SUCCESS STORIES IN BELGIUM
INTERVIEW WITH
Bert Vandecaveye, CEO
COMPANY
Tailormade Logistics REGION
Flanders Founded: 1996 Location: Head-office at North Sea Port Ghent Number of employees: 850 Turnover (2019): EUR 120 million Growth (2019): 25% Investments (2019): EUR 18 million Start of exports: 2002 Share of exports in terms of turnover: 80% Prizes, awards: Trends Gazelle yearly, Green Truck Award, ICT Awards, HR Awards Website: www.tailormade-logistics.com
Tailormade Logistics offers transport and logistics solutions as well as related value-added services for companies mainly active in three core businesses. “Around 30% of our business comes from the automotive industry. We work for all the OEMs in Europe and all their main suppliers. Our second biggest market is fashion and retail, where we have major brands among our clients. Thirdly, we are the number one in transport and logistics for rugs, carpets, tiles, laminate and other types of flooring,” Bert Vandecaveye, CEO of Tailormade Logistics, explains.
RE-INVENTING EVERY DAY From the beginning, the company focused on tailor-made solutions, as illustrated by the name of the company and the mindset of the CEO. “Logistics is not a uniform service: it is highly dedicated to the individual customer. Every company has a different way of handling its logistics. You have to look for solutions that the customer needs, which is a very difficult process. To be able to do so, we have to develop constantly and are still trying to reinvent ourselves every day. We are a little bit more rebellious in the business community. We do not follow; we do what
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“We stimulate innovation and creativity by trying out new concepts. If it works, we implement them quickly and if not, we look at how we can change the idea. It is a continuous learning process.” we think we have to do. We stimulate innovation and creativity by trying out new concepts. If it works, we implement them quickly and if not, we look at how we can change the idea. It is a continuous learning process,” declares Vandecaveye. One of those ideas led to a more than 35% reduction in distribution costs for customers in the fashion industry by using several local cross-docks instead of one central cross-dock. “We look at how we can optimize the distribution process and then we change it. We do not look at what we have, we look at what we should have and then we change and adapt”. Vandecaveye stresses that his company is looking beyond transport and logistics and wants to deliver total solutions. “In
