QFrom your perspective and experience, what role can supply chain management play in helping control costs?
A Administrators are learning that the supply chain is a very important part of running any hospital. The
number two cost for any health care system is materials.
Utilization, standardization, correct delivery—all those are
critical in keeping the cost of materials down. Hospitals
track materials expenses by cost of supply per patient-care
day, and those have dropped substantially at the facilities we
service.
John Vogt
Imagine trying to get extremely expensive
custom-designed oil and gas equipment into
a country like Angola, where the average time
to clear customs is 44 days. Now, imagine that
any delay could cause millions of dollars in
oil rig downtime. Sound like a nightmare?
Not to John Vogt, vice president of global
logistics at the oil field service company
Halliburton Co. To him, it sounds like “fun.”
When Vogt talks about his career, he fre-
quently mentions how much he enjoys solving
complex problems. South African by birth and now an
American citizen, Vogt got his start in logistics when he went
to work for a chemical import/export terminal in South Africa
and transformed the operation into an integrated logistics
company that delivered product right to the customer’s back
door. Vogt has also been an executive vice president at the
South African forwarding company Rennies Group and start-
ed his own consulting company, which specialized in interna-
tional logistics strategy and warehouse design.
Vogt’s passion for logistics also spills over into his “spare
time.” After finding that most logistics textbooks
approached the subject from a marketing angle, Vogt collaborated with two South African academics on a “
fundamentals” book that takes a more technical approach to the
subject. Business Logistics Management, published by
Oxford University Press, is now in its fourth edition. Vogt
has also served as a university lecturer and has been heavily
involved in the Council of Supply Chain Management
Professionals, where he currently serves as the president of
the Houston Roundtable.
ing a well has got computers in it and it’s got
encrypted software, so customs regimes,
methodologies, and paperwork are major
issues for us. Furthermore, you’re not putting
that inside a container and shipping it; it’s a
full-sized truck. So you have a wide range of
movements and types of movements into
places with poor infrastructure.
QWith all the complexity, what is it that keeps you awake at night?
A What keeps me awake is the challenge of moving goods without loss. These are usually bespoke goods, so if you
lose them, that delay could cause a million dollars a day in rig
downtime. In this industry, logistics is generally an enabler
for us to win and earn revenue. We’re not transporting an
intermediate product. We’re sending products and equipment in to do the work, and if we’re late, that is a problem.
The other thing that keeps me awake is the range of products we have and the licensing and customs compliance
requirements we must meet around the world. Doing it
correctly and as efficiently as possible takes a lot of effort—
especially when you are in 100 different countries. We do a
large amount of training and discussion, and we enforce,
control, and manage [customs compliance] extremely carefully, but we’re in 100 countries and a large portion of this
is being done through third parties. That one wakes me up
at 4 in the morning.
QHow is logistics management in the oil industry dif- ferent from logistics in other sectors?
A The oil and gas industry is different in two main ways. Traditionally, you have been working in some of the
more volatile regions of the world. I think that volatility is
decreasing, but it’s still there. The political turmoil that
took place in North Africa and the Arab Middle East led to
major changes in countries in which we had substantial
investments. Halliburton had to leave because of that turmoil, but now we’re going back into them.
The second is the range of products. I move everything
from a box of O-rings worth $2 to a command center that’s
worth a million dollars. The command center that’s manag-
QYour own career has spanned three different continents. What suggestions do you have for logistics professionals
looking to broaden their own international experience?
A If you’re going to do global logistics and develop the ability to work with multiple cultures and people and
capabilities, you’re going to have to manage your own career.
My advice is, Go and be adventurous. Go live somewhere
where you can learn the culture and get involved in wider
capabilities in the system. Do it with your manager, but
design your own career. Be prepared to be out of the country for short periods, a year or two. It gives you an experience and a knowledge way beyond what you will pick up at
university or sitting in an office in America. And it stands
you in extremely good stead to be able to come back and
say, “I’ve been in these countries, and I’ve seen and dealt
with these different infrastructure standards and needs.”
