Investing in ‘human systems’ the way to go

While many companies are either retrenching or putting a freeze on employment, people are the best “systems” for the job, believes Deon Botha of Globogistics. “One can go a lot further with the right people, backed up with proper procedures and simple user-friendly systems that address the customer’s needs, not our own,” he says. Proof of the power of people is that the company has grown to the point where it offers all modes of transport to almost every corner of the globe. It also provides the services of in-house logistics departments to its clients, handling the entire logistics process from purchase order to proof of delivery. With the focus on people over systems, Globistics is able to implement an average of one new value-added initiative a week. “Improvements regarding transport use alone are an ongoing exercise, not just in terms of cost, but service as well,” says Botha. “Frequencies, routing, transhipments, lead times and external changes come into play – especially when one works with time-sensitive cargo with demanding deadlines.” Globogistics has also moved away from the days where additional costs are simply passed on to the customer. Should there be any additional costs (for example standing time or storage) the aim would be to recover these from the responsible party.