DC Velocity - July 2011

“Here, run with it.” In the for-profit world, it seems that pri-vate-sector logisticians learn to be entrepreneurs and risk takers, develop agility and speed, and learn how business— not just logistics—really works, earlier and more powerfully than their government counterparts do. That’s why I’m a huge fan of public-private partnering, so each side can share the best of its abilities and tools with the other.

QYou have split your career across education and prac- tice. Was that a good decision? AAbsolutely. As an educator, you learn as much if not more than your students. If you facilitate well, your students are teaching you. You find yourself working as a consultant to help them solve today’s problems, and that becomes the next day’s lesson.

QWhat knowledge is essential for someone going into the logistics profession today? ADeveloping business acumen, not just functional expertise. Start with the operational art of logistics, whether that’s in distribution operations, emergency management, space logistics, or in my case, weapon system management. By mid-career, a logistician needs to acquire deep skills in an area that’s complementary to his or her specialty. In my case, that was systems engineering and operations research. And remember that the “soft” skills are important—leadership, relationships, coalition building, strategic thinking. It’s such a cool career: The professional development paths are varied and always hold your interest.

Ryan Boccelli

IN 2006, ORGANIC YOGURT PRODUCER Stonyfield Farm launched a companywide war on carbon, setting up task forces to find ways to cut facility energy use, reduce solid waste, and the like. It chose then-logistics manager Ryan Boccelli to lead the team charged with reducing the carbon footprint of its finished-goods transportation operation. And cut carbon it did. By 2010, the team had reduced transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions by a whopping 46 percent from 2006 baseline levels, which the company says is the equivalent of taking 7,000 cars off the road for a year. On top of that, Stonyfield Farm reports that the initiative has produced $7.6 million in savings.

Boccelli’s leadership in the company’s drive to reduce supply chain-related CO2 emissions has earned him much recognition. He was the recipient of the 2008 Gurt’s Mission Award for Environmental Responsibility. In 2009, his task force—or Mission Action Program team, as the company calls it—received the Environmental Protection Agency’s Smart Way Excellence Award.

Today, Boccelli is senior director of logistics for the yogurt company, where he oversees customer service, warehousing, transportation, and inventory control. He has a B.S. in business management from Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, N.H.

QAt Stonyfield Farms, you helped lead an initiative to reduce supply chain-related greenhouse gas emissions. What was the biggest challenge in getting that pro-

gram started?

AThe biggest challenge we had was gath- ering the data needed to calculate our carbon footprint. The logistics team spent a considerable amount of time processing freight invoices and tracking costs, but we had never measured the actual mileage or fuel use. Given the number of modes and rate structures, this was a significant undertaking. The reality was that we didn’t have the data in our current systems so we outsourced our FBAP (freight bill audit and payment) activities to Ryder. Once we had worked through the data collection process and we felt it was accurate, we were able to create a baseline. In total, it took us approximately six months to create an accurate baseline measurement.

QWhat would you say to other managers to convince them to launch similar efforts to reduce CO2 in their supply chains?

AI don’t think there is much convincing to be done. When you focus on reducing the CO2 in your supply chain, you reduce costs. Period. Our initial process consisted of using Lean Six Sigma methodology, and the process identified a lot of areas where we could cut our emissions. As we worked through the process, we realized it affected the bottom line as well.