changes, we chose to start focussing on operational efficiency at the start of 2010. This means that we want to be modernizing our processes constantly, using automation and new technologies, and have a higher degree of collaboration with logistics partners and our customers. All this should ultimately lead to us working more efficiently, living up to our expectations even better and leading the way in our sector technologically. In order to achieve all these improvements, we have launched the Forward with Van de Put! project. This project constitutes the master plan behind all our efforts towards improvement.
This project has already led to a variety of new initiatives, of which you the customer are reaping the benefits. Thus far we have linked our internal logistics system to a track & trace service. This enables you to track the status of your shipment online at any time. We have also opened a new warehouse to speed up and improve freight handling processes at Schiphol. In addition to this, collaboration with logistics partners is continuously being improved, which is resulting in an increase in harmonization and a reduction in the number of errors. All these points together are resulting in us becoming increasingly efficient; we are delivering increasingly high quality at exceedingly competitive rates. This way, we are coming closer and closer towards perfecting operational efficiency. And obviously this is something you will benefit from.
All staff champion the project. Each month topics are put forward which are brought to everyone's attention and provide subjects for discussion. Some of the topics that were passed in review over the past few months are speed, flexibility and temperature control. These subjects are discussed in all departments and we examine what each department can contribute towards improving work around that topic. In this way we keep the project alive and we can come up with beneficial improvements around the topics.
