AN EXTRAORDINARY VISION
CHEP is keeping sustainability and disruptive technologies at the core of its operations in over 55 countries to revolutionize the supply chain and logistics sector.
BIOGRAPHY
Filipa Ferreira Mendes joined CHEP as Country General Manager of Portugal in June 2018. Prior to joining CHEP, she led teams for over 17 years in the FMCG and distribution markets. She was a senior consultant for the non-oil business at Repsol Portugal after being director at Fnac Portugal, managing and growing the books, toys, stationery, and magazines segments. During her professional career, she played standout roles in the purchasing department of Makro, as Sales Director of Sonae, and in developing market strategies for Compal. Mendes has a degree in economics from Nova School of Business and Economics and has completed the Management and Leadership Program at AESE Business School.What have been the milestones of CHEP Portugal since its establishment?
In Portugal, we have the same approach that we utilize in any other country. We entered the country 25 years ago and were the first ones to bring the pooling system to Portugal. We offer customers a service that is more efficient, sustainable, and secure than the rest of the competition. We started as pallet providers, but subsequently realized our customers have a much wider variety of needs. Sustainability is also key, and we emphasize it in all our operations. In Portugal, this has been the main strength that CHEP has brought to the market.
What is the importance of Portugal for CHEP's global activities?
CHEP is in over 55 countries, and the volume and revenue of its Portugal chapter are no longer small. From a logistics perspective, Portugal is a challenge that offers certain knowledge developments that can be applied across the entire logistics chain. The dense network we implemented in Portugal allows us to quickly respond to our customers' demands, which is why there are many small transport companies with local knowledge. We can enter spaces using a system that other companies cannot due to their size. Thus, Portugal has been contributing to CHEP's understanding of how a global company can work effectively at a local scale.
How would you assess the level of innovation in the sector?
CHEP is part of the Brambles Group, which has invested over USD10 million in BXB Digital, a company that Brambles created to develop technologies and analytics to benefit the business. By investing in BXB Digital, the group is focusing on the future. As a market leader and a point of reference, we want to lead the supply chain revolution by using the IoT, big data, and other digital technologies, contributing to the improvement of productivity and driving the competitiveness of the market. The supply chain and logistics sectors have a gap in terms of technological innovation, which CHEP wants to fill.
What measures has the company taken toward an eco-friendlier future?
In terms of sustainability, our business model is heavily focused on recycling. By sharing and reusing our products, customers reduce the need for natural resources and the generation of CO2 and waste. We also offer innovative sustainable solutions to our clients, like Carbon Neutral products. We measure the carbon footprint savings that a specific customer achieves by working with CHEP. For the remaining CO2 emissions, we have partnered with Natural Capital Partners who provide projects that capture the same amount of CO2 generated in our customers' supply chains, which can then be compensated with different actions. 100% of the timber used in our European pallets comes from certified sources (FSC or PEFC Chain of Custody certified).
What are your main goals and priorities heading into 2019?
The main goal is to make sure our customers and potential customers understand how CHEP is able to help grow their business. The past five years have been the most revolutionary in the industry, and we are still only at the beginning of the supply chain revolution. Due to this transformation, there are still players in the market that do not know what CHEP is able to provide. We need to make sure our team has the right resources to truly underscore what we can deliver to customers. CHEP looks at customers' needs and the needs of the broader industry, which allows it to continue feeding transformation. For example, our 'blue-click' quarter pallet is a simple yet revolutionary transformation that has allowed us to truly change the way the industry works promotions instore—inclusively, our assets can be intelligent to the point of receiving and sending data in real time and interacting with end-customers. On top of this, our Collaborative Transport Solutions are revolutionizing the way our customers and partners move their goods in Europe. CHEP has extraordinary vision and has demonstrated that it seeks to look out for communities and peoples, as well as the planet.
AN EXTRAORDINARY VISION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Focus: Community of Portuguese Language Speaking Countries
Making an Impact
Established in 1996, the Community of Portuguese Language Speaking Countries (CPLP) is a mechanism geared at linking and sharing the experience of Lusophone countries. Besides Portugal, this includes Brazil, Portugal, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
read articleFocus
Don’t Mind the Disruption
Having won the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, Lisbon hosted the 2018 event. The relevance? Well, the contest began back in 1956 as a showcase not only of song, but of then-nascent live television broadcast technology. Today, Portugal is on the cutting edge of new technological developments.
read articleInterview
João Pedro Soeiro de Matos Fernandes , Minister , Environment and Energy Transition
The Ministry for the Environment and Energy Transition is focusing on decarbonizing the economy, valuing the territory and its habitats, and striving for a more circular use of the country's resources.
read articleInterview
António Braz Costa , General Manager, Portuguese Technological Centre for the Textile & Clothing Industries (CITEVE)
CITEVE has transformed the industry by promoting value addition, adopting the latest technologies, and ensuring the highest standards of environmental sustainability.
read articleFocus: New airport
Right Time to Seize Missed Opportunities
Portugal has seen its air traffic figures increase by as much as 80% in the last five years. As a result, its transportation infrastructure, and Lisbon's airport in particular, cannot cope with the rising numbers. A new airport project that will turn a military base into a commercial airport is now under discussion to bring much-needed relief to air traffic.
read articleInterview
Germano de Sousa , President, Grupo Germano de Sousa
Grupo Germano de Sousa's success can best be summed up by its understanding that science and medicine only really progress when technological development is combined with a deeper respect for human values and professional ethics.
read articleInterview
Isabel Capeloa Gil , Rector, Universidade Católica
Having pioneered the introduction of multiple subject areas to Portugal's tertiary education scene, Universidade Católica is aspiring to establish the country's first private medical school and introduce cutting-edge digital transformation.
read articleInterview
Carlos Guillén Gestoso , President, Escola Universitária de Ciências Empresariais, Saúde, Tecnologias e Engenharia & President, Atlantica University
Atlantica University differentiates through its company-university model and an MBA program in partnership with the University of California, Berkley, among other initiatives, to produce practical theoreticians.
read articleFocus: Public teaching staff
An Age-old Problem
Over a decade of austerity measures combined with an ageing population have seen the average age of the Portuguese public teaching staff progressively climb to one of the highest in the OECD. With frozen salaries, an extended retirement age, and precarious working conditions, today the sector faces one of its biggest challenge yet.
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Pedro Queiroz , General Manager, Federation of the Portuguese Agri-Food Industry (FIPA)
Portugal's economic recovery has seen its F&B sector emerge with annual turnovers of EUR16 billion, thanks to FIPA's undeterred focus on stable policies, excellent nutrition standards, and sustainability.
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