Building the Future of Supply Chain

Before CEVA, I had a privileged role as the COO for Leidos, where we managed the Ministry of Defence (MOD’s) LCST (Logistics Commodities & Services Transformation) programme. We bought commodities and products for the Armed Services and distributed them all over the world while significantly reducing the cost base. Then, I was lured back into contract logistics into what was a really exciting vision for CEVA, which it has undoubtedly been since I joined.

You joined CEVA Logistics in 2022 – how has the business and your role changed during that time?

I reflected on this, and I thought ‘a lot’ is the short answer! Change is a constant element at CEVA, but the essential objectives haven't changed at all; they remain the same. These are pursuing growth through delivering excellence for customers and fulfilling colleagues. In my relatively short time here, CEVA has acquired three businesses, and my role has extended to a broader geographical area, expanding my responsibility to include CEVA’s operations in Ireland and the Nordics.

As your role spans the UK, Ireland and Nordics, how do you divide your time between these three territories?

It's inevitably about priority. It's also about presence, such as presence for colleagues and presence for customers. Whilst our largest revenue customers will always attract attention, I was always keen when I joined to meet the customers with more modest revenues with us but to whom CEVA is a considerable part of their supply chain. So, investing time, irrespective of geography, into those customers. The tangible evidence of what that is worth is when we do our team meetings. We take them to some of the most remote areas where customers and colleagues aren't expecting us to go. And that keeps the team honest. I am in the privileged role of leading this business with an incredibly experienced team, so I don't need to be everywhere. If I have the right people, which I have, I give them the autonomy to lead their businesses in the right way. I think we have the balance right, but I know I can always do more. You can never be in enough places to help share the message and the vision and, more importantly, to listen to colleagues and customers wherever you go.

On the Contract Logistics side of the business, how important is it to be able to offer and deliver sustainable operations? Is there a growing customer demand to help reduce the carbon footprints of their logistics activities?

Yes, it is very important, and customer demand only continues to grow. Sustainability has always been important to CEVA, and with advances in technology and logistics, there are more opportunities to improve sustainability. This is evidenced by more weight added to sustainability in tender processes now. It's really interesting when potential customers ask about our role in sustainable logistics. It tells you a lot about their own organisation and the general landscape of how businesses are growing in today’s market.

Overall, sustainability is a rising topic for many businesses. Some companies naturally gravitate in that direction, and others are pushed by legislation, with the Plastic Packaging Tax being an example. From there, businesses will look to 3PLs, certainly to CEVA, for assistance. We are in the privileged position of being in the heart of that part of the industry and being able to guide customers through how they can improve their Scope three emissions, which we're really keen to do.

CEVA has taken the next step in its journey to becoming net zero in support of customers around the globe through a suite of sustainable solutions. We call it CEVA FORPLANET. CEVA FORPLANET enables customers to reduce their overall environmental impact by leveraging low-carbon transport and circular economy solutions. CEVA is injecting technology and innovation into our sustainability approach, giving customers visibility on carbon emissions and alternative routes and transport options.

It is expected that logistics as a sector will be transformed by technological innovations. How has your business embraced technology and innovation in its operations?

Logistics has always been quick to embrace technology – from mechanisation right through to AI – and it always will do. But it must make business sense. It has to give you a return on investment, and there are always cycles of people chasing the next big thing.

But actually, at CEVA, we’ll make our decisions based on evidence and what we found recently is that we've seen real success with modular technology. So, we won’t only invest in huge-scale automation that may only deliver against the challenges of today and may not be as agile as business dynamics change. I think things like automated pick are obvious, but AI is undoubtedly coming to the forefront. It's on the front page of the papers, not the business section anymore. It definitely adds value through things like route optimisation, and it can quickly accelerate tasks, allowing colleagues to focus on a higher-value contribution away from more mundane activities.

Skills gaps, particularly for HGV drivers and mechanics, have been a long-standing issue in the industry. What recruitment measures has CEVA adopted to fill any skills gaps?

We have several targeted campaigns, such as our Warehouse to Wheels initiative, that aim to grow quality talent. It's a tried and tested method of taking colleagues who have spent some time in the business, enjoying the organisation's culture, and investing in them to fulfil their career in a place where there's need. So, there's an incentive for us to do it, and there's an incentive for colleagues to do it.

More importantly, it is about our culture, and we want to train our colleagues internally to fill a gap where our competitors are struggling. It is a war on talent; we use that expression often, and it's campaigns and routes to those roles where there's competition. Attracting talent is really important, and you can't do that simply by having a global culture that people can relate to; it has to be about the environment in which they work and the work that colleagues and the leadership teams do in their local communities. We also have integrated learning and development centres.

So, whilst we have, as you would expect an organisation of our scale to have, development programmes right across the board, we've also introduced learning centres in most distribution centres, where colleagues can choose subjects that are important to them, many of them supporting their career and fulfilling possible career opportunities. There are also learning opportunities outside of one’s career, where colleagues can learn things like languages in their spare time. These facilities are in the distribution centres in modest yet practical training modules within centres. It’s all about creating the right atmosphere where colleagues know that CEVA cares and wants to contribute to their career growth.

CEVA Logistics is a Gold Sponsor of the award-winning Generation Logistics campaign. How does your business benefit, in a wider sense, from its support of the campaign?

We're all fighting for that next generation of talent, and I think this is where Generation Logistics is interesting because the industry has come together to be a louder voice to attract a more diverse population. Within that louder collaborative voice, there's a competitiveness around. I think that's really healthy. But we see the value of coming together through Logistics UK with Generation Logistics and really supporting that.

What's it done? We've seen a real shift now across that diverse population, with more female leaders applying for roles because they're seeing logistics in a different light, through to the younger generation, of course. Generation Logistics has been able to present logistics not as a trucks and sheds type career because, of course, it isn't trucks and sheds. It impacts every single thing that everybody does every day. And when the youth generation has been brought up buying things online, well, that only exists because of logistics, and we've seen a real link to some of the more attractive things that we do with some of the attractive brands that we work with, and people have really picked up on that. I think it's about educating Generation Z that logistics really can be an industry that can fulfil all their career aspirations, whereas perhaps 10,15 years ago, it wouldn't have been considered.

CEVA Logistics works across 170 countries. How does this international dimension inform the company’s ethos?

The objective is to drive consistency but also leverage global scale capabilities. We know we've got a vast organisation with prestigious customers and talented colleagues across the globe, so how do we best use that to deliver local solutions for customers and really impact their businesses? Thanks to my colleagues in ground transportation and rail, ocean, air and finished vehicle logistics, if a customer comes to us and says these are my supply chain problems, we can fix all of them. That's said with humility and modesty because we wouldn't want to present to customers that we can do things they don't need us to do. But we need to listen to them and understand where we can support them.

That global scale whilst I can't deliver all those elements alone, what I can do with the global organisation's capability is bring that together to plug into customers in the way that customers want to be served. That's really important and we've seen real success working across the globe. Thanks to our extensive global network and local experts worldwide, we can help customers grow their businesses and streamline their supply chains. This advantage simplifies what is usually quite complex, allowing customers to focus on their business.

Our recently published M&A Insight Report shows that the overwhelming majority of respondents expect consolidation to continue over the coming year. What is your view on the trend for mega mergers between 3PLs?

There's been a lot of consolidation in the market over the past few years. CEVA has bought three organisations in the short time since I've been here. Integration has been at the heart of what we do at CEVA, integrating businesses and using that scale to quickly turn them into something beneficial for customers.

How do you see the wider industry evolving over the next 10 years? 

I think there will be continued consolidation in the market, but the market has to offer good competition for customers, so they've got a real choice; we're certainly keen to make sure that happens. That consolidation will allow you to deliver a scale and breadth of end-to-end supply chain solutions. Technology is going to play a considerable part – especially machine learning and AI – in allowing colleagues to fulfil their own career aspirations with actual value-added tasks. Take the mundane and give it to technology, allowing people to develop their careers with the business. 

Ultimately, the logistics industry will always be about people. People remain at the top of our agenda—attracting, developing, and retaining the very best people and world-class leadership to ensure customers and employees are inspired to contribute to this critical industry and attain incredibly rewarding careers is really important across the entire industry, especially at CEVA.