Class act: Shipping company donates
containers to build school
You’ve heard of box tops for education. But what about boxes
for education? It turns out that boxes, or ocean containers, are
being used to construct schools in
developing countries, including a
multi-story facility in the Philippines
that’s said to be the largest school
built from containers in the world.
The Philippine Christian
Foundation (PCF) recently celebrated the opening of the Philippine
Technical College, a four-story facility built from cargo containers supplied by NOL Group, the
Singapore-based shipping and logistics company, and its subsidiary APL. The new school houses 1,000 students from one of
the poorest neighborhoods in Manila. It offers classes from preschool through high school as well as vocational courses. The
foundation’s primary objective is to use education to bring an
end to child labor at the nearby Smokey Mountain dump site.
NOL Group donated 53 containers to PCF and subsidized
the purchase of 26 more. All of the containers were sheathed in
concrete for extra strength and stability. The company also
sponsored a classroom for students and shipped three 40-foot
containers of building materials to Manila to assist in the
school’s construction. ;
Hot off the press: new edition of
global 3PL guide
Looking for a third-party logistics (3PL) service provider in San
Francisco, São Paulo, Stuttgart, or Shanghai? The 19th edition
of Armstrong & Associates’ Who’s Who in Logistics–The
Americas and International might be just what you need. The
newly released two-volume guidebook includes in-depth profiles of more than 300 service providers from around the world.
Each company listing includes financial information, key
personnel, information technology, and service capabilities. In
addition, the guide features editorial evaluations, case studies,
and a roundup of important 3PL news.
Profiles cover a broad range of companies, from global giants
to niche market specialists as well as 3PLs in Asia, Europe, and
Latin America. Almost half of the companies profiled are international providers.
Who’s Who in Logistics is available either in a PDF version or
as an Internet-based on-demand version through an annual
subscription. Online subscribers also receive the PDF version
of the guide with their subscription. To purchase, go to
http://www.3plogistics.com/shopsite/index.html. ;
inbound
What’s good for GM
is good for the supply
chain?
There’s nothing quite like the supply
chain competition to allow students to
demonstrate their analytical and prob-lem-solving skills with a real-world logistics challenge. The newest of these contests, the General Motors/Wayne State
University Supply Chain Case
Competition, brought 16 university teams
to Detroit in late September.
The program, developed by professors
at Wayne State’s business school in conjunction with supply chain managers at
sponsoring companies, focused on the
issues and challenges of buying advanced
technology components for electric vehicles. It required students to analyze such
factors as component and logistics costs,
sourcing tradeoffs, global procurement,
and recycling.
Prior to their arrival, the students
explored a case example that involved
sourcing components for GM’s new electric
vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt. The teams developed recommendations based on their
analyses and presented their findings to a
panel of judges during the competition portion of the program.
“This event gives students the opportu-
nity to experience some real-world scenar-
ios in global purchasing and supply chain
management and provides GM and other
sponsors the chance to spend time with
some of the best supply chain talent com-
ing out of universities today,” said Bill
Hurles, General Motors’ executive direc-
tor, global purchasing and supply chain, in
a statement. “The sponsors also get to hear
their creative ideas on new ways to
approach business challenges.”
The winning team was Colorado State
University. Regional winners were Western
Michigan University, Texas Christian
University, and Wayne State University.
In addition to General Motors, sponsors
included Delphi, Ryder System, and the
Detroit Regional Chamber. ;
