CEVA’s a big name in the supply chain management business, but it’s relatively young as a company. In an interview with AJOT, CEVA’s CEO John Patullo talks about the supply chain management company’s strategy for 2011-2013…and perhaps a little beyond. By George Lauriat, AJOTJohn Pattullo, CEVA’s has worked as executive on both ends of the supply chain - first with Proctor Gamble and later as head of Exel’s EMEA [Europe, the Middle East and Africa Europe, the Middle East and Africa] (freight forwarding and contract logistics) Division. After Exel was acquired by Deustche Post/DHL, Patullo, headed up the now combined freight forwarding and contract logistics division. In 2007, Patullo became the head of a newly minted supply chain management company CEVA. When asked in an interview with AJOT, if there was little surprise among colleagues when Pattullo veered from a sensible career path with a Fortune 500 multinational to a job over on the “other side”. Patullo answered, “Very true, [the decision] was greeted with some amazement” but added he had no regrets about being on the other side of the equation with its unique challenges. The unique challenges included putting together a strategy to help the supply chain management company navigate through today’s turbulent waters. The Hoofddorp, the Netherlands-based logistics company has its own unusual history. Essentially CEVA is the result of the merger of two major logistics providers, TNT Logistics and EGL: Although, this is only a small bit of the story. EGL started out in Houston Texas as Eagle Airfreight in 1984 and expanded into “EGL Eagle Global Logistics” in 2000. TNT was founded “Down Under” in 1946 as contract logistics provider. In 1996, Dutch postal and telecom company KPN acquired TNT, and two years later the telecom and postal divisions of KPN were separated. The new company, called TNT NV, was then organized around three divisions: TNT Logistics, TNT Express and TNT Post. At the end of 2005 TNT announced its intention to sell its contract logistics activities and in the autumn of 2006 TNT Logistics was sold to affiliates of Apollo Management LP. The company was renamed CEVA Logistics in December 2006. In August 2007 EGL was bought by Apollo Management LP and was incorporated into CEVA Logistics. CEVA’s Strategy 2011-2013Officially, CEVA bills itself as a non-asset based supply chain management company. But as Patullo says, we’re really an asset light company” as CEVA owns warehouses (one of the world’s largest purveyors of warehouse space) and vehicles to support its supply chain activities. In 2010, CEVA notched Euros 6.847 billion, up 25% over Euros 5.494 billion the company posted in 2009. From the perspective of regions, the Americas account for 30%, followed by Asia-Pacific at 29%, Northern Europe 23% and Southern Europe/Middle East/Africa at 18%. The company also record a near even split between “contract logistics” [warehousing ground based distribution] at 49.9% and Freight Management [coordinating the actual transportation] at 50.1% In five main business sectors; Automotive, Technology and Consumer Retail all fall between 20%-to-25% in revenues generated, while Industrial and Energy figure at 15% and 6% respectively (“other” making up 10%). In the AJOT interview (conducted in late November 2011) Patullo explained that in 2010 the logistics company devised a three-year strategy (2011-2013) to provide roadmap to help navigate the considerable market challenges facing the young company. The strategy was developed prior to the string of international meltdowns but addresses a major area of potential growth overlooked – the re-engineering of supply chains. Because of the world’s economic, political and environmental difficulties, the management of supply chains must constantly be reviewed to be effective. For a company that is only four-years old (albeit with a long pedigree) the ability to compete starts with the re-engineering of the supply chains (or at least a few links) of the global