Greg May, who left his position as president of leading US car carrier Jack Cooper Transport last August, has moved into a new role as president and CEO of Car Delivery Network (CDN). CDN provides real-time information on outbound vehicle movements via cloud-based applications for shippers and carriers. May said his goals in the new role were for the execution of CDN's startup in the US and to position the company to become the "de facto standard" of automotive logistics information networks.
"The founders of CDN have a vision I share and believe in - a network that will afford users visibility of their vehicles, connectivity with shippers and carriers, and optimal efficiency," May told Automotive Logistics News. "It is a tool the auto logistics industry has needed for several years and now CDN is positioned to deliver, in a very cost-effective manner."
Talking about his decision to leave Jack Cooper May said it was a matter of timing and opportunity. Having been with company for 17 years and president from 2005, he said he felt it was a good time to pursue a new career direction. "When the opportunity to exit presented itself, it was clearly the right move for me on a personal and professional level," he said.
Furthermore, he said his leadership role at Jack Cooper had allowed him to develop excellent relationships with most of the OEMs, as well as a number of the logistics service providers in the automotive sector.
Commenting on May's new role in the company, CDN's managing director, Wayne Pollock, said that " to execute the CDN vision, the founding directors, who have business technology backgrounds, fully understand the requirement for both world-class technology and experienced, industry knowledgeable professionals. People will play a key role in transforming the automotive logistics sector into a modern and efficient industry," added Pollock, "and Greg May is the first of many who will join the CDN to fill key positions in this rapidly growing company."
Last November CDN secured its first customers in North America for a networked transport management system (nTMS), the first cloud-based system to be made available in the region. Greg May will be instrumental in the full launch and execution of the CDN in the US said Pollock, adding that the company is focused on bringing value to vehicle delivery through the consolidation of finished vehicle movements, re-marketing, daily rental and dealer deliveries, as well as the de-fragmentation of the supplier marketplace.
Trevor Mann, currently senior vice president, manufacturing, supply chain management, production engineering and purchasing for Europe at Nissan International, has been appointed senior vice president, Global Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Operating Committee - Africa, Middle East and India (OC-AMI).
Mann joined Nissan in 1985 and was team leader on the establishment of the UK Sunderland plant. He was awarded a CBE in the Queen's New Year Honours List in January 2012.
Elsewhere at Nissan, Toru Hasegawa, currently president of Nissan Motor Asia Pacific and Nissan Motor (Thailand), and regional vice president, Asia & Oceania Operations, has been appointed corporate vice president, Africa, Middle East and India (AMI).
Katia Bednikovs, formerly manager of South America logistics and indirect material purchasing at Lear, has taken up a new position as materials and logistics manager for South America Region at Johnson Controls, based in Brazil.
"The main challenge is to strategically improve international and domestic logistic flow/supply chain with quality, customer satisfaction and cost reduction," Bednikovs told Automotive Logistics. "I'm counting on my experience to be very successful to accommodate all three ingredients."
That experience includes more than 16 years experience in the automotive industry. Bednikovs started with Lear in 2001 and previously worked for both Tyco Electronics and Metagal.
Ceva Logistics has appointed Frank Chevret as senior vice president for France, reporting to Northern Europe president, Leigh Pomlett.
The company said Chevret will be responsible for building a strong organisation and further developing supply chain solutions for new and existing customers.
Chevret has 25 years of experience in the global transport and logistics industry during which time he has held several senior positions with major supply chain providers including Danzas, Exel Logistics and most recently DHL Supply Chain. He has worked in the US, Morocco and Eastern Europe.
"We are delighted to welcome Franck to Ceva's team," said Pomlett. "We are certain that his expertise in the logistics industry and his leadership will be crucial to further developing our activities in France. Supported by a team of qualified professionals, he will play a critical role in establishing best practices and industry-specific solutions that will enable solid business growth."
GKN Freight Services, which focuses on transport and logistics services for the automotive and aerospace industries, has appointed Rob Van Hoof as European road freight manager. Van Hoof has wide experience in the European transport market including supplier management, procurement, logistics network and distribution management according to the company.
Van Hoof will take overall process ownership of all road freight operations within Europe including strategy, procurement and supplier management.
GKN said that 60% of consignments in Europe are for Tier 1 suppliers' inbound materials and that through its locations in Offenbach, Le Mans, Florence, Milan, Irun, Vigo and Birmingham, the Freight Services division manages a schedule of over 1,000 vendor collections per week for consolidation either by road into their clients sites throughout Europe or for deep sea consolidations despatched weekly to North and South America, and Asia, particularly India.
"We are creating a small and efficient team centrally under Rob's wing to take a 'control tower' overview and free up opportunity at branch level for enhanced customer engagement and support," said John Gillam, managing director of GKN Freight Services. "A pan-European project was launched at the end of 2011 and already we have seen results that have neutralised the effect of cost increases from suppliers and still show a further saving in the cost per kilo by route which is an important KPI for us. This network was originally created for our predominantly tier 1 Automotive clients but has since increased in throughput by 40% in the last two years with our other vertical markets in which we specialise: aerospace and Industrial. Rob has joined the company at an exciting time and we hope to see our revenues for road freight in Europe double in the next three years".
UPS has appointed Jeff McCorstin as its new vice president of international air and ocean freight transport services in the US.
He replaces Bob Noonan, who is retiring after 40 years in the freight forwarding industry.
McCorstin began working for UPS as a delivery driver in 1990. He was later appointed CFO of UPS Europe, Middle East and Africa, before moving on to become managing director of UPS EMEA freight forwarding, which included air, ocean and road freight products.
Noonan started his career in logistics in 1984 with Fritz Companies and played a key leadership role in the successful integration of Fritz Companies after UPS acquired the company in 2001 as well as the growth of freight forwarding within UPS.
The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) has announced that Graham Inglis will be its next president and will take over the position in May this year from Peter Hendy, commissioner, Transport for London.
Inglis is CEO of the EMEA region for DHL Supply Chain and responsible for supply chain operations in 30 countries, employing over 80,000 people. He joined the company, when it was Exel Logistics, in 1995 and has held a number of international positions within the company.
"Graham Inglis is a vice president of the Institute, the ambassador for our Supply Chain Professional Sector, and has presented our CILT Annual Logistics Lecture," said Hendy. "As head of the 2012 Olympics Freight Forum, he is at the heart of our profession this year, and I am extremely pleased that the residency will be in such excellent hands when I relinquish my role.
