Home News Features Compliance

🕒 Article read time: 2 minutes

Last Mile Conference delegates urged to change their perceptions about logistics


Senior industry delegates who attended the inaugural London and South East Manufacturing, Industrial and Logistics Conference earlier this week (16 November 2021) were rewarded with a packed and topical agenda, covering the image of the industry, decarbonisation, future workspace, and urban and city logistics.

Held at London’s Postal Museum, the conference was chaired by BBC news presenter Sally Bundock and featured keynote speeches from Christina Calderato, Transport for London’s Director of Transport Strategy and Policy, and Shirley Rodrigues, London’s Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy.

CHANGING PERCEPTIONS

The first panel session addressed the perception challenges that have faced the industrial and logistics sector for many years. Debating how the sector has changed and developed over the years, the four panellists – Natalie Chapman from Logistics UK, Mike Saunders from Commonplace, Steve Dennington from Croydon Council, and Robin Woodbridge from Prologis – discussed what more can be done to create positive perceptions of the sector and encourage more people to pursue careers in logistics.

THE INVISIBLE SECTOR

Natalie Chapman, Head of Policy – South, Logistics UK, said that often the first perception challenge for the logistics sector is what she described as the apparent “magic of the supply chain”.

You order a product and something arrives,” she said, “And we don’t think about how it gets to us until it doesn’t. What the last 18 months have shown us with the pandemic is that actually there’s an awful lot that goes on behind the scenes that the general public is just not aware of.”

This inevitably leads to recruitment challenges within the sector. The issue is that aside from more visible roles like HGV drivers, people often do not see or understand the range of roles available within logistics and therefore do not consider pursuing a career in the industry.

DIVERSITY CHALLENGE

A further challenge, Chapman said, is that the logistics workforce is not particularly diverse. Only about 15% of logistics workers are female, 1% of HGV drivers are female, the average age of an HGV driver is about 50, and only one in ten people working in our industry are from a minority ethnic background.

“There are huge parts of the work force that we are not tapping into,” Chapman said, “We need to make sure that we are showcasing these roles. Logistics UK held its first Discover Logistics Careers weekend recently, where our members opened their doors to invite the public to see what they do. It’s something that Amazon has been doing for a while, opening their doors and saying come and see our warehouse, see what it’s all about.”

Asked about the response to the campaign, Chapman said: “The response has been really good and we’re hoping that it really grows to become a regular event.”

*www.logistics.org.uk/skills

Published On: 18/11/2021 16:00:52

 

Comments Section

If you are a Logistics UK member login to add comments.

There are no comments yet.



Latest articles

Devolution white paper

c/o RH

Read time: 2 minutes

View article

National Policy Planning Framework

c/o RH

Read time: 2 minutes

View article

"Logistics has strategic role in delivering government's growth mission," says Logistics UK

Following the appointment of Heidi Alexander MP as Secretary of State for Transport, Logistics UK Chief Executive David Wells OBE has written formally to the new Secretary of State, welcoming her into her new role and seeking a meeting at the earliest opportunity. 

Read time: 2 minutes

View article

E-news archive

You can also view our e-news archive here.

E-news archive

Interested in Membership?

Get in contact using the Membership Enquiry Form.

Membership Enquiry Form

Logistics Magazine Portal

The hub for finding relevant and informative features, news & compliance guides from Logistics Magazine

Logistics Magazine Portal Home

Sponsorship Opportunities

Learn more about advertising on the new digital Logistics Magazine, with a variety of advert options to reach 30,000 relevant readers.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Magazine Contents

News

Logistics Magazine will cover all the latest news on stories breaking in the industry, including developments on COVID-19,  Brexit, Clean Air Zones, transport law and decarbonisation.

News

Features

Our frequent features will tackle the broader issues affecting logistics such as the COVID-19 vaccination programme, technology and innovation, the political and economic landscape, global trade and the drive to reduce emissions across all transport modes.

Features

Compliance

Each month we explore a different topic in depth in our popular Compliance section, while each week we will publish answers put to our Member Advice Centre team.

Compliance

View Supplements and Previous Printed Editions

View Supplements and previous printed editions of Logistics Magazine here.

Previous