New Breed

A collaboration between the National University of Singapore and the Georgia Institute of Technology, the Logistics Institute-Asia Pacific (TLI-Asia Pacific) provides the best of East-West expertise through aca­demic, outreach programs and exec­utive courses such as its Dual Master program in Logistics and Supply Chain Management.

“We can’t emphasise enough, the importance of logistics and supply chain education for the successful achievement of new innovative models and processes for the indus­try in our increasingly complex landscape,” TLI-Asia Pacific execu­tive director Robert de Souza tells Logistics Magazine.

“Asia has a complex geography and regulatory environment in which the presence of large, consol­idating multinational logistics organisations is consistently chang­ing,” de Souza says.

“If we also take into account the socio-cultural diversity of the region and a gener­al lack of readily available logistics-related skills, we get a highly vari­able adoption rate or penetration of new logistics systems and technolo­gies.”

“Regional complexities such as trade flows, soft and hard logistics infrastructure, trade agreements, multiple levels of economic maturi­ty and dynamic political scenarios represent challenging aspects to consider for the creation of a glob­alised supply chain,” de Souza explains.

“It must also be said, that rapid developments necessitate a new breed of logistics professional, who is increasingly expected to have a firm grasp of all these issues- as well as practical solu­tions- for their customers

Robert de Souza says TLI—Asia Pacific works closely with govern­ment agencies, industry and thought leaders to build long-term partnerships that promote supply chain innovation and foster talent across the region.

The Institute’s most recent col­laborative research agenda has focused, among others areas, on the development of disruptive-risk miti­gation models and practices within Asia.

“Our impact analysis study of risk factors in supply chain man­agement provides insight into issues around risk assessment and a framework for prevention and mitigation strategies to deploy,” says TLI-Asia Pacific director for Industry Research Mark Goh.

According to Goh, emerging industry trends and new interna­tional regulations are producing a strategic priority shift away from cost reduction, network optimisa­tion and profit maximisation towards carbon emission reduction, service level improvements and value creation.

“This new scenario requires an innovative strategic framework for global commercial organisations to work across the supply chain in a more pragmatic way,” he says.

“Further recent research from TLI—Asia Pacific analyses the caus­es and the impact of on-going con­solidation in the Asian logistic landscape.

With the increasing number of mergers, acquisitions, joint ven­tures, partnerships and strategic alliances between logistics service providers this impact is signifi­cant,” Goh says.

“A third area of research includes the designing of green supply chain networks that are aligned with international regu­lations.”

Goh points to global outsourcing, increased competition, innovation, economic and environmental con­cerns which are currently carving a new space for the Asian industry.

“Highly networked, dynamic organi­sations with global reach are prov­ing to be early innovators,” he says.

“They’re creating market opportuni­ties and making the competition irrelevant.”

In August this year, TLI-Asia Pacific will launch THINK Executive, a new think tank to debate ways to address critical emerging issues in the Asian indus­try landscape.

Assistant director Strategic Industry Liaisons Manuela Mercandelli says the sum­mit will bring together a strategic line-up of key senior executives, supply chain thought leaders, aca­demia and government agencies.

“We are confident our neutral posi­tion will assure a platform for the highest level of interaction, exclu­sive knowledge sharing and devel­opment,” she enthuses.