| “One of the main challenges facing the logistics industry as a whole today is clearly the lack of standardisation of data and processes,” Leonie Weber says in this interview. She has been the chief process officer Europe for Damco since April 2009. “Even though we at Damco feel that we have a very high operational excellence and high level of data quality, it only applies at long as we stay within the walls of our own operation. As soon as we start collaboration with other partners in the supply chain, it becomes very evident that the industry is not at all standardised and not at all streamlined in terms of data. Thus someone must take on the responsibility and the challenge of making sure the integration works, continues Leonie Weber who has worked for A.P. Moller-Maersk since 1995. “We see an increasing complexity in the supply chain simply because of the multitude of suppliers that our customers typically – and for good reasons – work with. The challenges that we face in these situations has to do with data visibility and data integration across the supply chain. As I see it, our customers have four options in trying to manage this: Four options - They can select one single global supplier to manage their entire supply chain. Then they will have only one partner responsible for normalising all data and ensuring that it is visible and accurate. However, this also means putting all your eggs in one basket, which the customer could see as a disadvantage.
- They can enforce their own standards on their suppliers, outlining how, when and what information they want to receive. This can work, if they are able and capable of doing so – and if they have suppliers capable of meeting their standards.
- They can use a data integration company which will then take the hassle of forcing standards on to suppliers.
- They can have one of their logistics suppliers in the lead being the one that manages all the different data and makes the data available to the customer. This way the customer maintains the benefit of multiple suppliers but only one of them has the task of collecting and managing the data, and making it available.
We must give our customers a choice
How can you/the industry meet these needs?
The best thing we can do is to make sure that we are able to respond to all four models and thus meet the demands from our customers. Damco can manage this today, but it still takes considerable efforts. Which model would you prefer?
First and foremost we want our customers to have a choice. But when asked, we in Damco would prefer option four – with us in the lead. But ultimately we want to make sure that we can meet the customers’ needs, and if they find that one of the other models works best for them of course we want to comply with that. The biggest challenges Are IT-systems the vital blood stream of a logistics company?
You could say that. Typically when you provide a service to a customer half of it is the operation and execution and the other half is the information that comes with it. In my view it is important that the operational and the visibility solutions are designed together, because then they will enforce each other.
What do you see as the major challenges in the years ahead?
The biggest challenges is for the different logistics suppliers to find a model on which they can work together on servicing their joint customers and still find ways of adding value in the supply chain and make money in their own right. I think we will see the industry moving to a new platform when it comes to collaboration on data visibility and data integration, but making sure there is room for all of us in our different areas of expertise thus giving the customer the ultimate service. Free choice of supplier
So competitors will have to work more closely together?
Yes, and it will be through innovation and thought leadership on designing better supply chains for our customers that we as logistics providers will differentiate us from each other in the future. Ultimately we want to be able to build flexible, responsive and cost effective supply chains for our customers with a free choice of supplier mixes and without having to compromise on availability and accuracy of timely data. Quelle: Damco | 
