Spotlight on Supply Chain Resilience with Geodis

Like a series of precariously upright dominoes, when one facet of the supply chain is exposed to threat, the entire network becomes vulnerable… and just like that, many organizations scrambled to navigate the unexpected disruptions and remodel their supply networks in the wake of Covid-19.

One thing that was clear; many needed a better understanding of their supply base, their distribution and logistics operations - a clear differentiator in gaining a competitive advantage and financial rewards.

Geodis, a leader in the global transport and logistics industry, came out on top at the recent CIPS Asia Supply Management Awards 2021. The team in India rose up to the challenge in a swift and meticulous manner despite an immediate nation-wide lockdown to ensure businesses continue seamlessly and safely. Geodis impressed the judges with their best practices, solutions and outcomes. It was clear they would be in a lose-lose situation if they had not stepped up their service level to improve their supply chain lines. 

In this month’s spotlight, we speak with the team at Geodis Supply Chain Optimization, APAC. The team, comprising Terence Lee, Chief Procurement Officer APAC and Shivakumar Deshinamorthy , Process Excellence Manager APAC provide some inputs on their thoughts on the struggles, innovative approaches and processes in response to the lockdown, lessons learnt and of course winning such a prestigious award. 

Firstly, could you tell us more about the challenges faced with the onset of an immediate nation-wide lockdown in May 2020?

When India first announced the lockdown with less than a 24-hour notice, it did not allow much opportunity for the management & operational staff to make any arrangements with our suppliers and partners. Their offices too were forced shut and there was no movement or business activities allowed for anything deemed non-essential. Even when certain requests were made to these suppliers or partners, there was uncertainties such as if it was legal to carry out certain work processes amidst the lockdown. The new rules were unclear with many roadblocks throughout the states and major restrictions at ports and railways. It was challenging to contact the suitable government officials and intermediary logistics-related officials to get the various permits and clearances, when the modus operandi was for the authorities to say “No movements at all!”

What were the innovative approaches and processes Geodis took to meet customer requirements to continue current business processes as well as to assist customer with providing acute logistical support to make possible for the Work from Home (WFH) model to be effective and productive?

We stepped up our service levels in the Logistics 4-PL space and came up with innovative solutions and processes to meet customer requirements and delivered the shipments successfully to the recipients across India through:

• Immediate and daily communication to customers and key stakeholders that we were in control of the situation by providing necessary timely updates. This was critical in keeping our customers calm and confident that through our firm professionalism, that we would do whatever it takes to provide the best efforts to meet the requirements of our customers.
• Our crisis-management personnel and BCP protocols were rolled out to manage the various risks that were evolving, including possible widespread infections within a certain department, disabled internet accessibility and infrastructures such as power supplies and highways. We continually ensured our workforce was safe and meeting the staffing needs at various key process link points, with the ability to continue communicating timely to ensure deliveries for our customers.
• Modifying and streamlining business processes to save time and to operate effectively in the uncertain scenarios which was expected in the days to come.
• The right messaging to our key suppliers, who were cooperating with us in providing the services for the movements, as well as the authorities, who held the decision-making rights to allow cargoes to pass through. The messaging had to be crafted with high level of precision and detail to highlight the true urgency and necessity of our movements of equipment to the various locations, many of which had to travel inter-state as well.

Despite all the challenges, what kept the team at Geodis going through the tough times?

Firstly, our commitment in always trying our level best in meeting our mission of providing our clients and stakeholders with an effective and efficient Procurement Value-Adding Service that matches with Best-in-industry standards and practices. Secondly, believing in our own management capabilities and the professionalism of our ground staff. The fact that the team knew that no effort will be spared in assisting our customers, was well aligned, and it was highly motivating to ensure successful deliveries to our customers. Thirdly, Higher management from Paris, Singapore and India lent their support throughout the crisis. The thoughtful messages of support to keep ourselves safe, to look out for our family and community and by offering quick advice and approvals for key decisions where strategic changes in managing the work flow or other actions were essential and necessary.

How did winning the award impact the team at Geodis?

Winning such a prestigious industry-respected award from CIPS definitely made our brand name more well-known. It solidified our reputation as a reliable, effective and trustworthy business solution partner in the 4PL space, exemplifying our expertise in helping customers improve their efficiency, profitability and their own customer satisfaction. In addition, we accept this award with full acknowledgement and gratitude that without our customers, our suppliers and stakeholders who believed in us, we would not have succeeded in doing what seemed extremely challenging then with the widespread lockdown.

Winning gratified all the efforts, which were put forth by our staff in India as well as other geographies. Being a winner has also lifted the staff’s morale and served to encourage Geodis to do even more for our customers, for whom we exist to serve.

What other lessons can logistics supply providers take away from this experience?

1. Every employee regardless of their position should always show empathy towards one another within the organization and all whom they come into contact with.
2. Keep working on your BCP to include new risks and creating innovative solutions in tackling both the older incident possibilities and upcoming challenges. Work with customers to come up with combined BCPs and crisis management process flows. By doing so, lessons and best practices learnt from during Covid would not be lost.
3. Find new innovate ways to meet customers’ requirements. Do not be afraid provide new solutions even while contracted to meet current requirements. Be the pulse of any digital transformation and provide ideas for the customers. The benefits would certainly be mutual and most likely build much better relationships in the long run.

Can you comment on how Geodis response to customers has built their trust and satisfaction?

IBM has indicated on many occasions on how appreciative they are of our impressive commitment , collaboration with them and immense ground effort to transport their equipment to various locations, as this maintained their commitments to their customers. We believe this must have been a major reason which led to them to extend their global contract with us, as it displayed them having tremendous confidence in our service levels to IBM.

What tips can you share in the post-pandemic world of supply chain?

The shortage of key supplies in the various industries impacts everyone. To minimize such situations to happen again and drive up global demand for some key components, there must be concerted efforts from all players in the supply chain to diversify current options; such as warehousing solutions, transport lines, production locations and raw material sources. These steps would greatly reduce over reliance on certain locations for certain products due to the current ease of availabilities, perhaps due to cost reasons. We witnessed the China-US political disagreements causing trade sanctions between them and it exposed supply chain vulnerabilities for many industries globally.

Every company in the logistics space have to invest in their risk assessment tools and personnel to relook at their supply chains for the post-pandemic world, as the challenges that would arise from possible re-infections of new virus variants and other new challenges would require a new batch of solutions to mitigate, and digitization of various business processes would certainly go a long way to aid the companies in overcoming the challenges and always staying clear of the “reactive” phase and being ahead in terms of their preparedness for the future state.

(Geodis Supply Chain Optimization Team, APAC)