LNME
INDUSTRY LOGISTICS
Julian Maynard, Managing Director, Maynard Design
A CHALLENGING NEW ERA IN PARTS DISTRIBUTION Wondered how logistics for a mining equipment company works? Robert Van der Waal explains how getting parts where they need to be has never been more demanding
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f only getting stuff from A to B was as simple as it sounds. Delivering drill rigs and their spare parts to some of the most remote locations on earth has never been easy. But add in a global shortage of key components, bottlenecks in transportation, COVID-19, soaring material prices and a software upgrade at a key distribution centre that went awry, and it’s a wonder that Robert Van der Waal can get any sleep at night. 16 | LOGISTICS NEWS ME | MAY 2022
Van der Waal is the still-new Vice President of Logistics at Parts & Services Division within Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions. His job is to make sense of all the madness in the logistics sector and ensure that customers get the parts they need, where and when they need them. Luckily, Van der Waal’s resumé includes a long spell at DHL, and for the last dozen years he’s been a senior executive at Samsung – both compa-
nies that know a thing or two about efficient supply chains. “In 20 years I’ve never seen anything like it, the whole world of logistics has been turned upside down. We just need to figure out how best to operate in this new dynamic,” says the reassuringly calm Van der Waal. “Some of the problems are out of our hands, but others we brought on ourselves – like a necessary – but challenging – introduction of a new warehouse management system at our central distribution center in Eindhoven, Netherlands, where the majority of our parts are stocked. “Our customers were undoubtedly inconvenienced, but thankfully have been remarkably understanding. Now that we are back on track, we can reshape our supply chain to suit the new environment, with the support of up-to-date systems.” Port bottlenecks This is already happening, with the Eindhoven facility now pushing out WWW.CBNME.COM
