• News

  • On location with……… Jochum Reuter, VP Memberships CSCMP Benelux Round Table

    Same as many other organizations, the Benelux Round Table (RT) of CSCMP has been challenged by the COVID-19 break-out and consequences in our daily lives and business. For 2021 we have, for now, switched to a virtual set of programs, whereas physical events with interactions always has been the strength of our organization and community. Who are the people behind this organization and network? Through a series of interviews, the Board of CSCMP Round table will be introduced and will tell about their passion and energy for supply chain, its developments and CSCMP.  

    Jochum Reuter, one of the early Board members of CSCMP Benelux RT and VP of Memberships is now on!!

    On location………

    Jochum grew up in Rotterdam. For his work and CSCMP, he has visited a large number of different places abroad. Through his work and interests, he has a built very international focus and seen quite a few places in the world. One of the most inspiring moments comes from the deck of the USS Midway while attending The Global CSCMP conference in San Diego in 2015. On the picture you see Jochum on the left with co-board member Freek Brilleman.

    Who is Jochum?

    Jochum is a connector, attracted by dynamic and changing environments, with a true passion for supply chain. He likes to create new things as well sharing knowledge to enable disruptive innovations. Jochum has fulfilled several roles in the Board of the CSCMP Benelux RT. The crown on all the CSCMP work was probably chairing the European Conference in The Netherlands 3 years ago. This was marked as a key learning event that made it evident how companies and universities can cooperate to find pragmatic and structural solutions. Ideas and solutions sometimes need to be disruptive in order to create a broader change effect. At that time during the conference, the disruptive platform Picnic (on-line supermarket) was topic of discussion and has now proven to be a good example of that. Jochum started his career in sales and moved from industry to industry in the first years, working in Pharmaceuticals, Food & Beverage, Publishing, until he finally landed in supply chain at Inchainge in 2014. Throughout his career he has always been building something, preferably from scratch or rebuild teams, departments and offices. That was exactly the opportunity he ran into when he met the team at Inchainge. That was when he fell in love with supply chain: the developers of simulations specifically for training and education for supply chains. Inchainge has developed simulation like The Fresh Connection. For them, he built the global network of Universities that use it in their curriculum. It took him around the world: from Beijing to Johannesburg, to Lima and to Boston. After growing the Inchainge business for over 5 years, Jochum got the opportunity to start the European HQ for FourKites, the global leader in Real Time Visibility. His key driver for success is the global preparedness to collaborate and innovate throughout all supply chains, as this is the first industry he has worked in where individuals are really prepared to learn from their peers in other companies and industries. He thrives on the innovative nature and the truly global character of the industry and expects to grow his business rapidly thanks to the increased demand for End to End visibility of loads in transit globally. Overall, these are exciting times within the supply chain industry and Jochum underlines he feels very lucky to be sitting in the very heart of it!

    What are in your view current opportunities and threat perspectives in supply chain?

    As Jochum stated before, one of the key trends in supply chain is the strive for end-to-end visibility. This brings him also to the biggest opportunity in supply chain: to increase up- and down-stream collaboration. Optimizing that will increase efficiency and thus increase profitability of supply chains. Another opportunity he sees, is the paperless handling of cargo. If we are able to realize true electronic-CMR and electronic bill of lading setups in the entire supply chain, this will reduce the impact of crises like the current COVID-19 pandemic AND make transportation organizations work more efficient. Talking about threats, the results of the current pandemic, Brexit and increased pressure on pricing by shippers has an enormous pressure on the survival capabilities of smaller carriers that are extremely important to the flexibility of supply chains. Shippers should seriously consider increasing the prices for loads to support these crucial smaller carriers.

    What role does the CSCMP Benelux RT play in these supply chain perspectives?

    TOrganizations with local and regional focus like CSCMP are pivotal in bringing people and businesses together. Sharing successes and possibly failures with your peers is essential to grow. Especially when an industry that takes the lead in a specific supply chain is not in your network, CSCMP Benelux is a perfect network to connect to and find out. As a community and group. it is a great alternative to registering for those conferences you get invited to on a daily basis and that will cost you a lot of time and especially a big chunk of your budget. CSCMP Benelux Round Table organizes these events at a very moderate price AND you as member you have an opportunity to help decide on topics to cover in these sessions.

    How does the CSCMP Benelux RT distinguishes itself from other supply chain industry organizations?

    CSCMP Benelux has been around for some time and with the ever changing members of the board we have seen a growing professionalism and a continued enthusiasm. A key asset is that members are not seeing this roundtable as an opportunity to sell their business, but rather to educate themselves and others about important supply chain topics. As long as we are able to keep that up, we will remain to be an important factor in the supply chains throughout the whole Benelux.

    Why should people and organizations associate with CSCMP?

    CSCMP is a continuous source of information about developments in the field of supply chain and has an incredible reach to individuals in the industry. Through the network of over 40,000 professionals globally you as a professional are able to educate yourself about new developments, programs and platforms, can network yourself to a new level within your current or potentially new role and help develop others to learn more about your own successes and struggles. On top of that, CSCMP is a fun organization that opens up easily and welcomes everyone that is interested.

    Next ‘On Location……’: Chrisoula Papadopoulou , VP Education.