LOGISTICS ON THE ROCK
ALEX KANE ON SUPPLY CHAIN CHALLENGES IN NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR Supply chains are bound to face regional challenges in a country as vast and varied as Canada. For Newfoundland and Labrador, the biggest logistics challenge comes from the province’s status as an island, says Alex Kane, SCMP, provincial manager of sourcing and contracts at Central Health. “You can get a lot of raw medical supplies still coming from China and East Asia,” says Kane, regarding the province’s medical supply chains. “It comes in through Vancouver, Prince Rupert; it gets to Toronto or Central Canada fairly easily. You still have to get it to Newfoundland. That always tends to be a problem.” Ultimately, many goods end up arriving by air cargo, Kane says, with each added step in the logistics process adding to the cost of transporting goods to the province. “You’re pushing your price point an awful lot higher and you’re essentially pricing yourself out of the market,” he notes. “There’s always the question of, ‘how do you get something to Newfoundland in a reasonable time but while maintaining cost effectiveness?’” 10 DECEMBER 2021
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While logistics into Newfoundland and Labrador can be difficult due to its status as an island, the process can often come down to relationships with suppliers, Kane says. Treating your core suppliers as partners and maintaining good communication can help to ensure those vendors will help you get the goods you need. “It’s all about building a business relationship with your vendors and suppliers,” he says. Like many, the veteran supply chain and procurement professional didn’t start with the aim of working in the field. Rather, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and business, and once aspired to go into law. But his ambitions changed, and he went back to school in 1997 to earn both a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and a graduate diploma in information technology. He worked fulltime while studying, completing the IT diploma in 2000 and the BBA in 2001. From there, Kane got a job at Cable Atlantic (now Rogers Cable) before working various IT jobs. “But things started to dry up and I said, ‘I do have a business degree. I can kind of reinvent
myself,” Kane says. “So, I changed to customs brokerage. While I was working in customs brokerage, I did a diploma in project management through our local college here, the College of the North Atlantic. I completed the CCS in 2005, which is the ‘certified customs specialist.’” His first customs broker position was with a company called PF Collins International Trade Solutions, one of the main customs brokers in Newfoundland and Labrador. Many of the large oil and gas operations in the province employ the company. Kane began as a coordinator, which is an entry level position looking after low-value shipments. He progressed to become a senior customs rater and consultant. Kane worked there until 2012. As a customs broker, Kane spoke frequently with the buyers and procurement specialists that used the company’s services. Those conversations made him wonder whether he’d like to be the one doing the purchasing, he says. He had seen an advertisement about the professional designation offered by Supply Chain Canada (known then as PMAC). Kane decided to enrol to earn his Supply Chain Management Professional (SCMP) designation. “I was looking for a bit of a change,” he says. “But as a whole, I still kind of liked supply chain. I completed my SCMP between 2011 and 2014.” Kane was then hired by Kiewit-Kvaerner Contractors, the main contractors for the Hebron gravity-based structure (GBS), an oil platform in Bull Arm, about 340km from St. John’s. He was hired on the $14-billion project as a materials expeditor, working to ensure that goods arrived on time to meet the construction schedule. But since he had a customs brokerage background, the company made him the importexport coordinator as well. “As the project progressed a little further there was less and less of a need for expediting as much as there was in the initial phases of the project,” Kane says. “As a couple of the other buyers had left, I became a project buyer and a contracts coordinator as well, mainly for larger installed items. It kind of went from there.” Items were purchased in what were called “procurement packages” for installation on the Hebron GBS. One such package was a local electrical room, which is the system and electrical components that power the GBS while it’s attached to the shore. Once it goes offshore, the GBS generates its own power for the most part by connecting to onboard generators. Kane was assigned to that project, which at the time was overbudget and late. An accomplishment of which he is especially proud involved getting the project back on budget SUPPLY PROFESSIONAL
2021-12-07 4:49 PM
BRIAN CAREY PHOTOGRAPHY
BY MICHAEL POWER
