Nearly 200 industry professionals supported winners in eight categories when the fourth annual Logistics Magazine Mercury Awards gala dinner was held last night at Dockside, Cockle Bay Wharf, in Sydney.

Initiated and run by Reed Business Information, publisher of Logistics Magazine, the Mercury Awards recognise significant achievements in supply chain management.

Once again, an enthusiastic crowd celebrated and networked with each other to mark the passion, commitment and hard work they’ve invested over the year.

Logistics Magazine’s Mercury Awards entries are considered by a panel of three independent industry judges on a voluntary basis.

Contributing to the enjoyment of the evening was keynote speaker, Kim Winter, CEO and founder of Logistics Executive Recruitment, a recognised leader in the area of global humanitarian logistics and jazz band the Jenny Game Trio.

See the February Issue for comments from the winners. Click for more information about the Mercury Awards.

Australian Trader Category – proudly sponsored by Powerhouse Logistics

Winner- AUNEW Group Holdings The largest contract manufacturer in Australasia for the Chinese and other South East Asian health food market, AUNEW trained its own multi-cultural service team and designed a ‘one stop business service’ for Asian migrants.

Highly Commended- OBE Beef

OBE Beef Regional Manager – Asia, Dalene Wray, pioneered tours that enable the company’s Australian organic beef farmers to meet their Asian buyers. The Asian tours are extremely valuable for farmers to learn about their specific markets and provide Asian buyers the opportunity to learn about organic beef production.

Best Green Initiative – proudly sponsored by Viscount Plastics

Winner- Power Docs & Freight With the desire to be the first truly carbon neutral transport company in Australia, Power Docs & Freight overhauled 25 years of established of processes, including the consolidation of driver runs and driver education, to incorporate practices that limit emissions on runs and to implement tracking technologies that provide clients with detailed journey and C02 emission reports.

Highly Commended-Linfox and Infor Linfox worked closely with leading IT solutions company Infor in Australia to build on the capabilities of its SCM (Supply Chain Modeling) Network Design product, which incorporates the ability to model for carbon emissions and take into account the impact of certain events and changes to the carbon output.

Logistics Leader – proudly sponsored by Smartrans Ltd

Winner- Linfox Logistics Linfox Retail extended and connected its current technology systems to deliver an enterprise wide Retail solution. Manual notification has been replaced and delivery details are now tracked and planned electronically. Planning and demand forecasting is now also automated.

Highly Commended- Costa Logisitcs Pioneering the industry, Costa Logistics is very proud of its PeopleFirst! Supply Chain Transformation, renewal and development of the company’s successful CharacterFirst! culture program conducted over the past ten years.

Top Transport & Logistics Provider – proudly sponsored by GRA

Winner-Costa Logistics Costa Logistics’ CharacterFirst! culture program contributed to a productivity rise from 105 per cent in FY07/08 to 109 in FY 08/09. Over the same period, staff absenteeism dropped from 5.2 to 4.1 per cent. Also staff turnover reduced from 3.5 to 2.8 per cent.

Highly Commended- NQX Freight System To provide the same level of training for all its 1500 employees located at 25 depots across Australia, NQX Freight System set up its own Registered Training Organisation (RTO), NQX College.

Best Manufacturer – proudly sponsored by Toyota Material Handling

Winner- Bega Cheese Integration of both the De Cicco Cheese manufacturing operation and the Kraft Foods processed cheese requirements into the Bega Cheese supply chain has once again promoted the company’s win in the Best manufacturer category.

Highly Commended- Blackmores Blackmores’ new Warriewood facility provides direct supply chain savings in excess of $1 million per annum, but enables the company to significantly streamline its supply chain and enhance productivity across the board.

Technology Application – proudly sponsored by Century Yuasa Batteries

Winner- Coca-Cola Amatil Coca-Cola Amatil’s Northmead High Bay Warehouse is the foundation for the beverages manufacturer’s NSW supply chain. Automation of the bulk warehouse facility delivered savings in direct labour, forklift rental, fuel and maintenance costs and inventory loss is zero.

Highly Commended- Linfox Logistics Linfox Logistics’ enterprise-wide retail solution delivered a 10 per cent reduction in data entry time using the GPS feeds of events. With the ability to track vehicles returning to DC in real-time, operational staff are better able to plan subsequent loads for vehicles and alert warehouse operators, resulting in a four per cent reduction in turnaround of vehicles at the DCs.

Young Professional of the Year – proudly sponsored by SSI Schaefer

Winner- Benjamin Pryor of BlueScope Steel As Port Operations Manager for BlueScope Steel, Benjamin Pryor provides supply chain solutions that significantly contribute to the company’s ambitious ports & export logistics cost savings targets.

Highly commended- Emma Smith NQX Freight System The success of NQX Freight System’s Registered Training Organisation NQX College is largely accredited to Coordinator Emma Smith’s commitment. At just 19 Emma built her knowledge of logistics and developed procedures, policies and training and assessment resources to support the College.

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