TNT Express yesterday received a prestigious award for successfully improving its networkoperations through an extensive programme.
The company was awarded the 2012 Franz Edelman Award for its “Global Optimisation” programme(GO), which uses operations research methods to tweak the efficiency of the company’s transportnetwork.
The award, bestowed by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences inHuntington Beach, California, is considered the highest commendation in the field of operationsresearch, the discipline of applying advanced analytical methods, such as modelling, in order toimprove decision-making. TNT was able to prevail against five other finalists, including majorplayers such as Intel and Hewlett-Packard.
“We are delighted to receive this award, which testifies to the sophistication and efficiency ofTNT’s operations,” said Chris Goossens, TNT Express Managing Director Global Networks andOperations. “Using operations research helps TNT save costs, improve service to customers anddevelop managers’ skills.”
The GO programme involves several facets of TNT’s operations, including location planning, truckrouting, as well as fleet management. TNT Express said it carried out 200 network optimisationprojects in 2011 and has saved over 60 million km of mileage and 54 million kg of CO2 emissionssince 2005 due to network optimisation measures in Germany, France, Spain and Italy.
In order to meet demand for qualified operation managers, TNT Express has teamed up with theTilburg University/TiasNimbas Business School (Netherlands) to create the GO Academy, a two-yearmanagement development programme in transportation network optimisation. More than 200 TNT managershave been trained here since 2008.
