The third European Supply Chain Day 2016 took place on Thursday 21st April, and was celebrated with record participation numbers and featured the biggest names in the supply chain sector.
With over 20 participating countries and 450 events across the continent, the UK’s participation played its part in making the third annual European Supply Chain Day the biggest to date.
The UK’s contribution is facilitated by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) and this year the day featured numerous events, presentations and online initiatives, held in line with the day’s motto: Logistics paves the way.
The Institute is responsible for encouraging academic organisations, prominent professionals and leading supply chain companies in the UK to host and attend events focussed on demonstrating the success of the industry and to make students and young professionals aware of the opportunities available to them within the supply chain industry.
The day’s events included: a student-led conference at the University of Huddersfield; a presentation by Gartner at the CILT Corby Office: also at the Corby Office, Plotr gave a presentation about careers in logistics; the University of Northampton in conjunction with DHL, XPO Logistics and John Lewis, hosted a careers day to promote opportunities in the sector; and SpringTide presented to members at CILT about driving the value chain all the way to the customer.
Elsewhere, CEVA Logistics invited students aged 14 to 17 from Stephenson College, Coalville, and Sir Frank Whittle Studio School, Lutterworth, to play the CILT-sponsored board game: Business on the Move, and to have a tour of its Centre of Logistics Excellence at its UK head office in Ashby de la Zouch.
John Lewis Distribution Centre in Northampton hosted 30 students and 2 teachers from Kingsthorpe Primary School, who took part in a site tour, participated in activities in their direct to customer area and watched machinery demonstrations in the Stock Area.
CSfD visited The Hazeley Academy in Milton Keynes and worked with A-level business studies students to organise a The Apprentice-style challenge to work out the most cost-effective route of delivering goods from one part of the country to another.
Bill Acres FCILT, European Supply Chain Day Champion, commented on the importance of the day. He said: ‘Logistics is not a particularly well-known profession and this initiative has been introduced to raise awareness of the many opportunities in our sector.’
Kevin Richardson FCILT, Chief Executive, CILT, said: ‘European Supply Chain Day is a great initiative to promote our profession, as well as to raise awareness of the vast and diverse career opportunities for school-leavers in the sector. I am pleased to see that events took place all across the UK, with a particular focus on young people and students. This annual event is truly gaining momentum and I look forward to growing this initiative next year.’
Rebecca West, Marketing Co-ordinator, CILT, orchestrated the day’s activities here in the UK and said: ‘European Supply Chain Day is a great initiative to raise the profile of the logistics and supply chain profession. It was excellent to see so many organisations get involved this year and I would like to thank everyone who took part and made this year’s event a huge success.’