An evening of overdue celebration and awards
The CILT Southern Section brought nearly 50 people together at The Loft in Christchurch late last year to celebrate the best and brightest in the logistics and transport sectors.
Against the backdrop of a challenging yet dynamic year, the event served as a platform to recognise outstanding contributions, innovative thinking, and excellence across the sector, reinforcing the vital role transport and logistics play in keeping New Zealand moving.
Southern Section Chairperson Dan Patrick says the event was a perfect example of the expertise and dedication the sector has.
“All of the award recipients should be extremely proud of their achievements – it was a brilliant occasion to celebrate their successes. It was also a great opportunity to play host to the Past President Diane Edwards, and recognise her contribution to the Institute over all these years.”
Young Achiever of the Year
The Young Achiever 2024 is Mitchell Simpson from Foodstuffs South Island. His role there is to ensure their internal food safety programmes are of the highest quality. This includes training and supporting warehouse leaders on food safety requirements, but also keeping senior management accountable for the impacts they have on Foodstuffs operations.
A key achievement was moving the process from being a “back of the mind” concept for staff to being a “front of mind” activity for the storepeople, transport, and management teams, including dealing with product recalls. Mitchell has introduced feedback processes, identification of potential improvements, and now proudly boasts the title of Product Recall Continuous Improvement Champion.
Rising Star Young Employee of the Year
Tayla Shaw, the Rising Star for 2024, is described as a standout professional by one of her clients. She consistently demonstrates talent, dedication, and an unwavering commitment to excellence in the sector, thus being an excellent ambassador for Sorted Logistics.
Her five-year career with Sorted encompasses customer service activities, spearheading a process to optimise the inbound stock build process for a major client, and developing and implementing measurable KPIs for all customers. She is regarded as a great mentor and role model for her staff and colleagues.
Best published article
Entitled Modelling Consumers’ Preferences for Time-Slot Based Home Delivery of Goods Bought Online: An Empirical Study in Christchurch, the article published in the international journal Logistics by authors Ashu Kedia, Dana Abudayyeh, Diana Kusumastiuti and Emeritus Professor Alan Nicholson was the winner of this year’s best published article.
The article investigates consumer preferences for receiving home deliveries during various times, such as early morning, morning, afternoon, late afternoon, and evening. The study was conducted in Christchurch using data collected through a survey of 355 residents.
The findings revealed that consumers preferred the late afternoon (3pm – 6pm) time slot for receiving home deliveries. The authors concluded that off-peak delivery options are less likely to be successful in reducing the number of unsuccessful home deliveries, transportation costs, traffic congestion, and pollution in urban areas.
The study also examined the factors influencing customer preferences for late afternoon deliveries, including age, educational qualifications, employment status, household composition, and online shopping experience. The authors suggest that further research should consider alternative delivery methods, such as delivery to local shops, locker points, car boots and unattended home delivery, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on online customer behaviour.
Sir Bob Owens Memorial award
Readers will recall the article about Chris Gunn’s award in the December issue, and the presentation of the award during a site visit to KiwiRail’s train control. It was good to be able to recognise Chris in Christchurch, his “home” Section. He was presented with the formal certificate and the miniature pin he will hold for life.
MITO / CILT Scholarship – Bay of Plenty
Krystal Brayshaw, a class V truck driver in the Bay of Plenty, is the winner of the MITO / CILT scholarship. Krystal, also a volunteer firefighter, is absolutely committed to training, not just for her work, but with Fire and Emergency NZ and the wider community. She already has an impressive CV of training and qualifications, is into power lifting, and her goals include training in dangerous goods classes in the future.
Diane Edwards hands Dan Patrick, Southern Section Chairperson, the trophy in recognition for the Section’s success in introducing the largest membership increase in the last financial year. Southern Section has won it three years in a row, since its inception in 2022.