Logistics as a primary career option
Bird Academy invited Sanjiv Edward, Chairman, TIACA, to interact with students of the academy to know more about the challenges and opportunities of the air cargo sector.
Bird Academy organised an interactive session with Sanjiv Edward, Chairman, The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) for its students to explain the nitty-gritty of the logistics sector. Edward shared the stage with TV Narayanan, HOD, Bird Academy & Chief Instructor DGR and Global AVSEC Instructor, IATA; VK Bhatia, Vice President – e-Cargo, Bird Group; Anil Malhotra, Director, Transmec Group and B M Singh, Director, Silk Route Logistics.
Bhatia stressed upon few critical areas such as single point contact, EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) and to see the logistics industry as a promising profession.
Motivating the students, Edward said, “It’s been a long journey and I would like to reiterate that the key to delivering quality product is dedication and concentration. This is the first time that an Indian has taken the responsibility of an international association (TIACA) and it is a matter of pride for our country. And responsibility comes with accountability. Since I am looking for a global association with global agenda, my focus will be on how I can use the global organisation to integrate world’s air cargo supply chain.”
He touched upon issues such as non standardisation, lack of technology, to name a few. “If we look at the sea, we can see the drastic change in the shipping industry; few years back consignment from India to America used to take 45 days and now it takes 21 days. The regret is we use the fastest mode of transport, that is, air but lose efficiency on ground.”
Edward shares the growth history of Delhi airport to showcase the importance of concentration, determination and hard work to achieve success in life. While sharing the struggle and achievements of Delhi airport, he said, “When we took over the Delhi airport, we were just operators, but we thought of doing something different and got it privatised. We decided to set our targets high to exist among the best in the world. We started looking at other possibilities around the world and took an example of global hubs such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, US, to name a few.”
“With this, we realised what is needed to create a hub of operational excellence, good network in the air and on the ground, and good infrastructure. Six years down the line, things started improving. Further, to cut down costs and to reduce time, we looked at connectivity. From an airport perspective, we started informing airlines about the concept of being connected with manufacturing hubs that is Air Freight Station (AFS).
With flow of goods, flow of information is equally important, thus both need to be coordinated. If we have fast flow of goods but information is not reaching on time then it’s a waste. Hence the good IT system is required,” he explained.
“We had a clear vision to be the number one airport in India. In 2010, we put the strategy in place and now we are the number one airport in the country,” Edward added.