Global Logistics Institute honors Tyndall

Global Logistics Institute honors Tyndall Supply chain management guru Gene Tyndall on Monday became the second person inducted into the Global Logistics Institute's Hall of Fame

Tyndall

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   Tyndall, who established the initial supply chain practice at management consulting firm Ernst & Young 25 years ago and headed Ryder Logistics for four years at the turn of the century, received the honor at an intimate awards dinner that coincided with a large logistics industry conference in Atlanta.
   Tyndall runs his own consulting firm, Supply Chain Executive Advisors, which helps educate top corporate management about how supply chain operations can help achieve corporate goals rather than simply being a logistics cost for moving goods.
   Tyndall worked behind the scenes at the Department of Transportation in the late 1970s and early 1980s to help develop legislation that deregulated the trucking, rail and aviation industries and led to a huge increase in domestic transportation productivity.
   In 1981, Tyndall joined Ernst & Young and built the supply chain management practice up to more than 1,000 consultants globally. Tyndall and his group, for example, helped computer maker Dell establish its first supply chain network in the early 1990s and advised many other large corporations, including Ford, GM, Cisco and Samsung. At the time, having a dedicated practice for transportation and logistics was not common.
   Tyndall is credited with helping Ryder System's logistics division improve its business processes, technologies and expertise, as well as its profitability during his tenure between 1999 and 2003.
   He has authored several books and is active in the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.
   Tyndall confirmed that he is serving as an advisor to the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund, which this year purchased four container terminals — two at the Port of Vancouver, Canada and two in the Port of New York and New Jersey — for $2.35 billion.
   The investors 'recognize that shippers decide where their containers go. They want to understand their customers better,' including carriers, railroads, forwarders and others that influence how freight moves, Tyndall told Shippers' Newswire.
   The investment fund also wants to be able to market the ports it serves in, said Tyndall, who helped the Dutch government promote the Port of Rotterdam and did similar work for the Port of Singapore while at Ernst & Young. 'They view it as a competitive advantage because the ones that market themselves are going to do better' and are able to get support from the local community for growth efforts.
   Last year the Global Logistics Institute posthumously honored logistician Robert Delaney, known for creating the annual State of Logistics report, as the first member of its Hall of Fame.
   The Global Logistics Institute was formed several years ago to help promote the third-party logistics industry and help shippers understand the value that outside logistics service companies can provide. The institute is a small, non-profit group that promotes the benefits of outsourced logistics to shippers. One of its current projects is to develop a rating system for port efficiency to assist shippers and logistics companies identify the best places for routing their cargo.
   As part of its educational mission, the GLI said it has appointed J.J. Schickel and Tom Connolly of Eve Partners, a merger and acquisition consulting firm in Atlanta that specializes in the logistics industry, to its advisory board to provide analysis on broad trends in finance that are helping shape industry consolidation.
   The GLI also said it is collaborating with Hong Kong-based ChiLab to help develop a training program and certification for relationship building because logistics is predicated on service. ChiLab will develop a one-day certificate course and then offer a more extensive degree through a three-month distance learning program.
   Paul Goldsborough, president of business development in Asia for Hellmann Worldwide Logistics and chairman of GLI’s China chapter, said, 'when all things are equal — price and service — then relationships make the difference.'
   Logistics companies whose people have good interpersonal and listening skills tend to be really in tune with their clients' needs and go the extra mile, he said.