Ceva Logistics has opened a Centre of Logistics Excellence for Asia Pacific in Changi, Singapore, as part of an investment programme following the firm’s drastic restructuring.
Inna Kuznetsova, chief commercial officer said: “The opening of this centre today is another great milestone.”
“It’s a statement of our investment in the area, a statement of our capabilities and also a chance for us to ramp up our capabilities in the region.”
[asset_ref id=”2142″] Kuznetsova
This is the firm’s second centre, after its first in Jacksonville, Florida opened in February this year. That centre has already attracted some 200 customers representing more than 60 companies.
The new centre will give customers access to Ceva’s services including a complete end-to-end supply chain management hub.
Kuznetsova explains that customers will be able to visit the centre and sit down with system engineers, brainstorming ideas and designing bespoke systems for individual projects.
She points out that this is in the same building, and with the same personnel as Ceva’s new control tower offering.
“It’s a new concept for the industry to help customers raise the bar in their own operations,” says Kuznetsova.
“Customers today want increased supply chain performance at reduced costs as a way to remain competitive.”
But she adds that such close working experiences also gives the firm an edge in terms of its engineering capabilities.
As at the Jacksonville centre, customers will also be offered in depth briefings on a range of specific topics.
“We used our experience from Jacksonville to design robust training for personnel at the new centre. We have been able to combine our Asia Pacific area expertise with our breadth of experience from Jacksonville.”
Ceva does some two billion Euros of business in the region from more than 80 sites. This is part of an overall strategic investment that it is committing to its fastest growing region.
The firm aims to build a strong knowledge centre in Asia, develop supply chain talents, offer best in class technologies and supply chain solutions to strengthen its presence in the region.
“We want the new center to become a global hub of innovation in Supply Chain Management. We will leverage its capabilities to provide a higher value to the customers through our expertise in logistics.”
This project forms a part of a wider scheme of strategic investments, following Ceva’s cost saving initiative launched at the end of 2012 and its recapitalisation project which reduced its net debt by some €1.3 billion. This effectively gave the firm access to some €230m of investment cash.
Peter Dew, Asia Pacific president, said: “Singapore is an ideal choice for our Centre of Excellence in Asia as many of our customers’ regional operations are also based out of Singapore.
“Local talent and knowledge coupled with global expertise will position Ceva well in this region to deliver solutions that meet the 21st century supply chain challenges and leverage the significant growth potential of rising intra regional trade.”
