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Issue 1 2012


Olympic logistics tests UPS’s mettle


There are no medals for organising a successful Olympic games – just the satisfaction of a job well done. But that is reward enough for UPS’s director of 2012 operations, Alan Williams, in charge of organising the logistics for London 2012, for which UPS is the official partner.


“It’s a lifetime opportunity,” he enthuses. Williams is currently in charge of a 200-strong Olympics team, but that will rise to 1,100 in a few months’ time as preparation for the Games reaches its climax. UPS is the official provider of the vast majority of the logistics for the event, including much of the inbound freight forwarding and also for the entire ‘last mile’ and delivery to venue operations. Most people think of UPS as an


express parcels carrier, because the brown vans and planes are the most visible part of its operations, but it is also a major logistics service provider and freight forwarder. Whatever is needed to make


the Games run successfully, from a boxing glove to a bedside cabinet for the athletes’ village, UPS is responsible for ensuring that it gets there on schedule and in one piece. It has set up a bespoke supply chain to handle all aspects of the operation, based on two warehouses at Tilbury docks and Stevenage and what will, by games time, be a 150-strong vehicle fleet. It will entail moving anything packages


from small to large


indivisible pieces of freight, along with more specialised logistics including the 10,000 torches for the torch relay, anti-doping blood samples and firearms for the shooting events. UPS comes forearmed with the


experience of handling logistics for five previous games events, including the Atlanta Olympics, the Nagano Winter Olympics, Sydney and Beijing. Another major ongoing involvement is the PGA golf tournament. Events like these can be “a


fantastic showcase” for UPS, explains Williams. “In Beijing, we experienced a massive brand upliſt throughout China.” For London, the motivation is slightly different as UPS is already well known in the UK, but it will be an opportunity for the company to show off its logistics capabilities. UPS does not have a monopoly


UPS is ready to deliver a belting performance at the Olympics


background, only a relatively small amount of the Olympics material is being shipped by air. The timelines will allow most of it to be moved by sea or road. “If I need to charter an aircraſt, UPS will charge me for it so obviously it’s something to be avoided if possible.” Air will be an option for last-minute, sensitive or late-running items, though. As far as possible, UPS will also


use its own road vehicles though low-loaders and other specialist kit will be hired in for large indivisible loads. But whatever means is used


to achieve it, this is one supply chain that will have to deliver an immaculate performance – nothing less than 100% will do. “Last November, for instance, we carried out volume tests in our warehouses, picking inventory off the racks and loading vehicles, to make sure everything worked as we expected.” The lessons learned were used to further boost productivity. “There are thousands of little things that you can do to make sure that things really work. We have tried really hard to break this supply chain.” It’s not just physical procedures


on inbound logistics into the Olympics distribution facilities that it manages but it will handle all the final mile and delivery to venue work – which may of course encourage many suppliers to the Olympics to use the carrier throughout. It remains to be seen whether


UPS will bid for the Rio Olympics in 2016. Ultimately, it is a commercial decision, says Williams, and


separate pieces of inventory need to be moved. “Usually, when we take on a new customer, they have a system already set up. But this is a temporary supply chain that operates for a limited period only, so we’ve had to built it upfront,” Williams explains. And some of the numbers are


mind-boggling – 96,000 folding chairs, a million separate pieces of sports equipment and so on.


Alan Williams: Building a delivery system from scratch


estimated 450 containerloads of flatpack furniture for the Athletes’ Village, an operation that involves not only shipping the goods from the Far East but assembling at the Tilbury warehouse in an operation involving three production lines and 80 people in the 550,000sq ſt area. “It’s a lot slicker than you or me trying to assemble an Ikea kit,” says Williams reassuringly. The space now being used


for furniture assembly will subsequently be used for other assembly work, such as the podia, in a carefully sequenced schedule. Tilbury is being used mainly


for the larger items, while the 330,000sq ſt Stevenage site – owned


by another Olympics


one that will be informed by the experience gained in London this year.


A lot of the work involved in


London 2012 goes on behind the scenes, in particular developing specialised IT solutions. While UPS’s systems for its regular logistics business are among the most advanced in the world, something more specialised is needed for a one-off event operating to rigid, immovable deadlines in which 30 million


UPS also needs to ensure that it works seamlessly with LOCOG, the London 2012 Organising Committee, which is responsible for preparing and staging the games. Suffice to say, development of the system started in 2009 and it went live without any major problems in April 2011. A large proportion – though


by no means all – of the material procured for the games is imported. At the time or writing, UPS had handled the first 60 of an


sponsor, John Lewis - will be used mainly for the smaller, high tech goods such as PCs. “We wanted two warehouses to give us more resilience. Stevenage is also a good location for many of the Olympic venues,” Williams says. The import operation will reach a peak over the next couple of months; UPS has tried to avoid the Christmas season for the large-volume shipments. As far as is possible, it routes shipments through its existing regular logistics network, for obvious reasons: “We’re the world’s ninth-largest airline and we prefer to spend ‘brown’ dollars rather than green ones,” Williams says. Despite UPS’s express


The British International Freight Association (BIFA) has added a dedicated area on its website offering logistics advice in connection with the Olympic and Paralympic games. It gives those involved in supply chain activities information to help mitigate disruption to cargo collection and delivery activities. BIFA director general Peter


Quantrill said: “We are on the starting line with our members and the wider freight community in planning ahead to reduce the disruption and problems these events will create with a special area of our website – http://www. bifa.org/content/olympics.aspx. As well as a full list of relevant Olympic


links, news and downloads, transport planners can see items which explain such things as: Out- of-hours deliveries during London 2012 Games; online resources to help the freight industry plan for London 2012 Games, as well as other relevant and useful content.” He


added: “Athletes from


around the world tirelessly plan and practice for months and years to take part in the Olympics. Our members must also plan to mitigate disruptions to their clients’ supply chains during the Olympic and Paralympic events. The new area of our website will help them to achieve that and make sure that they will all bring home gold for their clients.”


that have been tested to the limit. UPS has spent a long time working with HM Revenue and Customs writing a guide to import procedures, available to the wider Olympic ‘family’. The second edition is due out in March. That said, there has been a refreshing absence of red tape, both on the part of HMRC and the games organisers, says Williams. Lessons of past games have also been applied. Experience in Beijing,


///NEWS


for example, convinced UPS that it needed two warehouses, rather than one. But it is wrong to assume that


experience from one games can be copied and pasted. “Venues, circumstances and geography all vary. One games may be a good point of reference for another, but that’s all it is,” Williams asserts. The unexpected can always


happen, of course. The Olympic test exercise at the Excel exhibition centre in London’s Docklands last summer coincided with the summer riots for example. “We already had the Ash Cloud factored in; now we have a Riots contingency too,” Williams says. From now on, the pressure on


UPS’s Olympics team is building. “There will in fact be three distinct peaks,” Williams explains. The first will be before the Olympic games in July. Then there will be the Paralympics. But surprisingly, the biggest peak of all will be in September when all the material from both games will need to be dismantled and despatched to its various destinations. Some material


will be sold, some


returned to suppliers or moved on to other events – such as the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow – and yet others will be given to schools or charities. But while the physical


manifestation of the Games may disappear, they will leave a legacy in the shape of a full set of processes, procedures and knowledge- which will be available to the wider Olympic family and will include everything from the way the supply chain is managed.


BIFA ready for the Olympics


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