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BLG Logistics Group at IUB |
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By Ana Pascual
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Thursday, 05 May 2005 |
Detthold Aden, CEO of the BLG Logistics Group, Bremen graced IUB's campus with his presence and gave a presentation about his company and logistics sector as a whole. With him were associates that completed a management training program at BLG and now hold various positions there.
 Mr. Aden's presentation, entitled "Logistics trends and BLG's Development", was about the core competencies of BLG and growth of the logistics sector, especially in Germany. BLG has three main divisions: Logistics Automobile, Logistics Contract and Logistics Containers. BLG has helped transport 3.75 million cars last year and 1.4 million of those went through Bremerhaven. They are the leader in Europe in this particular department and have a presence in South Africa and in the Americas. They also had 11.5 million standard containers in the terminal networks in 2004. They employ a total of 2.6 million people and are part of one of the few growth sectors in Germany right now.
Mr. Aden stated that the driving force for this success is globalization, which is comprised of global sourcing, global selling and global production. Germany has taken a lead role in this development as they are found to have the highest level of competence and employ high technology comparable to that of biotech and microelectronics. A few technologies that he mentioned would shape the future of logistics is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and precise status checking with IT systems.
After his presentation, Sonia, an employee of BLG, shared her experiences of the trainee process. She talked about the qualified management training they received and the different practical projects they worked on. They were also given workshops that imparted theoretical concepts about moderation, project management, employee relations, etc. She stated that the main requirements that need to be fulfilled are that you have finished your studies, speak a foreign language (and also have good German skills because that is the language they work in) and have good social and communication skills. She also said that the particular academic background is not so important and that she, as a law student, does not apply very much of what she learned in university. Her colleagues Katja, Mark and Kristina also shared their experiences.
The student moderator, Przemyslaw Borkowski, then opened up the floor for an interesting Question and Answer session that covered topics from the environment to Deutsche Bahn. Afterwards a reception was held where students where able to ask further questions.
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