The outdoor practical exercise took drivers through a detailed vehicle checking procedure prior to commencing deliveries.
Earlier this year, vehicle rental, fleet and supply chain company Massar Solutions certified 90 drivers on completion of a driver skills enhancement programme, offered at its training facility in Musaffah, Abu Dhabi. The training was delivered as part of Massar Solutions’ mission to ramp up driver skills to ensure efficient supply chain operations.
Massar has various FMCG clients, including: BRF, Carrefour, Pepsi (Dubai Refreshment), Unikai, Agthia, Mars, Al Rawabi and National Foods (telematics suppliers). And in light of the estimation that nearly 3.27 million tonnes of food (worth more than AED 13bn) produced or imported in the UAE is wasted every year, Massar Solutions general manager — supply chain division Brent Melvin said in a statement: “Around 5% of the food loss can be reduced through intelligent logistics, which includes real-time checks and proper driver training.”
PLANNING
Melvin told Caterer Middle East that, after reviewing European CDC driver programmes, Massar was looking to develop a curriculum suitable for the local market. “We can’t just copy and paste the European model, because it fundamentally wouldn’t work. We’ve adapted material, and re-written it where required for the local market. We’ve also looked at creating multi-lingual programmes so that we can attend to the nationalities that drive for us.”
The aim would be to cover all aspects of the job that are customer-specific, as well as generic transport distribution tasks. “As an example, where I’ve got drivers operating in food environments, we would talk about all of the typical driver safety issues on road, but then we would also go into handling of perishables. What does it mean, why does it matter, why is it important to maintain the cold chain and certain temperatures? How to handle certain kinds of product?”
Melvin says he is a big advocate of training, and the value it adds. That can be observed in a reduction in customer complaints, fewer accidents and reduced maintenance costs.
Massar aligned itself with training company PLH Consultancy, which took Massar’s requirements and developed the material. Melvin adds: “We set it up because of the value it gives back to our business. Our staff are customer-facing and whatever they do is going to have an impact on our business overall. So they play an integral part in the success of our organisation.
“Having said that, we also understand the risk of investment. Because if we spent a lot of time, energy and money on developing people, while it does gives them another skillset, which is fantastic, we also then know full well that these people are likely to be poached. But it is a risk that we’re willing to take, because we need to make sure that ultimately we’re benefitting our customers through this programme.”
Melvin further reveals that Massar has absorbed the AED 1.5m [US $0.41m] cost of the investment.
IN PRACTICE
The training programme began at the start of 2015. Melvin says: “It goes without saying that food safety is tantamount to everybody’s well-being. If we can’t ensure the integrity of the cold chain from the point of my picking up the food to the point of delivering it to the customer, and be able to prove that we have maintained that cold chain, all we’re doing is passing the problem down the line to an end consumer — and that impacts society in general.
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